What is Social Impact Marketing?
Defining the up-and-coming field to help you inspire and influence your audience.
What is social impact marketing?
Social impact marketing is the future of marketing. It is not just about selling products or services but about selling social goods. It is about creating positive changes in society by promoting a behavior or lifestyle change that benefits a social cause. It is about aligning your business or brand with a purpose that matters to your customers and stakeholders.
Toms Shoes’ “One for One” program is one of the original examples of social impact marketing.
Why should I try social impact marketing?
Social impact marketing is not only good for society, but also good for your business or organization. Research shows that consumers are more likely to support brands that care about social issues and demonstrate their values through their actions. Social impact marketing can help you to:
Build trust and loyalty with your customers and stakeholders
Enhance your reputation and brand image
Differentiate yourself from your competitors
Increase your market share and revenue
Attract and retain talented employees
Fulfill your corporate social responsibility (CSR) goals
Social impact marketing seeks to impact and inspire the people making the change beyond a specific cause. Nike’s “Find Your Greatness” campaign is a great example of social impact marketing. Despite not having any direct external causes, it campaign calls for user actions and drives product consumption.
Has social impact marketing been attempted by large brands?
Social impact marketing can be applied to any sector or industry as long as the social cause is relevant and meaningful to your target audience. Some examples of successful social impact marketing campaigns are:
Dove’s Real Beauty campaign which challenges the unrealistic standards of beauty in the media and celebrates the diversity and natural beauty of women
TOMS Shoes’ One for One program, which donates a pair of shoes to a child in need for every pair of shoes purchased
Nike’s Find Your Greatness campaign which inspires people to overcome their limitations and achieve their personal goals
UNICEF’s Tap Project, which raises funds and awareness for providing clean water to children in developing countries
Social impact marketing applies easily to government organizations such as UNICEF along with non-profits and NGOs because of their natural bend to social causes. Participation in social impact marketing from these entities leaves the door open for public-private partnerships, which allow for non-profit and for-profit entities to benefit from collaboration.
So, what are some best practices in using social impact marketing effectively?
Social impact marketing is not easy to do, but it is worth it. It requires a deep understanding of the social issue, the target audience, and the desired behavior change. It also requires a clear and compelling message, a creative and engaging strategy, and a reliable and measurable way to evaluate the impact. Here are the best practices for doing social impact marketing effectively:
Define your social impact goal and objectives.
This is the first and most important step, as it sets the direction and purpose of your campaign. Identify the specific social issue that you want to address, the behavior or lifestyle change that you want to promote among your target audience, and the indicators and metrics that you will use to measure the success of your campaign.
Conduct market research and segmentation.
This step involves understanding your target audience and their characteristics, needs, preferences, motivations, and barriers. Conduct primary and secondary research to gather relevant and reliable data and insights about your audience. Segment your audience into different groups based on their similarities and differences, and tailor your campaign accordingly.
Develop your value proposition and message.
This step involves crafting a clear, concise, and persuasive message that communicates the benefits of adopting the desired behavior or lifestyle change for your target audience. Develop a value proposition that highlights how your campaign can solve a problem, fulfill a need, or create a positive impact for your audience. Create key messages that support your value proposition and convey your campaign’s vision, mission, and goals.
Choose your marketing mix and channels.
This step involves selecting the best ways to reach your target audience and influence their behavior. Use the four Ps of marketing (product, price, place, and promotion) to create a compelling offer and a convenient opportunity for action. Choose the most effective and appropriate channels to deliver your message and engage your audience, such as online platforms, social media, print media, events, etc.
Implement and monitor your campaign.
This step involves executing your campaign and ensuring its quality and consistency. Plan and manage your campaign’s activities, resources, budget, and timeline. Track and measure your campaign’s performance and impact using the indicators and metrics that you defined in the first step. Collect feedback and data from your audience and stakeholders using various methods such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, etc.
Evaluate and improve your campaign.
This step involves analyzing your campaign’s results and insights and using them to improve your campaign and future social impact marketing efforts. Evaluate your campaign’s strengths and weaknesses, outcomes and impacts, and lessons learned. Report your campaign’s results and insights to your audience and stakeholders, and acknowledge their contributions and feedback. Identify the areas of improvement and the best practices for your campaign and future social impact marketing efforts.
Dove’s Real Beauty campaign showcases how the best social impact marketing campaigns blend a defined social impact goal (challenging the unrealistic standards of the “beauty” of women in the media) with a specific target market (potential women users of Dove skincare products).
So, what can Circle Promos do to help you on your social impact marketing journey?
At Circle Promos, we have the knowledge, experience, and passion to help you create and implement effective social impact marketing campaigns that can inspire and influence your audience and achieve your social impact goals. We are not here to sell you a service, but to partner with you on a mission that propels impact from your business or organization into the world. Together, we can make a difference both on your bottom line and the world around us.
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