Societal Marketing - Definition

Definition

The societal marketing concept holds that the organization’s task is to determine the needs, wants, and interests of a target market and to deliver the desired satisfactions more effectively and efficiently than competitors in a way that preserves or enhances the consumer’s and the society’s well-being.

Therefore, marketers must endeavour to satisfy the needs and wants of their target markets in ways that preserve and enhance the well-being of consumers and society as a whole. The concept has an emphasis on social responsibility and suggests that for a company to only focus on exchange relationship with customers might not be suitable in order to sustain long term success. Rather, marketing strategy should deliver value to customers in a way that maintains or improves both the consumer's and the society's well-being.

Various attempts to define the objectives of societal marketing have been noted, such as :

• "Social responsibility implies that a business decision maker... is obliged to take actions that also protect and enhance society's interests.
• "Business has the responsibility to help .... It s the duty of business to promote proper consumption values.
• "Business leaders are mandated to adopt roles of leadership in the advancement of our society to new levels of moral conduct.