The ABC's of Social Marketing

Marketing your adult literacy program is what this manual is all about. Social marketing, as it is called, refers to an exchange process whereby products of value are exchanged. More about the definition of social marketing will be discussed later.

Many social marketing techniques are based on the work of commercial advertisers or "Madison Avenue." Madison Avenue has been very successful making you believe that you need hamburgers or power tools or fabric softener or designer jeans. In fact, Madison Avenue's success is in making some segments of the population believe that they MUST have the latest in flavored sodas or lite beer or toothpaste. Social marketing's challenge has been to market those products — services, persons or ideas — which are often seen as less critical to our very existence to a community whose support is necessary.

Services such as orchestras or the Boy Scouts of America or the local library are easier to "sell" than adult literacy. Fears, anxieties, uncertainties, shame, all conspire to make literacy difficult to sell. In addition, the population needing to become literate, particularly the most alienated and disadvantaged segment of the population, is by definition difficult-to-reach. This manual will help you get into your program the students who should be there — those who need the services the most.

To start the instruction, you'll be using an exercise that is helpful as an "Icebreaker" once all the introductions are over. If you are doing the exercise alone, see how many of the statements describe you. If the exercise is being done in a group, follow the instructions given.

In addition to very nicely breaking the ice, this exercise raises your awareness of marketing. Each one of the statements in the exercise is related to the field of marketing, illustrating that you already know quite a bit about marketing, based on your life experiences! That you know the answers already is a basic tenet of adult education. What training accomplishes is to help organize the information in a more usable form to accomplish your purposes. As the instruction continues, we will be returning to your knowledge quite often.