Social Marketing

This quarter I was able to do an Independent Study Project approved by my advisor, the wonderful Dr. Veronica Velez, director of the Education & Social Justice Minor. After a chat about my interests and goals, we settled on a project titled "Marketing & Advocacy" - where I would be able to design my coursework for the quarter, research, and write about how NGOs, Higher Education Institutions, Governments, and other organizations use marketing to influence and create social changes. Social Marketing is a marketing strategy that aims to achieve social good by changing behavior, unlike most other marketing efforts aimed at sales.

Just as businesses plan strategically to meet marketing and company objectives, the organizations using social marketing do the same. There are many different campaigns for various causes from those aimed at children, safe driving, or environmental. Organizations must have goals that extend past increasing awareness or changing attitudes and actual change behavior.

Examples that immediately came to mind was this campaign done by the College of Creative Studies, the D.A.R.E. program, and Click it or Ticket. The first provides new and refreshing content as CCS spins drug prevention advertisements to start conversations around the stigmas of pursuing art. Click it or Ticket ads take many forms but often use fear tactics to persuade people into using seatbelts and practicing safe driving, the NJ Division of Highway Traffic Safety even has their Pinterest board of ads.

Hashtags are a great way for organizations to spread messages quickly and widely as well. #Clickitorticket and #Talktourkidsaboutartschool are both easier to identify, unlike #DARE that comes up with various results. Tags such as #BLM, #NODAPL, and #HomeisHere have all been used in the most recent years by Black, Indigenous, and undocumented folks in order for the larger community to engage in the goals of their movement.

A well-executed campaign will have a strategy with SMART goals and an audience segment that you aim to influence. Slogans that are catchy stick easily and disruptive visuals will catch many eyes.

Throughout my higher ed experience, I have been passionate about creating spaces, community, and providing opportunities for Central Americans, Latinx, & Womxn of Color. To students holding marginalized identities, the goals of social equity are always evolving and work is never done. I've been in many progressive roles surrounding these issues as a club leader for MEChA de WWU, a founding member of the WWU Multicultural Business Scholars Association (MBSA), and now as the Advocacy & Programming Coordinator at the Ethnic Student Center. (WWU MBSA pictured below in Washington DC to attend the Wonder Women Tech Conference and Lobby Federally) Social Marketing has been on my mind for some time so I'm super happy to share more about this topic! Content & email marketing, conquering social media organically, inbound marketing, A/B testing, and more can be used for these causes, any organization can benefit from digital marketing.