Social Marketing

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Research
What is Behavior?
Awareness, understanding, belief in and knowing about are all determinants of behavior. (We’ll
talk more about these later.) That is, we believe that they determine behavior. If, for example,
someone knows, understands or believes in buying a CFL, then we think they are more likely
to buy one. Sometimes that’s true. But most of the time, it’s not. Knowing about something and
believing in it are often important requisites to behavior, but they do not, of themselves, lead
to action. Therefore, if you want consumers to buy CFLs, you need to find the most important
determinant of that behavior. That is what social marketing is all about. What is the thing that will
help people who know about the behavior, who even believe in the behavior, to actually adopt
and stick with the behavior?
Now, let’s go back to our example.
Observable action: Buy CFLs when visiting the grocery store.
In this example, it appears that the program planners have done significant audience research
on CFLs. They have identified a specific opportunity: young women who move into a new home
might be willing to buy CFLs, and a grocery store is a likely place for them to do it. The program
planners want to target that specific behavior, not buying CFLs in general.
Target Audience
A target audience is a smaller part, or segment, of the general population. In our example
what is the audience being targeted?
Example: When going to the grocery store, women ages 18 to 24 who have moved into
a new home will buy CFLs for their outdoor lights.
Take a guess. Write it down. Then, keep reading below.
A target audience, or segment, is a group of individuals who share a set of common
characteristics. These characteristics may include:
• Demographics: All are of the same age or income range, same gender or ethnicity. (In our
example, women, ages 18-24)
• Likely buyers: Who are the individuals who might buy something? (The audience might buy
a CFL.)
• How the individuals engage in the behavior. (They buy light bulbs in the grocery store.)
• Wants: The desires of individuals that might be related to the behavior. (They may prefer a lot
of light; they don’t trust unusual-looking light bulbs, etc.)
• Perceptions: They share the same attitudes and values about the behavior. (They don’t think
choosing a light bulb is a big decision.)
• Channels: They share the same channels of communications and look to the same
spokespersons as being credible. (They’ll listen to their kids but not to their husbands.)