Jeff French writes: on the do’s and dont’s of a Social Marketing Plan

In my last post I looked at the 10 key rules for implementing a social marketing programme. In this posting I want to look at the key elements of a Social Marketing Plan and what to avoid.

10 things to include in your Social Marketing plan:

1. Explicitly define the problem. Set out the challenge (Challenge / Problem Statement) and context (e.g. SWOT STEP Gap and Competition analysis.
2. Mobilise all your assets Set out the human and financial resources and assets required / available, including contributions from stakeholders and partners.
3. Target and segment the audience. Select and set out the primary and secondary audience describing how you have segmented them.
4. Undertake behavioural Analysis Identify key influences, benefits, rewards, blocks and barriers to the desired behavior
5. Set out clear behavioural goals Set out aims and behavioural objectives for the work, and SMART objectives for the programme.
6. Define and describe the proposition Set out what you are offering (the core benefits) and how this will be delivered.
7. Develop and test. Set out how you will pre test or pilot your proposals and how they will be monitored and evaluated. Also, address any ethical issues, how to coordinate stakeholder and partner’s contributions to the programme.
8. Implement. Set out the final aims and objectives for the programme. Describe the elements of the action you will take and the period for this action.  Spell out who will do what and when. Set out how you will monitor and review progress; manage you stakeholders and partners and finally what action you will take to capitalise on opportunities that arise or manage risks or threats that arise
9. Evaluate. Undertake process, (measuring the efficiency of the programme) , impact evaluation ( short-term effects of the intervention) and outcome evaluation ( the change in behavior that you wish to measure)
10. Learn and improve. Set out a plan for how you will share your findings with others within your organization, area and more widely.

Things not to do

1. Let people think that Social Marketing is just about flashy promotional events, materials development, mass or new media promotions.
2. Develop material that is driven by what ‘experts ‘think people need.
3. Undertake actions that are not informed by market research or client insight.
4. Run programmes or projects that you don’t evaluate.

Final tip:

Remember the first duty of a Social Marketer is to market Social Marketing to non marketers. We need to ensure that a marketing mind set is embedded within all our organisations so that they can become more effective and efficient.

Professor Jeff French is a non-executive Director of The Campaign Company, a professor at Brunel University and a Fellow at Kings College University of London. He founded and established the National Social Marketing Centre in England and currently is chief executive of Strategic Social Marketing Ltd. He will be a keynote speaker at the 2nd World Social Marketing Conference in 2011 in Dublin