Social Media Marketing Strategy for Curbing Smoking

Running head: SMOKING
Smoking
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

SMOKING 2
SMOKING
Target Population
Smoking is common in youths and adults in nearly all countries of the world
(Surgeongeneral.gov, 2019). For example, more than six hundred thousand middle school
students and three million high school students smoke cigarette (Surgeongeneral.gov, 2019).
Statistically, smoking prevalence is higher among HIV infected adults who are aged between 40
years and 49 years than those aged between 18 and 29 years (CDC, 2017). Smoking rates differ
from country to country. For instance, Andorra, Luxembourg and Belarus are the top three most
smoking nations across the globe whereas Dominica, Togo and Zambia are the least smoking
nations around the world (Smith, 2018). The UK on the other hand is 79th in the smoking rank
(Smith, 2018). Ethnicity is also a contributing factor towards the prone populations related to
smoking. For instance, the rates in England are above average in mixed and white ethic groups
unlike in Chinese, black and Asian ethnic groups where the rate of smoking is below the average
(Public Health England, 2018). Statistics show that American Indians/ Alaska Natives have the
highest percentage in the proneness to cigarette smoking (CDC, 2018). Among the American
Indians, women have recorded a higher percentage of smoking (24%) compared to men (19%).
Following the above data, our promotional strategy is set to curb smoking among the women
who are at the youth and young adults stage (20-45 years) in America specifically in the Alaska
Native ethnic group.
Social Marketing Strategy
Social media advertisement is the best priority for the organization. The promotional
strategy has proven to be vital in reaching the target groups. As a strategic plan for effective
implementation of the marketing process, it was vital to consider the 4Ps of marketing. Social
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SMOKING 3
media marketing strategy has proven to adequately encompass the principles of the 4Ps of
marketing.
The first P is the product itself. Our products are differentiated (both services and
tangible products) to cater for all level clients in the smoking industry. For instance, pills such as
Bupropion (Zyban) are essential in cutting ones craving for tobacco. Another product is
Varenicline (Chantix) which helps with the craving for nicotine and withdrawal symptoms.
Furthermore, we promote nicotine replacement therapy such as inhaler, lozenges, chewing gum,
nose spray, and adhesive patch which have proven to minimize the motivation to consumption of
tobacco (Nagesh and Wadgave, 2016).
Pricing of our products play a vital role in expanding our market. We use competitive
pricing strategy where prices of the competitors in the market are analyzed before setting a
favorable price to lure more customers in the market (Varstreetinc, 2019). We also use cost-plus
pricing strategy. In this case, the total production expenses are calculated and narrowed down to
a unit cost to which a reasonable profitable amount (markup) is added to define the price of our
products (Bragg, 2018). Lastly, we employ a price penetration strategy whereby a lower price is
set while introducing a new product to the market before gradually increasing with the demand
(Kenton, 2019). Social media advertisement is cheap thus encourages promotional kind of
pricing of products.
Our next P is Promotion, which involves the dissemination of the product information to
consumers by differentiating it from other products and services. Social media marketing would
involve the use of familiar platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, twitter. Facebook, for
instance, would provide a larger promotion platform to reach out to the target population due to
its widespread use and affordability. The cost of using social media platforms is way-down
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