Social Marketing

Social marketing has become increasingly important in healthcare as public health entities and not-for-profit organizations have attempted to promote services to their target audiences. Even for-profit healthcare organizations may have occasion to utilize social marketing techniques. While social marketing utilizes many of the methods employed by traditional marketers, significant differences exist. This chapter provides an introduction to social marketing, describes some of the techniques that have been adopted by social marketers, and explains the importance of health communication for this endeavor.