Social Marketing

The health communications field has been rapidly changing over the past two decades. It has evolved from one-dimensional release on public service announcements to more sophisticated approach, which draws from successful techniques used by commercial marketers, termed "social marketing". Rather than dictating the way that information is to be conveyed from the top-down, public health professionals are learning to listen to the needs and desires of the target audience themselves, and building the program from there. This focus on the "consumer" involves in-depth research and constant re-evaluation of every aspect of the programme. In fact, research and evaluation together form the very cornerstone of the social marketing process.