ABSTRACT
The challenges facing the field depend on whether one is broadening or is deepening the application. It seems obvious; therefore, that if asocial marketer had some sort of mental roadmap or social science model about how what they do may have its effect, then they could design strategies with a higher probability of succeeding. Social marketing has been around long enough so that there are a number of organizations in existence that have 15 to 20 years experience implementing and advising about social marketing. Despite the healthy skepticism of its critics, social marketing is both deepening and broadening its market penetration. Social marketing in its formative years was primarily associated with health problems as represented by two of the most important early applications, contraceptive marketing and high blood pressure. Although health applications continue to dominate, there has been a broadening in the application of the technology to other areas.
