Social Marketing – a perspective on marketing in the public sector

In our day-to-day lives when we come across marketing campaigns, the majority of them are done with the lens of pushing out a product or service and taking it to the audience. It is very rare that we come across marketing efforts that are done with a ‘social’ lens and which are aimed towards the public sector, with a motive of bringing in a change or difference. Thanks to Prof. Wendy Greenwood, I had the opportunity to attend a session by Ms. Caroline Berryman, Manager Communications, Community Engagement & Marketing, York Region. The essence of this session was to provide us an insight into marketing within the public sector and how different it is from private sector marketing.

The first thing that Caroline really emphasized was that as marketers it is very essential to constantly evolve and be flexible, and there should be a willingness to adapt to new roles and assignments. It is very essential to stay updated and be ready to unlearn and learn as per the situation. This really resonated with me as I firmly believe that not embracing the change is often the biggest hindrance to our growth.

“Nothing ever stays the same. Things change, things evolve and you've got to keep yourself updated and keep on top of all the latest trends” – Caroline Berryman

Public vs. private sector - How different is Social Marketing

Caroline mentioned how success in marketing in the private sector is measured by the fact that whether the sales figures have been achieved, however in the world of social marketing it is very different. In social marketing we are not selling a product as such, in fact, we are selling an idea. It is all about changing behaviors and educating a certain audience, thereby influencing positive behavioral changes that can benefit individuals and communities. She further elaborated this with campaign examples such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving, emphasis on wearing seat belts etc.

I firmly believe that it is quite challenging to work in the public sector because to ‘market’ an idea and to ensure that it reaches the audience and resonates with them, it needs a lot of effort and conviction. There is no pre-defined formula and one needs to have a lot of passion and belief in the idea in order for it to work. Social marketing is aimed at the greater good and that takes consistent efforts.

Caroline also mentioned how it is initially difficult to adjust in the public sector as everything is driven by protocols and approvals. But she explained that this is necessary as all efforts ultimately impact the people in that region and the governing bodies and elected officials need to have a heads up before something is implemented.

Challenges & opportunities in Social Marketing

Unlike private sector marketing, social marketing is aimed at selling an idea, and to do that one needs to be genuine and display authenticity. Not having a genuine approach can have adverse effects on the brand and can make the intended audience completely averse to the idea. These campaigns need to be real and have an authentic message in order to strike a chord with the audience. The audience should be able to believe that the message is coming from an authentic source. Caroline gave the example of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ campaign in which they brought in ‘real people’ who were involved in this campaign and they drove the whole campaign in the York region. It is essential that ‘you speak through the people’ when sending a message out to the audience. This reinforces credibility and reliability.

The best opportunity in social marketing is that one gets to see how people really feel and it is easier to gauge their sentiments.

Social Marketing Case Study

Source : https://www.york.ca/newsroom/campaigns-projects/project-pollinator

Caroline allowed us to put on our rookie social marketer hats for a bit and presented us with a real life case study that she is currently working on in the York region. The campaign is called Project Pollinator and the idea is to transform the regionally owned boulevard into a pollinating bees and butterflies meadow. The idea was to promote this idea to the residents and make them take ownership of this whole campaign.

Our task was to create a social marketing communications campaign that would motivate the residents to get involved in the ‘meadow naming’ contest. Our focus was to engage the community and get them excited about this upcoming meadow. This was a great learning experience as we thought of ideas from a non-commercial lens. We came up with ideas such as generating QR codes at the community center to spread awareness and involving kids to participate and get a chance to meet the mayor. All these ideas were aimed at creating a buzz and engaging the community at large. We also toyed with the idea of conducting events for kids and giving away badges for completing various tasks, giving them seeds for plantation and thereby generating a sense of enthusiasm around the upcoming meadow. We also thought of a social media campaign on the lines of ( We are Bee-tter, together! Campaign) in which user-generated content will be encouraged and shared to create additional excitement.

Takeaways

I really wanted to understand from Caroline, what does it really take to effectively reach out to the audience and what should we be cognizant of. Caroline spoke about the impact of content marketing when it comes to social marketing in the public sector because you are essentially reaching out to various kinds of audiences and it is important for the message to reach them in the way it would create the maximum impact. Having the right ‘language lens’ really matters.

Another thing that will stay with me after this session is that social marketing is all about looking at things from a social lens, from a non-commercial angle. In the realm of social marketing, it is all about projecting a genuine image and caring for the audience, for real. In life sometimes that is all we need, to have a genuine and caring perspective towards things. That is what truly sets us apart and as marketers, if we can inculcate these qualities, we can really make a difference.