Community Based Social Marketing

Community Based Social Marketing (CBSM) is a concept that works on the idea that information is not enough to change behavior of people. Instead, it actually engages the community in a way of showing benefits and techniques that can be used to achieve goals for a great social good.

The advantage of social marketing is that it targets people in communities that are ready and willing for a change. CBSM isn’t just another advertising campaign, but rather a strategically planned out message to target a specific audience.

To facilitate change, there needs to be a goal in mind, and therefore some questions need to be asked to help develop successful plan
1. What is the social and environmental problems that need to be addressed
2. What actions can be taken to address these problems properly
3. Address who your audience is and how you are asking them to take action
4. What kind of exchange does the audience want for adopting the new behavior
5. How will you make the audience believe what you are offering is real and true
6. Who is your competition and what are they offering opposed to your concept
7. What is the best time and place to reach and intrigue your audience
8. How often and from who does the concept have to be presented
9. How can I integrate the audience to influence their behavior
10. Do I have the resources needed to create this concept alone; and if not, where can I find useful partners

After the 10 initial questions are tackled, the campaign experiences five steps that benefit the community marketing and allows the model to adapt to different situations. Any possible barriers and benefits can be examined on a case by case basis. Literature research, focus groups and surveys can be performed to gather information. Once the possible barriers have been identified, emphasis can be placed on correcting or avoiding them.
After this, a pilot program can be run and tested and evaluated. The initial testing is vital because the results can be compared to expected results and then adjustments can be made as necessary.

The fourth step is implementing the project after all the changes have been made. A project that has been evaluated will have a success rate when compared to a project that has not given appropriate attention to potential problems