Social marketing represents many things to many different people - an academic discipline, a practical guide, a mindset, a philosophy, a vehicle for social change, a science, a philosophy, a religion! This post represents an ongrowing collection of social marketing definitions and descriptions from leading lights in our field as they grapple with the deceptively simple question, “what is social marketing?”

‘Social Marketing is a process that applies marketing principles and techniques to create, communicate, and deliver in order to influence target audience behaviours that benefit society as well as the target audience.’
Philip Kotler, Michael Rothschild and Nancy R. Lee, 2006

‘Social Marketing is the application of commercial marketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution and evaluation of programs designed to influence the voluntary behaviour of target audiences in order to improve their personal welfare and that of their society.’
Alan Andreasen, 1995

‘Social Marketing is the systematic application of marketing concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioural goals relevant to a social good.‘
Jeff French and Clive Blair-Stevens, 2005

‘Social Marketing is a process for creating, communicating and delivering benefits that a target audience wants in exchange for audience behaviour that benefits society without financial profit to the marketer.’
Bill Smith, 2006

‘Marketing that emphasizes that consumer or target audiences should be the focus of the planning, strategizing, and implementation of a marketing program.’
www.case.edu/

‘A marketing message designed to promote a social concern or political idea as well as a product.’
www.glencoe.com/sec/busadmin/marketing/dp/ad_serv/gloss.shtml

‘Social Marketing is the systematic application of marketing along with other concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioural goals for a social good.’
Wikipedia

‘The primary aim of ’social marketing’ is ’social good’, while in ‘commercial marketing’ the aim is primarily ‘financial’. This does not mean that commercial marketers can-not contribute to achievement of social good.’
Wikipedia

‘Social marketing is being described as having ‘two parents’ - a ’social parent’ = social sciences and social policy, and a ‘marketing parent’ = commercial and public sector marketing approaches.’
Wikipedia

‘Like commercial marketing, the primary focus is on the consumer–on learning what people want and need rather than trying to persuade them to buy what we happen to be producing.’

Nedra Kline Weinreich

‘Social Marketing’s primary aim is to achieve a particular ’social good’ rather than a commercial benefit, with clearly defined behavioural goals.’
National Social Marketing Centre

‘Social Marketing uses a range of marketing techniques and approaches. In the case of health-related social marketing, the ‘social good’ can be articulated in terms of achieving specific, achievable and manageable behaviour goals, relevant to improving health and reducing health inequalities.’
National Social Marketing Centre

“Health-related social marketing is the systematic application of marketing concepts and techniques to achieve specific behavioural goals relevant to improving health and reducing health inequalities.”
The Department of Health

‘Social marketing works to help people change their behaviors to become healthier or to improve society or the world in some way.’
Squidoo

“Social marketing is concerned with the application of marketing knowledge, concepts, and techniques to enhance social as well as economic ends. It is also concerned with the analysis of the social consequences of marketing policies, decisions and activities.”
Lazer and Kelly

‘Social Marketing is more difficult than generic marketing. It involves changing intractable behaviours, in complex economic, social and political climates with often very limited resources.’
Lefebvre and Flora, 1988

‘While social marketing is not a panacea or ‘magic bullet’ it has real potential to strengthen the impact and effectiveness of interventions and approaches.’
Michelle Greenwood, Programme Manager, National Diabetes Support Team