This research article is entitled “Social Marketing in the relationship between brand and consumer”. It is part of the magazine Coyuntura & Análisis (number 72) of the Faculty of International Studies of the Institución Universitaria Esumer Medellín (Colombia).
Brands and consumers coexist in a society where there are problems that directly affect people. In this scenario, brands have the opportunity to contribute to solving these problems. In this way, they can advance as a society and manage to awaken emotional states that generate memories in the minds of consumers.
When we talk about social marketing, we are referring to a strategic tool that is capable of generating superior value perceived by the consumer
It is capable of generating a superior value perceived by the consumer. The idea is to maintain or improve the well-being of the individual and the society he/she lives in.
There are problems of various kinds, such as ecological, economic, social or cultural, among others. The mission of social marketing is to generate links between the brand and the consumer. To do so, it must mediate conflicts between the consumer’s short-term desires and the long-term welfare sought by society.
This whole system revolves around three key axes: the company’s profits, the consumer’s desires and society’s interests.
In today’s society, with an increasingly educated and informed consumer, perception tends to bring him closer to the reality of the impacts that marketing wants to provoke in him. Therefore, today’s consumer expects brands to understand the social reality and to act in a positive, real and sincere way. This will be regardless of the commercial focus they obviously develop.
Philip Kotler, the world renowned marketing expert, cites an interesting definition:
“Social marketing refers to the design, implementation and control of programs that seek to increase the acceptability of a social idea or practices in groups.”
Photo credit: IUE
