Social Marketing Plan
1.Executive Summary
Social marketing is to sell ideas, attitudes and behaviors to the audience, and it is defined as something different from the business marketing, because it fucuses on the benefit of the target audience and the general society(Weinreich 2006).According to the survey of the World Health Organization, college students die for suicide everyday, and the number of youth suicide is expectable annually. In order to reduce effectively such tragic events and change people’s behavior, this report is going to launch a social marketing plan, aiming at increasing the quality of people’s lives. Firstly, it will introduce the status of the youth suicide with data from survey and accordingly carry out a suitable social marketing activity, “Smile every day”. Secondly, it analyze the key target audience and the secondary target audience in the area within Guangzhou, and describe the characteristic of the target audience. Thirdly, it lists out the behavioral drivers, competition, environmental condition, offering measures to tackle with the competition and the road block. The last but not the least is that the theoretical underpinnings for behaviour change, which explains the internal logic of the behavioral change. Through the analysis above, this report is committed to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the social marketing plan for reducing the youth suicide rate.
1. Executive Summary..................................................................................................... 1
2. Social issue Identification............................................................................................ 3
2.1 Background........................................................................................................ 3
2.2 Youth suicide in Guangzhou.............................................................................. 3
3.Target audience analysis............................................................................................... 6
3.1 Target audience.................................................................................................. 6
3.2 The criteria for selection..................................................................................... 6
3.3 The characteristic of target audience.................................................................. 7
3.4 Psychographic analysis.................................................................................... 7
4.Behavioral drivers and Competition analysis................................................................ 8
4.1 Behavioral drivers.............................................................................................. 8
4.2 Analysis of target audience attitudes towards the issue....................................... 8
4.3 Explain the value exchange offer–benefits to uptake....................................... 9
4.4 Explain the barrier behaviors to uptake.............................................................. 9
5.Environmental analysis............................................................................................... 10
6.Theoretical underpinnings for behaviour change........................................................ 11
7.Social marketing project objectives and recommendations......................................... 12
7.1 Recap: behaviour to change.............................................................................. 12
7.2What conditions need to be altered (i.e. resourcing/services etc) to facilitate behaviour change 12
7.3 Identify any ethical considerations................................................................... 13
8. Conclusion................................................................................................................. 13
9. References................................................................................................................. 13
10.Appendix.................................................................................................................. 15
2.Social issue Identification
2.1 Background
Every year, students dying for suicide appears in the global universities and in the recent years, the number of suicide is increasing. It has brought the irretrievable losses to the nations, society and the families. Around the world, suicide has become the fourth one of the main causes of death. Within China, the problem of youth suicide is highlighting as well. According to the survey of the World Health Organization, China has been the one of countries facing the high youth suicide rate. And suicide has been the fifth one of the main causes of death.
The fortune is that, surveys from nations reveal that providing knowledge of suicide prevention for the audience and changing audience’s attitude towards suicide and suicidal behavior is an effective one of the methods to reduce suicide rate.
2.2 Youth suicide in Guangzhou
In a large number of deaths, the youth suicide is particularly highlighting. Moreover, the latest survey published recently in the Canadian Medical Association Journal found that suicide can be contagious, especially among young people. Most people tend to group suicide into two categories: suicide attempts and suicide deaths（Zhang 2007）.
Observed by the table of the survey aiming at the universities of Guangzhou, we can find that incidence rate of suicide attempts in college student groups is up to 37.4%, and incidence rate of attempting suicide is 3.6%. Furthermore, the factors like resident, grade, mental health condition and family background do affect(Wei 2009).
|
|
incidence of suicide attempt |
incidence of attempting suicide |
|
Student group |
37.40% |
3.60% |
|
from town |
|
4.33% |
|
from countryside |
|
2.33% |
|
above 4th grade |
67.76% |
|
|
having mental problem |
66.00% |
20.41% |
|
mental health |
26.56% |
1.65% |
|
having relatives with suicidal experience |
38.41% |
5.31% |
|
not having relatives with suicidal experience |
38.00% |
3.25% |
Table 1: The incidence of suicide attempt and attempting suicide of different characteristics variable.
2.3 Contributing Factors of suicide
According to the result of the survey in 2009 and the table above, we assume that the factors of suicide can be described as External factors and internal factors.
External factors include the family background, social impact and recognition of university.
Internal factors include personality characteristics, self-concept, mental status, physiological factors, lifestyle and negative psychological events.
2.4 Social initiatives
Base on the problem, and the analysis of data and contributing factors, the effective initiative, carrying out the activity named “Smile every day” is enacted to help reduce the incidence of suicide.
The activity will be held within the universities in Guangzhou. It encourages college students to smile to at least one stranger per day. Firstly, the initiators and the school leaders take part in the activity and then write down their feelings and recommendations on the social communication platform, such as Microblog, WeChat, BBC of school and etc. The broadcast of school reports the activity and interview the participants, in order to gain more popularity for the activity and get more involved. Also, advertisement should be made on the internet that the students often visit, like BBC.
Through this activity, students in school can feel the kindness from others when others respond to your smile.
However, because the “Smile every day ” has its limitation to help students with mental problems, the psychological counseling and helps from schools and society should be emphasized, too(Liao and Li 2005).
2.5 Strategic analysis of the initiatives
Strengths:
1. The key target audience are easy to persuade and they are open to try new things and the suicide attempt is also easy to get rid of;
2. The initiative is for the benefit of social impersonality;
3. People may get involved to get start from a smile, so that to be an outgoing person and to have a positive lifestyle.
4. A psychologically healthy person can live a happy life and is likely more popular among the crowd;
5. It helps improve the universities’ impact;
6. Many similar previous steps had been proved to be effective;
7. The suicide problem is being taken seriously, so it can get the support from the parties. |
Weaknesses:
1. It may hard to change the negative impact from families;
2. Mental illness is a chronic problem, and it takes time to work it out;
3. A person with mental problem is likely to be involved in the a vicious cycle, which makes he feel no hope for future;
4. A person with mental problem and even suicide attempt can not easily be recognised;
5. The developing society pose inevitably great pressures on the college students, such employment pressure.
|
Opportunities:
1. External forces are willing to help improve the mental health of college students and keep them away from suicide;
2. There appears more and more entertainment for college students to relax, avoiding the negative impact.
3. It’s easy to shape a network and form a stable transmission effects. |
Threats:
1. Unhealthy mental pattern have a long-term impact;
2. The initiatives may be easy to become a routine, the purpose of which will be ignored. |
3.Target audience analysis
3.1 Target audience
The key target audience is undergraduate college students in Guangzhou, and the secondary audience is the universities in Guangzhou.
3.2 The criteria for selection
1）Affected by the problem (or have the ability to change the environment of those affected by the problem).
2）Likely and willing to change their behaviour.
3）Easily accessible by you or your partners.
4）One that your stakeholders are interested in reaching.
5）One that fits in with your organization's priorities.
6）Have behaviors that are easy to change.
7）One that has available existing research you can use.
8）One that is not currently being targeted with other programs
3.3 The characteristic of target audience
1)They have open and speed mind, value reality, action, and underestimate the theory(Xu, Song & Fu 2013).
2)Tendency of emotional tolerance and unmoral attitude coexists.
3)A variety of interpersonal communication and indifferent relationship coexists.
4)The strong independent consciousness and the expansion of individualism coexists(Yang 2013).
5) However, according to the research on the characteristic of the students, there is the relationship between suicide and the high introversion, low self acceptance. It can be assumed that those who choose to end own lives are often affected by surroundings, and they tend to have few friends and poor social impersonality. Moreover, they tend to be self-abased(Liang 2010).
3.4 Psychographic analysis
1)Diversity of the value. The formation of youth values is based on the image and the information they have attained. However, the real contact of reality is limited. They have open mind for new things, so it can be easy to carry out the “Smile every day” among them, What’s more, they have the ability to distinguish, so they will solve the mental problem with proper guidance from the psychological counseling.
2)Interpersonal relationship. The problem of interpersonal relationship most caused by the mental problem. Therefore, they need to face squarely the problems and concentrate on the positive aspect in the life.
3) Psychological pattern of college students is inward, so the mental problems will be accumulated if they never speak out. Therefore, universities should always emphasize the importance of asking helps from psychological counseling.
4) The individual spirit is developing, and the spirits of college students can be changed.
5) Temperament and character, which varies from individuals. For the fortune that they have realized that it makes the popular to have an outgoing and optimistic mind, and many of them tend to change the negative characteristic.
6) Emotional problems. There exists respectable number of students getting hurt from love, some of them may go to extreme in which. So the universities are obliged to form a good atmosphere for students got hurt emotionally to go for psychologic counseling(Fei 2001).
4.Behavioral drivers and Competition analysis
4.1 Behavioral drivers
External factors include the support from family , social impact and recognition of university(Cerel et al. 2013).
Internal factors include personality characteristics, self-concept, mental status, physiological factors, lifestyle and etc.
4.2 Analysis of target audience attitudes towards the issue
1) College students basically tend to think that suicide is self-control, and in this matter, girls hold stronger opinion than boys. Properly because generally boys have calmer and more rational minds than girls. It will mislead them to go extreme when they think the problems can not be worked out. Thus, gender differences should be paid attention to in the publicity and education. Guidance and communication of boys should be emphasized.
2) Students majored in economics and management have the most discriminational attitude on suicide. While students majored in literary history hold the most tolerant attitude towards suicide. These are results from the influence of their professional knowledge, which make the students majored in business pay attention to the costs and benefits and make the students majored in humane form more positive values and outlook on life.
3) Students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan hold more discrimination towards suicide than students from mainland in China. The different living environment and culture may do influence them with the values.
4) However,students who are unsatisfied with the marks, having little money, and having great burden from family tend to agree that suicide is unpreventable and uncontrollable. This group of students will be more comprehensive and tolerant when it comes to suicide(Cai et al. 2010).
4.3 Explain the value exchange offer–benefits to uptake
College students' the possibility of suicide attempt is relevant to others’ possibility of suicide in their minds. However, their perceptions mostly are incorrect. Therefore, it’s important to understand the difference between the social climate, which the target audience perceived and their actual behavior(Bandura 2002). If the initiatives, which bring the affirmative information and guide them to find the positive side of life are taken to influence college students, then it will work out an effective result.
There are two basic factors for the success of initiatives. Firstly, the positive attitude of target audience towards the target behavior should be above the negative. Moreover, perhaps the most important one that the TA must believe that he/she has the ability or technique to achieve the target behavior(Bandura 2002). With the help of society and universities, it will be beneficial for the students to set up the right idea and convince that they can have a high quality life through following the initiatives.
4.4 Explain the barrier behaviors to uptake
The barrier behaviors come from the college students’ lacking of courage to change, the inevitable factors and the deeply-rooted negative mind.
Firstly, the universities are obliged to form a positive atmosphere and supply students with proper guidance to face their own problem and give the feasible suggestions. Also, universities should keep up with the situation with the students. Secondly, since some inevitable factors like employment pressure from the society are can not be avoided and wiped out, students ought to struggle with the difficulties and spare no effort to get what they really want, instead of repenting and redressing errors. Finally, although the stereotype of the unhappy memory from family is difficult to get rid of, the students could widen own sight by traveling, reading and making friends with mentors.
5.Environmental analysis
1.Policies. Recently ,there is not any legislations or rules to ban compulsively suicide at all circumstances. However, it does not mean that the international society has no methods to prevent people killing themselves.
The United Nations had formulated a handbook, the aim of which is to encourage countries all around the world to enact the national scheme for suicide prevention, according to the actuality of nations and the basic frame of social welfare(Du 2011).
The Article65 of the New Insurance Law has stipulated that the insurer shall not be liable for payment of insurance money with committing suicide. And it also stipulates that if the Insurer commits suicide 2 years after the conclusion of the Contract, the Insurer may pay insurance money in accordance with the Contract(ChinaDaily 2006).
2.Economy. Although Chinese economy is developing quickly, a recenly survey conducted by China Economic Monitoring and Analysis Center predicted that rising unemployment would be the biggest challenge for China's economy this year. Many young people, including lots of college graduates, are fired or have to stay at home. With the pressure and the fear of unemployment, many students, lacking either abilities or well-off family background, afford to the burdens physically and psychologically, which may becomes the cause of suicide.
For the fortune that the Chinese market has been expanded to various areas, which produces a lot of opportunities to the college students. As long as one work hard, come down to the earth and have a positive mind, he will get his place in this society.
3.Society. The current welfare system is to benefit almost all the people, and more and more commonweal organizations intend to help those having mental problems, which reflects the social caring. It’s a good way for college students who have mental problems to ask for help.
4.Technology. There are more and more high-tech products to bring entertainment to people, such as the computers, ipad, mobile electric products. It offers different means for people to have fun without the limitation of time and space. As the technology changes our lifestyle a lot, people can choose the most suitable and comfortable way to live, so that it helps people to reduce the bad feelings in the life. However, as the technology develops, more and more social network appears, which can be tools to broadcast the “Smile every day”.
6.Theoretical underpinnings for behaviour change
The social cognitive theory is put forward by Bandura, who made a huge contribution to psychology, and it emphasize the recognition of the target audience will affect the the behaviour. So the behaviour will be changed after changing the previous recognition of the target audience(Kotler 2006). College students' the possibility of suicide attempt is relevant to others’ possibility of suicide in their minds. However, their perceptions mostly are incorrect. So through the “Smile every day”, students can see the smiles of many others, which will change the recognition of the target audience and make them feel that people around are living happy and comfortable lives. The positive mental hints will effectively reduce the suicide attempt.
The reinforcement theory is put forward by Skinner , and it points out that the reinforcement can shape behavior(Robbins 2011). If people get the joy after doing the specific behavior, than this behavior will likely be repeated afterward. Therefore, when one smiles to others, he/she will feel the joy from the bottom of the heart. This experience will make him/her repeat this behavior.
7.Social marketing project objectives and recommendations
7.1 Recap: behaviour to change
1) Carrying out the “Smile every day” activities, in order to help students have the right self-sense and form the positive values. Moreover, helping them to broaden the social relationship and build up the good social personality.
2)Reconstruct The Campus Culture, make dense the joyful atmosphere and develop various culture activities.
3) Emphasize the education and the effect of families, nake greater efforts to publicize and expand social impact.
7.2What conditions need to be altered (i.e. resourcing/services etc) to facilitate behaviour change
1)As college students’ world view, philosophy and values are in the forming process, they ought to seize all the opportunities to widen their own horizon and enrich the soul by walking miles, reading books of real worth and making friends with mentors.
2)Universities is not a place to introduce the new to students, instead of training them as the workforce. So it will help college students form the healthy personality if the university do not judge the right or wrong all the time ,and allow and encourage the students to persue what they really value and what they really love.
3)It will be better if the government allow “Smile every day” to be held within Guangzhou and offer different places.
7.3 Identify any ethical considerations
As culture is different from nations to nations, there may exist the cultural conflict(Armstrong et al. 2009). If someone from the conservative country is send respect to by the strangers in the school, he/she may feel bullied. So when the activities are on, people ought to keep in mind that people from different nations vary from each other.
8.Conclusion
This report has focused on the social issue of youth suicide and made a social marketing plan to help reduce the youth suicide rate regionally. Youth suicide has become the common concerned topic of the whole international society at present, for once it happens, it will do much harm to a family. The survey of “Suicide Idea and Suicide Attempt of Some University Students and The Influence in Guangzhou” shows that , there exists external factors and internal factors contributing to form the suicide attempt, including the family background, social impact and recognition of university, personality characteristics, self-concept, mental status, physiological factors, lifestyle and negative psychological events. According to the survey and some other materials, an activity named “Smile every day” was set up to help the college students who have mental problem out. There are advantages of this activity. On the one hand, it helps those suffer from huge pressure; on the other hand, it can provide opportunities for students to make friends with others in the universities. However, it may not work out without helps from universities or society. To recap, the activity is following the “4P” principle. Product is the positive attitude and kind behaviors; Prize is what the participants are supposed to do and the input of universities and society; Place is within universities; Promotion is through the social networks and the broadcast.
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10.Appendix
Table1 : Wei Zhaoyu. 2009, ‘A Study on Suicide Idea and Suicide Attempt of Some
University Students and The Influence in Guangzhou’
