Developing a Social Marketing Program

This assignment proposes a social marketing program, 'A healthier you', aimed at improving the health of university students. The program will introduce courses on healthy eating and exercise, provide incentives for students to attend these classes, and be evaluated based on return on investment. The program's objectives, target audience, and evaluation methods are outlined in this document.

Running Head: SOCIAL AWARENESS CAMPAIGN 1
Social Awareness Campaign

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Introduction
Social marketing refers to the process to develop and integrate the marketing approaches to the
social change process. It is the process of developing activities, through which the organization
can maintain the behavior so that individuals and the society can benefit as a whole. Social
marketing is different from other forms of marketing as it is focused on influencing the social
behaviors to influence the target audience and the society. In the current report, a marketing plan
is proposed for the social issue of health in the younger population of the students in Canadian
University of Dubai Campus. The social campaign will be targeted to improve and motivate
people to lead a better and healthy lifestyle. It marketing plan is focused to improve the lifestyle,
whether it is regarding the mental/social, physical choices (Roncancio et al, 2017). The healthy
lifestyle can be achieved through food choices and training. The major challenge in the public
health is the lack of awareness for the health and obesity. This phenomenon is negatively
impacting on the health of the young people. Youth is attracted towards unhealthy junk foods
and the life style has resulted in lack of exercise among the employees. The current marketing
plan will promote regular exercise and the inclination towards healthy lifestyle.
Situational Analysis
The situational analysis is focused in analyzing the current situation of the youth obesity and the
awareness of the youth regarding the obesity, health eating and regular exercise. In this essence,
the current section is focused on conducting SWOT analysis of the current situation.
Strengths
 There is substantial awareness of the
obesity
Weaknesses
 Financial constraints
 Current lifestyle which leads to

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inactivity and consumption of junk
food
Opportunities
 There is opportunity to initiate the
campaign in the University campus to
gain access to large number of people
Threats
 Advertisements of fast food chains and
junk food companies
 High cost of healthy food
 Lack of accountability
The above situational analysis sheds light on the current situation of the students in the
university. The students are aware of the severe consequences due to the lack of exercises.
However, they do not have to the time or the motivation to engage in exercise. As the University
is vibrant with the youth, the people are not likely to engage in the cooking activities. The
healthy food available in the University campus is very costly for the students (Hyder, 2016).
Therefore, it is important that the university conducts some intervention approaches for
motivating the University students towards positive behavior.
Selection of Target Audience
The target audience refers to the audience with specific set of demographic or psychographic
features, which will be influenced by the decision. The target audience refers to the intended
audience of a publication or advertisement to promote a product or service. The target audience
can be categorized according to the demographic or the psychographic features. The focal point
of the current marketing campaign is the University candidates or the youth, who are not

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engaged in the physical activities. Therefore, they are the intended audience of the organization.
It is important to determine the target audience of the marketing campaign, so that the marketing
efforts can be focused and effective (Zhu & Chen, 2015). If the target audience of an
organization is not determined; then it is very challenging to fabricate an effective marketing
campaign. The target markets of the social campaign are:
Primary Target Market:
Young Students registered in the Canadian University: Several students registered from different
ethnicity and nationality has come across to study as the Dubai Campus of the Canadian
University. They are in the age group of 18-30 with graduation and post-graduation qualification
status. The behavioral information includes the hobbies and interest of the target consumer. In
the present case, the target consumer have the behavioral characteristics of the target audience is
excessive sitting and lack of physical activity (Tuten & Solomon, 2017). As the schedule of the
target audience is very busy, the youth is attracted towards junk food, which is not healthy for
the health.
Secondary Target Market:
The secondary target market of the present marketing campaign is the youth living in the near
vicinity of the University. It is a social marketing initiative; therefore, the youth from the nearby
universities will also be invited to the organization. The students from the external university are
also invited to participate in the health programs (Heinze, Fletcher, Rashid & Cruz, 2016). They
can enroll in the university programs by giving small fees.
Set Behavioral Objectives and Target Goals

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The behavioral objectives and target goals of the current marketing campaign are to promote
health awareness of the target audience. The behavioral objectives of the marketing plan are
mentioned below:
 The young people should be more informed and well-aware of the negative effects of the
lack of activity and consumption of junk food (Truong, 2014).
 The target audience should learn about the benefits of the exercise and they should
regularly engage in small physical exercises.
 The target audience should understand the importance of healthy living and the
importance of the eating home-made food.
 The target audience should practice healthy eating and cooking.
Target Audience Barriers

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Goals Barriers Benefits Motivators Competition
Increasing
awareness for
health and
related issues
Lack of audience
interest
No dedicated
communication
channel
Healthier living
can lead to better
performance at
the school
It can increase
positivity and
energy in the
lives of the
students
Healthy living
assists an
individual in
looking and
feeling his best.
It can be
beneficial in the
future career
growth of the
individual
Appearance and
sports
performance
People busy in
their schedule
have limited time
to raise their
awareness
regarding the
profile
Regular exercise Laziness
Busy schedule
Find exercise
boring
Increase
happiness and
positivity
Helps fighting
depression,
anxiety or stress
Regular exercise
leads to healthy
and fit body.
Business in
schedule

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Ease the weight
loss process
Increase the
energy level
Healthy cooking
and eating
High cost of
healthy food
Fit body
Healthy living
Healthy body Wide availability
of junk food
Developing a Positioning Statement
The positioning statement is an important component of the marketing plan of an
organization. An organization should follow three crucial steps, while developing a positioning
statement, namely, selection of the target market, what unique value the organization is
providing to the customers and why the customers should believe in the brand.
The brand positioning statement is the most effective statement of the organization, which is
important in engaging the customers of the organization. Therefore, it is important to create an
effective brand positioning statement for the organization. The brand statement should be able to
transmit the features of the product, and why it is special. It should be focused on the target
market and the message should be able to convey, why the organization is loves its target market.
It is important in representing the position of the organization in the competitive landscape
(Carins & Rundle-Thiele, 2014). In the present, a positioning statement is framed, which makes

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the uplifts the standard of the organization. The positioning statement of the current marketing
plan is, “A healthier you”.
Developing a Strategic Marketing Mix
The marketing mix is an important component of the marketing plan. The following section
discusses the marketing mix of “A healthier you”. It is a strategic intervention
In the present section, a marketing mix is designed for the marketing plan:
Product: The product is the approaches and behavioral interventions, which can prevent the
obese and unhealthy behavior among the young generation. In the present, a new session or
subject will be initiated for all the students, which will promote physical exercise. The University
can also provide healthy food in the canteens or cafeteria. Other than that, a regular program can
be introduced in the University courses, which promotes the importance of the health to the
university students (Spears et al., 2015).
Place: The organization will organize community sports and recreation programs in the local
neighborhood. They will be organized when the time is convenient for the University students.
Price: Different price strategies can be used to determine the prices of these intervention
strategies on the users. The introduction of new course will require addition in the overall tuition
fees of the University. However, the university will reduce the overall impact by reducing only a
small level of fees. There can also be a time cost for the University students. However,
engagement in the physical activities will be mandatory and will provide score incentives. It will
promote the young individuals to participate in the physical activities.

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Promotion: The marketing intervention is focused towards the students of a specific University.
Therefore, local media channels such as brochures or news bulletins on the notice board will be
suffice.
Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan
The evaluation of the marketing plan requires the use of sales numbers, return on investment,
response from the consumers and the overall efforts of the employees and the sales partners.
There are several benefits of the monitoring the marketing activities such as clear management
and control of the activities, critical input to the evaluation process, and a valuable audit of the
services supplied to the customers. In the monitoring plan, the output or the goals of the activities
will be monitored. The advertising efforts of the marketing campaign will be examined through
quantitative research (Ashley & Tuten, 2015). A survey will be conducted with the University
students to evaluate whether the students are familiar with the advertising efforts of the
organization.
Another evaluation method is the investment of the budget in the marketing plan. It is important
to ensure that the marketing plan is financially controlled and can easily be managed (Zarrella,
2009). It is important to outline the objectives of the marketing plan and evaluate whether each
of the following objectives is met by the organization.
Conclusion
In the present section, a marketing plan has been proposed for the social cause of obesity and
unhealthy eating. Today, young generation is unaware of the health issues caused by unhealthy
eating and lack of exercise. It is a major social issue and the government and the social
organizations should take initiatives to make changes in the social habits. In this regard, a social

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marketing program, ““A healthier you” has been proposed. As per this program, the University
should initiate programs which can enhance the level of health among the University graduates.
The program will introduce course and provide incentives to the students, who attend these
classes. The program will be evaluated according to the return on investment of the program.

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References
Ashley, C., & Tuten, T. (2015). Creative strategies in social media marketing: An exploratory
study of branded social content and consumer engagement. Psychology &
Marketing, 32(1), 15-27.
Carins, J. E., & Rundle-Thiele, S. R. (2014). Eating for the better: A social marketing review
(2000–2012). Public Health Nutrition, 17(7), 1628-1639.
Heinze, A., Fletcher, G., & Rashid, T., & Cruz, A. (2016). Digital and Social Media Marketing:
A Results-Driven Approach. Taylor & Francis.
Hyder, S. (2016). The Zen of Social Media Marketing: An Easier Way to Build Credibility,
Generate Buzz, and Increase Revenue. BenBella Books, Inc.
Roncancio, A. M., Ward, K. K., Carmack, C. C., Muñoz, B. T., Cano, M. A., & Cribbs, F.
(2017). Using social marketing theory as a framework for understanding and increasing
HPV Vaccine series completion among Hispanic adolescents: A qualitative
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Tuten, T. L., & Solomon, M. R. (2017). Social media marketing. Sage.

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Zarrella, D. (2009). The Social Media Marketing Book. O'Reilly Media, Inc.
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