ABSTRACT
Good social marketing starts by appraising the situation, understanding the problem and assessing the competing forces, and only then begins to deduce possible solutions. This chapter focuses on the four key orientations of social marketing: client orientation, creative orientation, collective orientation, and competitive orientation. These orientations build on the concept of mutually beneficial, complex exchanges and become strategic drivers when combined with relational thinking and recognition of the need to engage with multiple stakeholders. The chapter discusses how commerce has embraced relationship marketing, and the enormous benefits that can result when social marketers do likewise. It also discusses the importance of insight and creativity in ensuring client engagement. The chapter outlines the various types of competition faced by the social marketer. Social marketers share the commercial sector's commitment to 'consumer-oriented' thinking and argue that attempts to influence social and health behaviour should also start from an understanding of the people we want to do the changing.
