Social Marketing: What It Is and How to Create a Success Plan

Have you thought about creating social marketing to leave a positive mark on the world?

We know that humanity has adopted a more solidary profile in recent decades.

More and more people are concerned with supporting causes of social interest.

A survey conducted by the Ethos Institute reveals that 50% of Brazilian consumers declare themselves to be adept at supporting or punishing companies based on their social participation.

In addition, the survey also reveals that 24% of consumers prefer to buy products or services from companies that have social responsibility at the expense of those that do not have this concern.

With that, it is noticed that more and more social responsibility can be seen as a market opportunity for companies.

Larger companies that have capital for this can invest in social marketing campaigns to improve their image before the public and leave a positive mark on the world.

They must participate in social marketing as a way of aspiring values ​​for the customer, sharing these ideas.

Any company that wants to continue to be well regarded and accepted by customers should consider applying social marketing.

This is a powerful tool to stand out from the competition, but also a way to improve citizenship relations, using marketing as a basis for support.

That is, marketing must be a consequence of social responsibility and not the other way around.

In this article, you will follow important information for your strategy.

You will understand what social marketing is, how it works, advantages and how to do it in practice.

Good reading!

Social marketing is an action strategy used by institutional companies in order to reduce inequalities and social problems, such as society’s needs in relation to hygiene, public health, education, housing, transportation, nutrition and work problems.

It can be defined as the management of the process of innovations of a social nature based on the adoption of individual or collective behaviors, practices and attitudes guided by ethical views based on human rights.

It is seen as a strategic and marketing management tool in companies, as it aims to promote a cause sustained by a social issue.

Uses marketing techniques and knowledge to promote social welfare.

In order to create a social marketing campaign, it is necessary to have well-defined goals, set objectives, quantitative and qualitative assessments, technologies that meet specific purposes and segments, as well as optimized ways of measuring results.

Social marketing seeks to create a concept of social innovations that will introduce and implement strategies, create and plan, in addition to executing communication campaigns to satisfy needs that are not being met, generating more awareness, citizenship and social transformations.

Elements of social marketing

In order to structure a social marketing campaign, some important elements must be taken into account.

They are the ones who will guide you step by step so that your marketing strategies are well executed.

Let’s meet them now!

1. Cause

Every social marketing strategy must be in accordance with the company’s values ​​and the purpose of the campaign.

Then, define the cause according to these variables.

Among the main causes advocated by marketing companies are health, the environment, fighting hunger and poverty, emergency situations, such as catastrophes, in addition to defending the rights of children and the elderly.

Of course, any help is welcome for all causes, but your company probably identifies more with some than with others, am I right?

In other words: try to define causes that have to do with your company’s mission, principles and target audience .

2. Promoter of change

In this step, strategies are defined to show which company is responsible for the change.

It can be your company alone or a collective work with other companies.

The important thing is that the more people know that your company is concerned with a better world, the more they should prioritize and value your brand.

So the key here is disclosure.

3. Choice of target segments

Once the cause and the promoters of change are defined, it is necessary to identify exactly which audiences and segments should be reached by the campaign.

This will help to direct efforts more easily, as well as find the ideal language to get your message across.

For example, McDonald’s, no matter how much it caters to people of all ages, targets Mc Dia Feliz children and families in their strategies, with joyful and fun campaigns.

This is because the main beneficiary of the action is also the children and young people – which means that there is an identification process there.

After all, the more we identify with a cause, the greater the chances of contributing to it.

4. Change strategies

Once the first three stages of this process are completed, it is time to focus on change strategies.

That is, think of ways to put into practice everything that was planned.

That done, let your audience follow the entire process with total transparency, so there is no doubt about the path that that investment will take.

Take the opportunity to invest in ads and even campaigns on the networks to inform the public how your company is committed to the causes it advocates.

Forms of social marketing

There are several different ways to embrace a good cause.

This is what Francisco Paulo de Melo Neto and César Froes, authors of the book Social Responsibility and Corporate Citizenship, defend .

According to them, there are classifications that help us understand how companies can promote positive changes on the planet.

And the concepts are as follows:

• Philanthropy marketing: companies that commit to making donations to beneficiary entities
• Marketing of social campaigns: it can be the public interest ads printed on product packaging, as well as the percentage of sales destined for social causes. Social actions broadcast on television media, for example, also make up this category
• Relationship marketing based on social actions: it is when the sales team of a certain company encourages its consumers to become users of social services
• Social product and brand promotion marketing: occurs when the company uses the entity’s name or logo in its products and services in order to increase its sales. Thus, the revenue generated or part of it is reverted to the cause of the entity
• Sponsorship marketing for social projects: companies that sponsor their social or third-party projects through their own resources. It is quite common in partnerships with the government, for example.

The term “Social Marketing” was used for the first time in the 1970s, when Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman realized that the principles of traditional marketing, aimed only at selling products, no longer met the needs of the consuming public.

Theorists realized that marketing could not only be used in the sale, offer and promotion of products and services, but also in social causes, selling ideas, behaviors and changes in attitude that promote the well-being of the population.

As you saw above, social marketing is, therefore, a way of reducing social problems and is often used by public agencies or third sector companies that work with awareness campaigns, donations and other purposes.

Social marketing aims at genuine motivation, based on a social cause without commercial ends or interests, that is, based on a social responsibility.

Social responsibility refers to the fulfillment of the duties and obligations of individuals and companies towards society in general. This is done through the adoption of philosophy and behaviors that promote social welfare.

In most cases, these actions are accompanied by the adoption of behavioral and management changes that involve greater transparency, ethics and values ​​in the relationship with their partners.

It is important to note that the concept should not be confused with philanthropy or simple social assistance.

Social responsibility is seen as a continuous process of improving the company in its relationship with its employees, communities and partners, involving all stakeholders.

Social responsibility must be part of the company’s mission and all employees must be aligned with it.

Most companies that adopt socially responsible attitudes tend to have a sustainable concern for the environment, improving their image, in addition to being less likely to face legal problems in the future.

The public that can identify with this cause will be sensitized by it, also becoming part of it.

When we talk about corporate social responsibility, it is still common to come across a second concept: that of societal marketing .

Although there is not exactly a clear consensus among the authors on the difference between the two concepts, the fact is that societal marketing, by definition, is a more comprehensive and improved organizational philosophy.

Thus, it involves ethics and long-term social responsibility.

The philosophy, therefore, extends beyond the wishes of consumers.

Philip Kotler defined societal marketing as:

“ The balance of three factors when defining a commercial policy: the satisfaction of the consumers’ wishes, the company’s profitability and the well-being of man, not only in the short term, but mainly in the analysis of the long term. ”

We all know commercial marketing very well.
It is nothing more than marketing whose ultimate goal is profit and increased sales of products and services.
This goes for both digital and traditional marketing , which we have been used to in our daily lives for a long time.
In other words: content marketing on blogs, websites and social networks, in addition to those we see in major media, such as television.
Social marketing, on the other hand, as its name suggests, is mainly concerned with the human being and its collectivity.
It is a way to improve the company’s image with the public, but also a practice that effectively helps to promote positive changes in society, improving the lives of people around us.
In short, we can say that while commercial marketing is focused on sales, social marketing is centered on people.
Commercial and social marketing actions are not, however, exclusive.
The focus will always revolve around the intentions of companies with their campaigns.

That social marketing helps people and improves the quality of life of many people, you should no longer have any doubts.

But what about your company? Can you really benefit?

You bet!

Social marketing actions not only improve your brand image, but also:

• Build credibility
• Add value to your product or service
• Increase business profitability
• More exposure and visibility.

And these are just a few examples of how social marketing can work to strengthen your brand.

If you have a type of marketing that really works, you can be sure that it is social.
After all, who wouldn’t want to live in a better place and with happier people?
In addition, we humans are, as a rule, sociable beings and capable of identifying and moving with various difficulties inherent in life.
No one is happy to see sick children, abandoned animals or the elderly being mistreated, do you agree?
It happens that, many times, alone, we are not able to change these realities and we have the idea that organizations with more resources and training can fulfill their social roles.
And that is why these actions generate so much engagement for companies.

Although it is not possible to define exactly when the first social marketing practices started, this concept was first addressed in the 1970s by Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman.
Even then, the authors’ eyes were focused on the importance of marketing capable of disseminating good ideas and practices.
In an article published by them at the time, in the Journal of Marketing, came the definition of the term, placed as follows:
“ Creation, implementation and control of programs to influence the acceptability of social ideas and involving considerations related to product planning, price, communication, distribution and marketing research. “

Have you realized how important social marketing is?

With regard to a market point of view, profit, social marketing can be a powerful tool to win new customers, retain customers , generate more acceptance, improving the image of your company.

Now, from a more social point of view, you, as a company, which is responsible for an important share of the market, may have more influence and capital to do good than individuals with isolated actions.

By developing a campaign, project and social marketing actions you will be promoting more awareness, tolerance and feelings of altruism, empathy, humility and love and making the world a better place to be lived, less unequal.

In the age of technology and information, in which consumers have literally at their fingertips – via smartphones, notebooks and tablets – information on price, product quality, features etc. it is necessary to seek innovations in the face of competition.

Its price may not be the best in the market, but if your brand has social responsibility and applies social marketing, it will certainly be seen with new eyes by the most demanding consumers and concerned with society.

According to the Akatu Survey, entitled ” Towards a Well-Being Society “, 50% of Brazilians value the social participation of companies when consuming.

Thus, social responsibility is increasingly moving from a competitive differential to an obligation for companies that want to remain in the market.

Following the right path of social marketing and defending important causes aligned with the values ​​of your business and your customers, you will be able to create more meaningful and lasting relationships with your consumers.

Your customer base will become more solid and loyal and this is the key to any company’s success and dream.

After that explanation, you must have been curious to see how it all applies in practice, right?

Well, these campaigns are much more present in your daily life than you might think.

Just take a look at the step-by-step below and the examples that I have separated and you will soon realize what I am talking about.

# 1 Getting Started

After reading the most theoretical information and concepts related to social marketing, it is time to think more strategically and really get started.

To do this, you need to follow some steps starting with identifying the problem and developing an initial plan.

Then you must assess resources and risks, plan the best path, bring together professionals, understand the public, analyze costs and benefits, establish goals, develop the campaign, among other steps that you will see below.

Follow!

Identifying the Problem and Initial Planning

One of the main problems for companies when developing a social marketing campaign is to identify which cause is most relevant to their audience and which is consistent with their company’s values.

Before choosing any cause based on your particular tastes, reflect on what the brand values ​​are, what your company stands for, what the values ​​of your consumers are, what they think about your product, service and brand.

Knowing how your audience sees you can greatly guide the choice of cause to support.

Then you must distinguish those causes that best represent the values ​​between the customer and the company.

Social marketing is an excellent way to exercise social responsibility and can bring excellent benefits in the long run for your company, as it will create a solid image linked to your company when it comes to supporting social issues.

When you identify a social problem that needs attention, you can start to prepare an initial plan taking into account all the steps that involve creating a social campaign of this size.

Developing social change is a challenge for social campaigns and the main objective of social marketing.

Assessing Resources and Risks

If you already have an idea of ​​the cause you want to support and know that this cause has everything to do with your brand, with your company’s values ​​and know that your consumers will understand and assimilate the proposals, it’s time to evaluate resources and risks.

No project or campaign should ever be created without assessing all possible risks and resources.

It is necessary to assess whether your company has the investment resources and also professional and methodological resources to support a cause and develop a social marketing campaign.

Good intentions are useless if there are no resources to put this campaign into practice and generate positive changes.

After all, hell is full of good intentions, isn’t it?

As much as you are willing to analyze if you have a team that can create these strategies, methodologies, efficient actions and capital to bear the costs of this campaign.

If you do not have the financial resources, you can consider seeking support from partner companies and organizations through sponsorship.

Also think about the need of the chosen community, analyze what the problem faced and if it is possible to change the situation through the development of social marketing actions.

You must have your feet on the ground and see if the problem is possible to reverse through social marketing actions or is a much bigger problem that involves cultural and ingrained issues in society.

For example, perhaps it is much more tangible for you to develop a campaign to encourage reading in poor communities than to end racism.

Be very careful about the cause you decide to defend and do not promise what you cannot fulfill.

You alone, as a company, will never be able to end the racism that is a behavior rooted in society, this can take many years, because it involves society as a whole and changes in beliefs.

Obviously you can promote campaigns that fight racism, but be humble and never put yourself as a “savior of the motherland”, especially on such deep and delicate issues.

Always talk to the marketing, social responsibility, public relations and legal department before making any decisions.

Planning a way forward

Before choosing the campaign that you will develop, know what the possibilities are. You can choose from some of these below:

• Informative: those campaigns of cognitive changes, that is, they aim to inform the population about a problem that needs action. Booklets can usually be created to publicize the issue with care and prevention tips
• Action: here an isolated public act is prioritized, such as a vaccination campaign, donation to an organization or even participation in a demonstration
• Behavior change: this is a slightly deeper and more complex action than others that are more punctual. Here the objective is to stimulate awareness so that people create new behavioral habits and, in this case, it is necessary to apply a set of actions to be more efficient and not a single one. Nor should a sudden change be expected, but in the long run
• Transformation of beliefs: This can be even more difficult than changing behavior. It is difficult to change habits, imagine beliefs and values. The objective of this campaign is to achieve values ​​rooted in the public through messages that provoke reflection. Because it is more controversial, it is not always well accepted by the public. A set of actions is also needed to be more efficient. The change only occurs in the long run.

All social marketing campaigns aim to provide the public with knowledge and tools that enable behavioral change.

# 2 Scope

After developing a reflection on social problems, the best causes to support and assess risks and resources, it is time for a more proactive and practical attitude to put the social marketing campaign on track.

Bringing together the professionals involved

For this you must gather all the professionals involved.

Depending on the cause you are supporting and the campaign you are creating, you need to think about the professionals and sectors of your company that you are going to recruit for this mission.

Always important to bring together the departments of Sales, Public Relations, Marketing, Internal Communication, Press Office , Social Media, Social Responsibility (if you have one) and Legal to align the project, answer questions and think about the best ways to publicize it inside and outside the company. company.

Outline the objectives and divide the tasks according to each sector and the profile of each professional.

Be open to possible brainstorming so that ideas can be heard and evaluated.

Understanding Your Audience

The biggest challenge in a social marketing campaign may be to generate consumer awareness of the cause advocated.

Who is your audience?

You need to know your audience both internally and externally to convey a message in a simple and direct way about the cause you are going to support.

In addition to making the message reach the public clearly and without noise, you need to generate some change in attitude or some feeling of engagement or awareness for your campaign to be successful.

If you have more than one target audience at your company, avoid creating a campaign that serves all audiences, unless the cause really embraces all audiences.

Otherwise, don’t shoot everywhere, choose an audience segmentation and direct your actions and campaign towards them.

Because if you target all audiences, the risk of rejection of the message transmitted is greatly increased and can have a negative effect.

A rejection created by advertising campaigns is everything you least want, because it brings a lot of headaches to marketers who will have to deal with people condemning your company, which seriously damages the brand’s reputation and makes people lose confidence in purchase your products or services.

Therefore, there is little care when choosing causes and developing the best strategies and campaigns, as well as the language used, channels and materials that will be disseminated.

Choose an audience that has everything to do with your consumers.

A plausible idea is that you support a cause of breast cancer if you have a consumer audience made up of almost 100% women, for example.

Analyzing Costs, Benefits and Competition

The budget is an important part of the development of social marketing.

Analyze the costs of the entire campaign, how much will be invested to develop the actions necessary to bring about the social change you intend.

Also think about which departments will be involved, how much capital each sector will need to implement awareness, action and dissemination actions.

Also consider the benefits that these actions can bring to the benefited social public, to your internal public and to the external public.

When creating a social marketing campaign in your company, you should keep in mind that this usually generates a huge commotion by the internal public.

In other words, your company’s employees need to be fully aware and engaged in these actions, as well as their final consumers, who must be aware and be part of it, feeling the need to support the campaign and develop a sense of belonging.

Also evaluate your direct competition:

• What are brands and companies in your industry doing in social marketing?
• What social responsibilities do they have?
• What methods do you use to develop these campaigns? On which channels?
• Which people do they involve?
• How are these campaigns viewed by your audience?

Gather as much material as you can for research on the competition, with that you can mirror the actions that worked and create similar ideas and, more importantly, see what went wrong and think of an alternative path.

If your competitor’s audience is the same – or at least similar – to yours, you will have a clearer idea of ​​what to do, which way to go and which one to run away from.

Setting Goals and Objectives

• What do you intend with the social marketing campaign?
• Do you want to generate more awareness about AIDS prevention?
• Do you want to promote a vaccination action?
• Do you want to carry out a task force to collect donations for an institution?
• Do you want to change habits and behaviors as a campaign to quit smoking?
• Do you want to change your vision and values ​​on a social issue such as prejudice?

Know exactly what your goals and objectives are and from there you will know exactly what the best strategies to create, increasing the chances of reaching the goals successfully and efficiently.

# 3 Development

After conducting a research of the competition, evaluating costs, investment, benefits and setting goals, it is time to use all this material to develop the campaign, in fact.

Check out the step by step below!

Developing the Campaign

When developing the campaign you should think about the channels and tools you will use to promote social marketing.

With technological inventions in constant evolution, nowadays it is possible to have access to a huge variety of tools to promote advertising actions in a wide and massive way.

Always try to choose those related to the recipients of the campaign.

Try to choose interactive channels, such as social networks, use resources such as videos that generate more assimilation of the message and engagement to increase the chances of campaign efficiency.

Know where is the audience you are trying to communicate with, are they focused on Facebook? Or Instagram? Or use YouTube more?

It is important to think about creating a face-to-face action that also leaves digital marketing a little and makes some real difference in society.

Testing the intervention before implementation

Before starting the implementation of the social marketing project, it is recommended to carry out an intervention test first. You can create a simulation within the company by inviting employees to participate and analyze how they react to it.

If the answer is positive and everyone – or at least the majority – feels engaged and sensitized with the action, the chances of success outside the company will be more guaranteed, even more if the public is similar and shares the same beliefs and values ​​as the internal public.

Writing a Social Marketing Plan

It is important to put all actions on paper. Develop a method by dividing and organizing in stages, with well-defined action plans highlighting the areas and professionals responsible for each stage.

Share this planning with all the areas involved, always making it visible and easily accessible to everyone.

Also consider creating an online discussion group, chat or forum to answer questions, make suggestions and so that other useful information can be shared among those involved.

In addition, always try to hold face-to-face meetings with a minimum weekly or fortnightly frequency or hold videoconferences so that everyone is aware of what has already been done and what remains to be done.

Communication is the key to the success of any project.

Consider hiring a project manager who will be responsible for keeping everyone involved (stakeholders) up to date and with well-defined tasks.

# 4 Implementation

The most important thing, definitely, is the planning phase, because well-studied, lean, objective planning will facilitate the implementation phase.

If everything is perfectly aligned and developed just put into practice following everything that has already been established.

It sounds simple, doesn’t it?

Yes, but as a manager of the social marketing project you must keep in mind that changes happen, as well as unforeseen events and you must be prepared for possible problems to arise along the way.

Identifying Opportunities and Managing Problems

As much as you already have everything defined, from the beginning to the end of the social marketing project, there may be some opportunities in the middle of the process.

Be resilient and be prepared for it, because if a new opportunity arises and it proves to be more interesting you must be prepared to make changes and adaptations in the initial project.

Many people can cling to the initial project tooth and nail, but this posture can make you miss opportunities that may be better and more appropriate for your audience.

Do not underestimate any new ideas and have the wisdom to be able to adapt campaigns and projects as needed.

Also, do not think that because you have anticipated all the risks that everything will go well.

It is very likely that unforeseen problems and problems will appear along the way. Don’t blame yourself if that happens.

As much as you think about all the risks and problems in advance, you can’t always predict everything.

The most important thing when this happens is to analyze the current situation, without losing focus and looking for the best solution.

Of course, you should always do your best to minimize the maximum risk, but if a problem arises, do not despair.

Use your creativity and rational strategic thinking to develop the best solutions and efficient solutions that do not compromise the final result of the project.

Campaign Monitoring and Monitoring

A good thermometer to find out if the social marketing campaign will be successful is to monitor the campaign.

Instead of implementing all the actions developed in the scope and just measuring the results at the end of the campaign, how about doing this little by little?

Monitoring during each new phase and implemented action can have much more effect and minimize the risks and chances of failure much more.

By evaluating little by little you can see how each action is being assimilated by the public, the questions below can help you with this:

• Was the action well regarded?
• Did it generate enough engagement?
• Or were few people affected?
• Is it possible to further improve the strategies for the next action?
• What new tools can I use to achieve this goal?
• Which channels can be most efficient?
• What is the best language to communicate?

Always question and monitor the campaign and, again, be flexible to make possible changes during the process.

# 5 Evaluation

After the campaign is over it is time to carry out the final evaluation to measure results.

It’s essential to perform the assessment to find out what worked and what didn’t work in your campaign.

If this is the first time that you are running a social marketing campaign, it is natural that you have many points to improve, use this as learning to improve the next.

Keep all this data and keep it accessible to everyone involved.

Consider holding a meeting to share the results, congratulate everyone and promote a discussion about each other’s impressions and what can be done in an upcoming project to avoid repeating some problems.

Designing the Approach and Evaluation Method

Documentary research of qualitative method can be used to evaluate the results.

The criteria for evaluating success begin to incorporate dimensions that go beyond economic organization and that concern social, cultural and environmental preservation.

Social marketing is a technology for managing social change, associated with the design, implementation and control of programs aimed at increasing the willingness to accept an idea and / or social practice in one or more adopting groups selected as a target and by therefore, assessments that analyze all these segments should be created.

The evaluation can be carried out in the form of a questionnaire among those involved, a suggestion box, a dynamic with the participants, etc.

It can also be measured with engagement statistics such as:

• How many people have access to that information?
• How many people liked, shared or commented?
• How many people received a specific booklet?
• How many people were present on the day of the face-to-face event / action?

These quantitative data are also very useful for measuring success.

Preparing the Evaluation Report

When obtaining all this data and information, prepare a report organized in stages and highlighting the positive and negative effects of each one.

Make a checklist to see if all steps have been completed successfully.

If there were any changes, highlight what was the initial idea and what was the reformulated idea. Add audience perception data and statistics graphs with results for each action developed.

# 6 Follow-up

Creating all this content and evaluation is extremely important to be used in the next actions, so, once completed, try to share all the results of the campaign.

Sharing Campaign Results

Once you have finalized the campaign and report it is time to share the results. Organize a face-to-face event entitled to the President’s speech, coffee break and panel to disseminate the results to all involved.

It is very cool to give this feedback to people who have dedicated themselves to making a campaign a reality and have played their heads in supporting a cause.

You should always be concerned with sharing the results with the groups, so that people feel really part of it.

Nobody wants to dedicate themselves to a campaign and project and then not even know what the return was, what end it took etc.

As much as the answer was a little negative, it is important to share everything even to think about strategies for future campaigns.

Always congratulate everyone involved and encourage thinking outside the box, being open to new ideas and social marketing projects.

Keep employees and audiences motivated to create new campaigns and never give up after a failed first attempt.

If the results are positive, even better, use this as a way to bring people together in a common cause, improve the relationship in your company and develop more empathy with others.

In Brazil there are some projects that are good examples of social marketing and that are widely known throughout the country. See below!

Doctors Without Borders

It is an international humanitarian organization that provides medical care for people involved in serious humanitarian crises, such as environmental disasters, civil wars, hunger and misery and social exclusion.

It is the largest non-governmental humanitarian aid organization in the world, in the area of ​​health.

The Doctors Without Borders promotes long-term actions, in assisting refugees in cases of protracted conflicts, chronic instability and the occurrence of natural disasters or caused by human action.

The organization was created with the idea of ​​offering quality medical treatment as the right of any and all people, overcoming barriers of national borders.

In 1999, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. He operates in more than 70 countries, including Brazil.

Child Hope

This is perhaps the most powerful example of social marketing in Brazil.

Promoted and developed by TV Globo in partnership with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), Criança Esperança emerged in 1986 with a specific action for donations to the Northeast as an initiative of actor Renato Aragão .

After the success of the initiative, Criança Esperança became a fund and campaign held annually to assist institutions for children and adolescents.

Today, the project has already donated more than R $ 300 million in donations to 5,000 institutions, benefiting about 4 million children and adolescents across the country.

Criança Esperança is recognized by the UN as an international model, encouraging the debate on public policies and social transformation.

In addition to the social results, it associates the television network with a concrete cause, with clear objectives and direct involvement of viewers.

Once a year, the live broadcast is made with musical performances and donations in real time, promoting awareness and participation of viewers.

Telethon

Every year, SBT broadcasts a broadcast day for the fundraising action for AACD (Association for Assistance to Disabled Children) via Teleton .

It has helped thousands of children with some kind of physical disability.

Thus, as Criança Esperança is known throughout the country.

post offices

Every year around Christmas, Correios does a social action to help needy children.

They receive letters from children in socially vulnerable situations to be delivered to people interested in being the child’s “Santa Claus”.

The initiative has existed for more than 20 years and 100% of the letters received are answered.

The Post Office agents help the children to fill out the letters correctly so that there are no delivery problems and thus also contribute to the children’s literacy.

Joy doctors

Non-profit civil society organization created 25 years ago.

The aim of Doutores da Alegria is to offer more joy to children and adolescents admitted to public hospitals through the visit of clowns who perform playful and fun presentations.

Instituto Chão

The Floor Institute is a non-profit association based on solidarity economy integrating cooperatives of local producers with consumers through a fair, a grocery store and a coffee organic and artisan products.

Banco do Brasil: Água Brasil Program

This BB campaign is an example of several partnerships involving government, NGOs and private companies against the water crisis in the country.

The idea is a development of the Banco do Brasil Foundation, WWF-Brasil, the National Water Agency, and Banco do Brasil united by the Água Brasil Program .

The program has been operating since 2010, and since then, it has avoided the waste of more than 600 thousand tons of water through recycling, and has benefited more than 11 million people in the country.

Since 2016, BB Água has focused its actions on the Brazilian Cerrado.

McDonalds: McDia Feliz

A campaign hardly touches consumers’ hearts as much as those involving children. Especially if they have serious diseases.

Every last Saturday in August since 1988, McDonald’s most famous sandwich, the Big Mac, is sold at the cafeteria especially to help institutions targeting children with cancer.

It is McDia Feliz , a very traditional initiative and well known to the population.

McDonald’s itself, in fact, has its organization called the Ronald McDonald Institute, dedicated entirely to causes like this.

Pedigree: Adopting is all good

For many people, pets are part of the family. And nothing like a food brand to launch campaigns dedicated to the well-being of pets.

” Adopting is all good ” is a Pedigree action that works helping dogs abandoned by Brazil.

In other words, whoever buys the brand’s food is also contributing with dozens of NGOs across the country aimed at rescuing street dogs.

But above all, the campaign raises awareness of the importance of responsible adoption.

Since the launch of the first action, there have been more than 76 thousand adoptions throughout Brazil.

Ministry of Health: #PartiuTeste

Did you know there are a considerable number of young people between 15 and 24 with the HIV virus? And that many of them don’t even know it?

With this in mind, the Ministry of Health launched the #PartiuTeste campaign to raise awareness of the importance of condom use.

What nobody expected was that the social campaign would be so innovative and creative: a fake profile in the relationship app Tinder instigated the practice of unsafe sex, to later warn about the dangers involved.

The idea was to reach precisely profiles that were interested in these risky behaviors … and the reactions were as diverse as possible.

Take a look:

Natura: Amazon Program

The social project of the Natura cosmetics chain is a clear example of the brand’s concern with sustainability.

Through a blog , the company defends the preservation of the environmental area and promotes actions committed to the social responsibility of the brand.

Since 2000, Natura has committed to reforestation, also guaranteeing the sustainable extraction of raw materials for its products and generating income for the local population.

Ypê: “Ypê planting trees for you”

The cleaning products brand Ypê has also entered the wave of good and already heads several environmental protection projects.

Together with the SOS Mata Atlântica foundation, it has planted over 750 thousand trees since 2007.

In addition, Ypê also makes available on its website a series of very cool environmental awareness content, such as tutorials that teach how to plant trees, for example.

“People care more about companies that care about them.” – Philip Kotler.

Social marketing can be a powerful tool for social transformation and a way to win more customers, get closer to your audience, improve your image and reputation and be a positive differentiator before the competition.

Through the use of marketing techniques for the promotion, dissemination and implementation of social initiatives for specific segments of the population, you can obtain long-term results that can positively impact society, causing transformations and paradigm changes.

These social responsibility practices are generally used as strategies in the areas of public relations or marketing.

But, over time, the idea is that in the future it will be implemented in all areas of the company, practicing a more responsible positioning, taking advantage of growth opportunities and causing changes in the lives of customers.

The social marketing programs developed by companies and institutions in Brazil aim to promote greater awareness, raise the awareness of the target audience about an issue, mobilize to practice some activity favorable to a cause, etc.

The role of these companies socially and actively involved in these issues is to promote citizenship and strengthen consumer relations based on behaviors and ethical values ​​that are increasingly valued by consumers of the Millennial generation .

The company that has the resources and capacity to use social marketing to contribute to society, making commitments will show a much more mature and superior image to other companies that are not involved in these causes and prefer to abstain.

Companies must transcend their objective of just generating wealth and satisfying the customer with quality products and creating priceless values ​​that can be used to strengthen the institutional image.