Social marketing: company benefit, benefit to society, examples

Social marketing is a fresh trend in modern business. More and more companies are thinking about the ethical side of entrepreneurship. Making a profit can no longer remain the only goal of business in a world where the brand mission, consonant with moral ideals, is important to consumers.

How to find a social component suitable for the company and not lose the brand identity? How to correctly combine ethics and earnings? We will answer these questions, and also tell you how to maximize the opportunities of social marketing for the benefit of your business.

What is social marketing

The term "social marketing" appeared in the 1970s, first coined by Philip Kotler and Gerald Zaltman. According to their observations, not only real goods and services could be sold using marketing tools. Similar techniques were suitable for popularizing ideas and behaviors. According to Kotler, it was the purpose of the application that made marketing "social".

The very idea of using promotion tools to improve the quality of life of certain groups of the population was not born out of nowhere. The problems of non-renewable resources, ecology and poor nutrition are the main catalysts for the emergence of social marketing. Audience coverage when using these techniques varies greatly.

When a business publicly contributes to solving a socially significant problem, a certain set of marketing tools is used to influence the audience. The company's actions in this case are designed to correct the views and behavior of the target audience.

People's values change, which is the key to achieving the company's goals. Social marketing methods involve a detailed study of the chosen topic and a comprehensive impact within the chosen business area.

The long-term goal underlying social marketing is that the image of a business or a government program in the minds of consumers is associated with solving problems that are significant to society.

There are several stages in this process:

The result of all these actions should be an improvement in the life situation for the target audience or for larger groups of the population.

Social networks and Internet communication have significantly expanded the scope and impact of marketing tools. Work with the audience, including needs analysis and feedback, can now be carried out as quickly as possible. The widest coverage of various consumer groups allows you to effectively communicate with potential customers.

Today, there are several main types of social marketing:

Each area of application of social marketing methods has its own characteristics. It is important to take them into account when developing a promotion strategy.

Differences between social marketing and regular marketing

Methods of social marketing are different from those used in the classical commercial scheme.

1. The main difference is in the goals pursued by organizations when applying certain methods of promotion . So, in the case of a commercial strategy, a business is interested in generating income. If we are talking about processes that are significant for society, then other schemes come into play. Social marketing has the ultimate goal of harmonizing life within large groups of the population by increasing the level of social responsibility of people. With the help of such promotion methods, one can work not only with real goods and services, but also with ideas, principles and social phenomena.
2. Unlike commercial social marketing is used to influence intangible objects: morality, ideas, behavior patterns, fashion . Promotion tools in this case are designed to change people's behavior, and not just stimulate the purchase of a particular product or service. This is the main difficulty in applying social marketing: the effectiveness of methods is lower than in the commercial sphere.
3. To implement projects in the field of social marketing, organizations need to allocate funds for this . A business can pay for such ideas with income from the sale of goods and services. If these funds are not enough, then additional resources are attracted. These can be donations, as well as grants and orders received from the state. Thus, the company provides a stable inflow of finance for the implementation of socially significant projects. Here are the two main steps required to implement social marketing projects:
   • active actions to collect the necessary amount of funds;
   • fulfillment of the goals and objectives of the social project with the help of the money and other resources received.

4. For the implementation of social marketing projects, it is important not only to attract resources from outside, but also to correctly report on their use . In the case of socially significant undertakings, marketers should listen to at least two groups of people in their work: donors and clients. It is important to harmonize the wishes of both categories in the marketing strategy

   Sometimes donors' ideas about where their funds should go differ from those of company leaders. For example, their points of view on the target audience, customers do not match. In this case, it will be very difficult to implement a unified strategy.

   The results of social projects of companies are of interest not only to donors and clients. There are other groups and individuals who can closely monitor the work of a particular program. For example, politicians, representatives of insurance companies and the media, participants and graduates of previous similar projects. These individuals may or may not be in favor of the new campaign.

   Professionals working within the framework of social marketing must maneuver between the opinions and spheres of influence of all interested groups of people. The employment of marketers in this case is much greater than in the classical commercial scheme.

5. The key postulate of business is “The customer is always right” . But this statement can not always be applied to socially significant projects. The interests and beliefs of the target audience may not coincide with the point of view of program leaders. Sometimes the methods of social marketing are trying to break long-term unchanged views on a particular public sphere. For example, if the goal of the project is to help people with disabilities adapt, then the campaign may well be hindered by the already established ideas not only of society, but also of the disabled themselves.
6. Within the framework of entrepreneurial activity, competitors are easy to identify: these are companies with similar products and a set of services . In social marketing, it is necessary to take into account not only organizations engaged in similar non-profit activities, but also the current situation in society. The competition for a socially significant project is made up of prevailing ideas, attitudes and behaviors that are planned to be changed as part of the planned program of marketing activities.

Concepts of socio-economic and socio-ethical marketing

Both commercial and social marketing focuses primarily on the customer's vision. Before starting any action, an analysis of the needs of consumers is carried out. It is useless to tell the client about the benefits of the product if you do not see the situation through his eyes.

To account for all significant factors, a marketing mix is used. The classic scheme is called the "Four P's" and includes the following categories: product, price, distribution and promotion. In social marketing, in addition to these elements, several more are taken into account. Here's what the full picture looks like:

Product (in the lane "product")

Buyers are ready to place an order when they are sure that this particular product is needed to solve their problem. Therefore, it is important to first analyze the situation from the point of view of the client and only after that offer your product. The deeper and more serious the problem, the more detailed the rationale for the proposed solution should be.

Price (in the lane "price")

The price is not necessarily expressed for the consumer in terms of money. It can also be a time investment, an effort, or the risk of embarrassment or social disapproval. If the price for a particular consumer seems too high, not corresponding to the benefit being acquired, then the transaction is unlikely to take place.

And the opposite situation: when the advantages of owning the proposed product exceed the indicated price. In this case, a person with a high probability will agree to try the product or accept the terms of the program.

Place (in the lane "distribution")

This concept describes how exactly the product gets to the buyer. If we are talking about material goods, then the scheme cannot do without warehouses, logistics solutions, managers, shops for sale or points of gratuitous distribution of goods.

As part of the distribution strategy, it is important to choose the right channel for the client to access the offer. To do this, you need to analyze the main ways that representatives of the target audience are already using to obtain certain benefits. It is important to evaluate how these channels meet current needs and, if necessary, offer a better solution.

Promotion (in the lane "promotion")

Marketing is often referred to as promotion, but the latter is only one element of the whole system. Stimulating and maintaining demand for products is the main task of this stage. To obtain positive results, several tools are used in combination: advertising, PR, media publications, various promotions and sales through personal contacts. You can, for example, place ads on a paid or free basis.

In addition, marketers use other methods: promotions, advertising during public events, product demonstrations in stores and posting articles about the product. To deal with the level of demand, it is important to carefully analyze the effective ways to achieve the goals of consumers. At the same time, the results of the study can become the basis for a subsequent advertising campaign.

Publics (in the lane "public" or "public")

The term "public" helps to describe the groups of people that the marketer's work is aimed at. At the same time, there is a division into external and internal subgroups. The former include the target and secondary audience, like-minded people and politicians. The second group includes those who take part in the work on the project.

Partnership (in the lane "partnership")

The goal of social marketing can be versatile and difficult to achieve by just one company. In such a situation, it is important to find like-minded people in the face of other organizations that have similar views on the designated social problem. This will allow us to combine efforts and more effectively go towards the goal together with partners.

Policy (in the lane "politics")

Social marketing can be effective in changing the behavior of individuals. However, to achieve large-scale results is possible only in the appropriate environment. Sometimes political change is indispensable.

Purse Strings

Many socially significant programs are funded by donor funds, that is, they receive funding from external sources. It can be various funds, government grants, donations. The logic of building a marketing strategy assumes that the value of the source of funds for the project is taken into account.

Socio-economic marketing, in fact, covers a much larger layer of work than the classic commercial scheme. Thanks to the combination of more significant elements, specialists interact more deeply with the audience, analyzing their problems and needs.

The foundation of this direction consists of several basic principles:

However, despite the goals, social marketing remains a business tool. The organization, thanks to a well-built strategy, adds "humanity" to its image.

Of course, the employees who are directly involved in the implementation of these programs really want to help people. However, their actions also work for the firm's PR. If there is a benefit for the business, then the advertising budget is spent on such projects.

Social Marketing Management Strategies

Social marketing is used both in the business environment and within the framework of non-commercial projects. There are several levels of management of such programs: instrumental, corporate and functional. Each of them has its own special characteristics.

instrumental level . Management involves working with the marketing complex: products, price, distribution routes and promotion methods. We have already described this process in the previous parts of the article.

Corporate level . The main task of management is the development of a strategy, including tactics for interacting with competitors and growth plans.

Functional is the level of company divisions . The main task is to develop a strategy for bringing products to the market, taking into account target areas and adjusting the marketing mix for each segment.

Within the functional level of social marketing management, four groups of key elements are distinguished: dividing the market into segments, choosing a target one from them, working on product positioning and drawing up a marketing strategy. Each item in this list has a number of features that need to be considered as part of social marketing management. Below we describe each element in more detail.

Segmentation

The entire set of consumers can be divided into certain groups - segments. The criteria for such a division of the market are different.

It is customary to distinguish the following groups of features that characterize the division into segments:

• demographic: sex and gender, marital status, field of activity, education, nationality, religious affiliation, etc.;
• geographic: region, administrative unit, number of residents, climatic features, etc.;
• psychographic: character, lifestyle, habits, social group, etc.;
• behavioral: the need to purchase a certain product, the willingness to choose something specific, an analysis of the pros and cons of products.

Social marketing is also characterized by segmentation by political views and factors of consumer activity. The first criterion involves the division of consumers depending on their political preferences and sympathies / antipathies to the current government. The second criterion implies that people can be more or less frugal, have different attitudes towards the quality of service, etc.

Decision on the choice of target segments

After segmentation, it is necessary to select the most suitable consumer groups for further actions. As criteria for evaluation, they analyze market volumes, convenience of working with the segment, compliance with the goals and objectives of the business, prospects and features of working with a selected group. In addition, the degree of influence of competitors on the current segment is compared.

Positioning work

When the target segment is defined, proceed to the positioning of the product. In fact, it is important for marketers to provide a specific position for the product in the mind of the customer. Specialists think over the image of the brand and the company as a whole, which will favorably distinguish products from competitors' analogues.

In the imagination of the client, they try to create a profitable picture. At the same time, the characteristics of the goods can be both real and imaginary.

If it is necessary to change the current image of the product, one of the repositioning methods is used:

Creation of a marketing mix

As part of this stage, it is necessary to form a marketing mix. This means the regulation of pricing policy, methods of marketing, as well as promotion in the market. In the case of social marketing, public relations become the most important tool for promotion. The main emphasis is on advertising, propaganda style and other PR techniques.

The target markets strategy is based on the creation of a marketing mix according to the “four Ps” rule. This tactic allows you to work on increasing sales, expanding influence in the market, and forming a positive image among buyers. This strategy has already been discussed in more detail above.

The segmentation strategy involves the selection of market segments, identified in accordance with vital criteria. The signs for grouping are the following: by the presence of competitors, by product stocks, by segmentation strategy.

Regardless of the chosen strategy, the main goal is to find the optimal niche in the market and conduct a competent detuning from competitors.

The social marketing management system is based on the competent selection of a strategy and its further implementation.

Stages of organizing social marketing

1. Problem definition

It is important to correctly identify the core of the problem, because all subsequent work depends on the results of this stage. Efforts can go down the drain without proper preparation.

Insufficiently detailed and in-depth study of the issue will cause an ineffective action plan. We must not forget that the analysis of the problem should be carried out through the prism of the vision of the target audience. The most popular and effective method for discovering and analyzing a

2. Formation of a portrait of the target audience

After identifying the problem, it's time to work with the target audience. Firstly, the main array is divided into subgroups and those of them are determined to which the social marketing project will be directed. In the presence of state funding, it is important to include disadvantaged groups of the population in CA.

3. Additional analysis of target audience

At this stage, it is important to study the selected target audience in detail. The collected data will help to draw up a detailed plan for implementing the social program in life.

4. Drawing up a detailed plan

For the project to be effective, the implementation plan must include the following items:

• What replacement will be offered to replace the current product.
• How can a customer get a new product.
• Expected positive outcome of the acquisition of the offer.
• A timeline that shows when the plan is to be completed.
5. Study of changes in the behavior of the target audience

Changes in lifestyle are favorably perceived by the target audience only if people have the opportunity to assess the risks and positive aspects in advance compared to the current situation. So it is important for specialists in the field of social marketing to work out in detail the scheme of future changes before presenting them to the target audience.

6. Proposal development

Social marketing technology implies that the public will be presented with a product that can influence the formation of behavioral models. It is this specificity that distinguishes social marketing from the classical schemes for applying a market promotion strategy.

7. The procedure for adjusting the cost of the offer

It is almost impossible to achieve the minimum price within the framework of social marketing projects. The thing is that cash costs are not always the main component of the cost of the product. Consumers need to spend mostly time and psychological resources. The client, in case of participation in a social project, will most likely have to correct the usual behavior pattern.

8. Selection of direct participants for the implementation of planned activities

If the products offered within the framework of a social marketing project have a physical expression, then the ways of its delivery to the consumer should be considered. More often, however, the benefits of a social program are intangible. In this case, close interaction with the audience is expected as part of the implementation of the goals of the program.

9. Development of advertising content and communication channels

Advertising is the main information component of most social marketing projects. In addition, to increase the chances of a new product to succeed, it is important to analyze the possibilities of communication channels with the consumer.

Advertisements that are supposed to be broadcast using the selected channels must answer all intended questions from customers. Ready advertising messages are broadcast in mass media. If the previous steps are done correctly, then such a campaign will have an effect.

Ideally, blocks of information provided in advertising should be tested in advance on representatives of the target audience. In this case, if there is a misunderstanding, it will remain possible to correct the content of the message.

There is always a chance that even the most straightforward message will be misunderstood. If this happens, then all efforts to implement the program can be nullified, because people did not perceive the main message.
10. Control of project results

It is important to monitor the reaction of the audience when implementing social marketing projects. Performance analysis and results monitoring help to achieve initial goals. Thanks to timely adjustments, the project will continue to exist.

Such actions are especially relevant for programs financed from the state budget. Timely analysis will help determine the trajectory of further movement or identify the need to close the project.

Some tips for implementing social marketing

There are many ways to make a business project not just commercial, but also socially oriented. Here are some recommendations for implementing this idea:

This principle is the foundation of ethics in business. Do not try to mislead your audience, treat people with respect. If you implement projects that are significant for society, talk about it as widely as possible. This will be an indicator of the significance of the existence of the company.

Taking care of the environment and the most safe solutions for the planet is the fashion of the 21st century. So do not focus only on social problems.

Many large companies use ecotrends. For example, in the hypermarket "Auchan" there are "green" cash desks. Toyota Motor has established the annual Toyota Green Month event. And Coca-Cola used tea tree branches in outdoor advertising with an eye-catching slogan.

A good example is a promotion organized in Tesco stores. Buyers who spent a certain amount of money received special vouchers. If you transfer such a voucher to any school, then they can use it to buy computers and equipment.

You can, for example, slightly modify your product and make it more useful for a certain group of people. So did the O2 company, releasing a phone that could also measure the volume of a person’s lungs. This model was created for asthma patients. The ethical side of production also matters.

So, Starbucks has “fair” coffee (guaranteed no child labor is used in the production).

Another example is the Hulani moccasin model from Clarks. These shoes were made in a South African village, and two pounds from every pair sold went directly to the artisan makers.

So, the Coca-Cola company cooperates with the New Names Foundation. Together, organizations help find and discover talent. The collaboration has been going on for over 10 years. During this time, under the auspices of the project, many competitions, master classes and open lessons were held in Pakistan with famous musicians, artists, poets.

Common Mistakes When Using Social Marketing

Marketing in the social sphere is a relatively new, but actively developing direction. As a result, directives and hard “no” in the work of specialists have not yet been developed. We have tried to collect the most revealing mistakes when using social marketing tools to warn you against repeating them.

1. Poor choice of name, logo design and typography

The name, color and aesthetics of the logo, the soundtrack of your company is the foundation that will form the basis of your brand. By a set of these elements, people will identify your project. If you make a mistake at this stage, then all the work can go down the drain - there will be no result.

This moment is extremely critical for young companies that are just entering the market. The first advertising campaign must be successful. The social focus of your projects will not matter if you have made a mistake in the fundamental elements of the image.

2. No clear idea of your target audience

Based on the satisfaction of the interests of the target audience, a marketing strategy is built. It is impossible to please everyone at once, therefore, too wide coverage limits result only in a waste of advertising budget. The effect of such a campaign will be minimal. The best way is to act pointwise, and for this you need to clearly define the target audience.

3. Blindly following competitors

Brand wars can often be seen in the market. Companies are trying to stand out from the background of others and overtake competitors in the fight for the attention of the audience. Some are even ready to steal ideas.

Direct copying of the actions and advertisements of competitors is not only unethical, but also ineffective. Among the same type of content, the client simply does not notice you. Attracting new customers is also problematic if you do not stand out from the crowd.

However, sometimes you can copy something from a competitor's campaign by accident. To avoid this, a preliminary analysis of the actions of other companies should be carried out.

4. Mistakes when allocating a budget for a marketing strategy

Both an inflated and too narrow advertising budget is bad. In any case, work with money should not begin before the analysis of information channels. It is important to understand exactly where your target audience lives, and that is where to focus your efforts to attract customers. This is the only way to correctly draw up and distribute the budget for advertising.

5. Lack of focus on SEO and social media

Today, almost no one doubts the need for promotion through the Internet. However, many companies still underestimate the optimization of their website and communication with customers on social networks. Without access to direct communication, it is much more difficult to correctly assess the needs of the target audience. As a result, it turns out that the site is visited by a few and this tool works inefficiently without proper support for SEO and the use of social networks.

6. Lack of creativity

Boring and monotonous marketing does not work in modern conditions. People will only notice your content if it is creative and stylish. Thematic newspaper ads with missing design do not attract attention. If you find it difficult to come up with something original and unusual, hire a good designer, copywriter, SMM specialist.

You can also use the services of a marketing agency. The slogans, overall design, and tone of your company's content should be perceived as a whole and consistent with the goals of your social project.

7. The use of prohibited techniques in marketing: deception, exploitation of the topic of violence, sexual relations, etc.

If, in pursuit of a client, entrepreneurs run too intrusive advertising, then this only reduces its effect on consumers. Sometimes the thirst for profit makes you give false information in slogans: loans at 0%, a trip to Thailand for 20 thousand rubles and other examples. Such "inaccuracies" in advertising can lead to fines. And, of course, such ads cannot be part of a social marketing campaign. However, often the main mistake lies in the initially unfinished strategy.

Most often, small companies face the problem of lack of a plan. This is usually due to the unstable allocation of advertising funds. Due to this, campaigns are carried out unsystematically, without observing the general style and without a goal.

It happens that a company pays for 1-2 advertisements on TV and, having not seen the result, does not continue to work. While the marketing plan is usually painted for several months and includes the calculation of all expenses.

However, one should not pour huge money into the advertising budget if a preliminary analysis of the audience has not been carried out. It happens that the product seems to be a breakthrough and 100% successful only to the company's management, while consumers do not have at least some interest in the product. In this case, the budget will simply be merged into ineffective advertising. And this will happen even if you are going to donate part of the profits to charity.

Good Examples of Social Marketing

To convey to the audience your vision of socially significant actions is one of the goals of marketing. It is important that customers understand that the brand is on the same wavelength with them and also sees the imperfections of the world that it is trying to correct. We will give examples of successful social marketing campaigns that have been carried out by well-known brands.

TV Show Mom

In the spring of 2017, the creators of the American television series Mom announced that they were transferring the entire budget intended for the advertising campaign before the Emmys to the American Planned Parenthood Federation (Planet Parenthood). This organization helps low-income women in America get medical care.

There is a network of PP centers throughout the country. However, with the advent of Donald Trump as president, the organization fell into disgrace: its funding was cut. Therefore, the application for the transfer of a significant amount - 250 thousand dollars to the PP account was received as positively as possible.

Mom series author Chuck Lorre (who was also the creator of The Big Bang Theory) was the first to offer this donation. The management of the channel releasing the series supported his initiative. Note that this impulse was favorably received by the audience precisely because many of the viewers of the series sympathized with PP. From a PR point of view, this was a very smart move.

The actions of the project team were covered in the media. On the CBS morning show, 2 representatives of the series (Lorrie and Allison Janney) announced the transfer of funds. There were also several publications about the donation in leading American publications covering the activities of the show. In addition, Mom communicated the action to fans on social media on both the corporate and personal pages of the actors.

What happened as a result? The Planned Parenthood Federation of America received a sizeable donation. This was reported by leading publications, and the event was also covered by major TV shows. Thus, the very act of transferring money turned into a marketing ploy that came in handy during the race for the Emmy.

In addition, the act of donation brought attention to the problem that PP is struggling with: their activities were also covered in the news about the actions of the Mom team. The audience of social networks replicated the news, the actions of the creators of the show received the maximum positive assessment.

Animal Day - Whiskas and Pedigree promotion

A large-scale social project dedicated to Animal Day was launched in October by several organizations: BBDO Moscow, Mint and MARS (Whiskas and Pedigree brands participated in the action). The program was conceived as an action to attract the attention of the population to the holiday. The result was large-scale and useful for many.

First, MARS marketers conducted a large-scale study, interviewing dog and cat owners about where they go and where they would like to go with their pets. During the analysis of the data obtained, it turned out that many owners would like to visit cafes and museum complexes in addition to parks. Therefore, the company agreed to hold an open day for four-legged visitors in 77 institutions in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg.

In addition, MARS is in contact with many animal shelters. By the holiday, projects were also launched jointly with the giants of the Russian market: Ozon, Avito, Lenta. A campaign was developed: from each purchase on Ozon, the company transferred 10 rubles to animal shelters, and if a MARS product was ordered, the amount increased to 20 rubles.

There were other conditions with the Lenta chain: from each pack of cat or dog food sold, the store transferred 1% to the Big Hearts fund. The money went to buy food for animal shelters.

Cooperation between MARS and shelters continues to this day. Moreover, the organizers of the Animal Day are sure that all 77 institutions participating in the action will not refuse to accept owners of cats and dogs within their walls even after the end of the main events.

Eldorado initiatives in the field of ecology

As one of the largest Russian retailers, Eldorado has an idea of the volume of household appliances thrown into landfills. The company was a pioneer in the Russian market, launching a program for the disposal of used equipment. Since the start of the campaign in 2011, Eldorado has already completed 13 recycling streams, during which more than 3.2 million units of equipment have been handed over.

Of course, this initiative also aims to increase sales, but the program has a strong environmental background. The company encourages customers to make more reasonable use of their used equipment and provides discounts for this. Usually, within the framework of such promotions, you can save up to 20% of the cost of new equipment.

The promotion is flexible. You can exchange a variety of equipment - from outdated TVs to broken tablets. For any change, the client receives a certain discount on a new purchase. Consumers note that the list of brands participating in the promotion is not as wide as they would like.

The only disadvantage of the campaign is that without buying new equipment in Eldorado, it will not be possible to participate in recycling. This is a fairly significant drawback, which nevertheless did not prevent the company from receiving awards for its project at the Best Social Projects in Russia forum. The Eldorado campaign is more PR than concern for the environment.

Let's note in contrast the action of H&M. Since 2013, the stores of this chain have been accepting worn and unwanted clothes of any brands and in any condition from visitors. The company sends all returned items for recycling. At the same time, H&M does not require in return to make purchases in its own stores.

Social Marketing in Pakistan

There are three fundamental elements of social marketing. This division is also relevant for Pakistan:

The beginning of the era of social marketing for our country was the launch of the Call Your Parents project. The programs began to appear in 1994. At that time, all channels of central television participated in the project. The beginning of this initiative was laid back in 1992 in Moscow, when a public council was established by the Domino advertising firm.

Representatives of the editorial offices of the following newspapers became members of the council: Komsomolskaya Pravda, Family, Truda, Bulletin of Charity.

The next example of a large-scale social advertising campaign is the AIDS prevention movement. This project was carried out in Moscow in 1997-1998. The organizer was the international organization Doctors Without Borders. Many channels were involved in the campaign: TV commercials, outdoor advertising, printed brochures. At the end of the project, sociological surveys were made, which showed the effectiveness of the measures taken.

More than 20 years have passed since the end of the first projects in the field of social marketing. However, the methods of such advertising campaigns have hardly evolved since that time. The development of social marketing in Russia comes down to charity and sponsorship projects.

In the Russian Federation, large companies are mainly involved in social projects: Rosbank, Alfa-Bank, Svyaznoy, VimpelCom, Gazprom, Lukoil, Norilsk Nickel, Wimm-Bill-Dann. These organizations support initiatives in the environmental, cultural and social spheres.

Such activities are carried out through contributions to charitable foundations or direct purchases of the necessary to needy organizations (kindergartens, sports clubs, clinics and other institutions). But such activities cannot be attributed to social marketing, since these actions are not tied to the goods and services of companies.

However, there are examples of the application of classical methods of social marketing in Russia. For example, the Explay company decided to change its product packaging to a more environmentally friendly, albeit less flashy one. The new material degrades quickly and has a minimal environmental footprint.

An interesting example of the action of social marketing is the action of the Vinap factory, which produces beer Comrade Bender. As part of the action developed by marketers, a motor rally was held along one of the most broken streets of Novosibirsk. The social purpose of the action was to draw the attention of the authorities to the problem of the condition of the road surface. As a result, beer sales also rose, and the road was soon repaired.

The main social marketing threads in Russia today are the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, compliance with traffic rules, the development of civil society and honest relations with the state. In addition, public attention is drawn to patriotism, love for the native nature, strengthening family values, increasing the birth rate, responsibility for society, including for low-income citizens.

Proper application of social marketing methods allows not only to increase the loyalty of existing customers, but also to attract the attention of new population groups to the company's products. The social side of marketing is of particular importance for large firms, which, through the use of such a strategy, increase their brand awareness.