Anyone who has been involved in trying to convince others to change their behaviors (ride the bus instead of driving a car, take reusable bags to the grocery store instead of using paper or plastic, water the lawn once a week for 30 minutes instead of three times for 15 minutes each) knows the transitioning process takes time. As Psychology Today says, we are creatures of habit - and habits that have been acquired during a lifetime don’t just disappear overnight.

It takes time, people!

One of the challenges with behavior change is being persistent and looking for fresh, new ways to engage with the target audience. The Monday Campaigns is a strategy developed to take advantage of the “periodicity” of Mondays - because they just keep coming. It’s a brilliant approach that can be adapted to just about any behavior. The possibilities are endless.

Take a look at The Monday Campaigns website and you’ll almost certainly come away with a few good ideas.

-Sue Gillespie

Social marketing and social media are not the same.

The similar terms cause confusion, especially among those who aren’t familiar with social marketing and may think it’s simply another name for social media.  Not so.

Social marketing is about causing behavior change.  The changes have a positive effect on society:  fewer people who smoke, which reduces health problems and associated costs; greater use of non-toxic weed and insect controls, leading to less water pollution; fewer drivers talking on cell phones, resulting in decreased accidents and deaths.  These are just a few examples.

What’s most fascinating about social marketing, in my opinion, is that it seeks to achieve behavior change by identifying both what prevents people from changing and what will motivate them to make the desired change.  While this sounds intuitive, it’s surprising how often we overlook such a logical approach.

Understanding these “barriers and benefits” is a first step in building a road map for true behavior change.  The greater our knowledge, the better equipped we are to develop programs designed to achieve success.

Creating effective social marketing strategies is a bit more complicated than just identifyng barriers and benefits.  That said, the process is straightforward and reasonable.  And the end results are immensely satisfying.

-Sue Gillespie