Deck 18: Marketing Nutrition and Health Promotion

Question 1

Compare and contrast the goals of traditional marketing and social marketing and provide an example of each.

Answer 1

Marketing is a fundamental part of any company to sell its products and services. There are various approaches to market a product or a service. The key to success lies in making a correct choice of marketing campaign and execute it successfully.
Traditional marketing concepts target to sell a product with a goal to reach the target audience by making its product or services attractive. A company uses traditional marketing strategy to determine the following things:
• What are the needs of a customer (with respect to a product)
• If the company can produce the product or not
• If the company can supply/produce enough product to meet the demand
• How to market a product
Example: Marketing a tooth paste or a soap
Social marketing is a comprehensive effort to influence the acceptability of social ideas in a population, for the long-term well-being of society as a whole. Social marketing aims at changing the attitudes or behavior of the people.
Example: Campaign against smoking, safe driving

Question 2

Discuss the steps that the community nutritionist takes in developing a marketing plan.

Answer 2

The following are the steps a community nutritionist takes in developing a marketing plan:
1. Define the objective of the program
2. Locating the target
3. Create an image of the product or services being offered
Consider an example of a nutritionist planning on "consuming a healthy diet", the marketing strategies to be employed can be discussed under the 3 broad categories mentioned above:
Define the objective of the program : The success of a marketing strategy depends on defining the objective clearly. A questionnaire is to be prepared that helps to plan a proper marketing campaign. The questionnaire can have questions on the following:
a. What is commonly found in the society
b. What is the purpose of the program to be implemented
c. How it is achieved
Locate the target : The next thing to do is to map the target audience. The following shall be considered to map the target:
a. Age group b. health status of the targets c. socio-economic conditions
d. Cultural identity e. ethnicity
e. Foods that are available regularly and at cheap cost
f. Foods that taste good and are healthy
g. Easy to prepare food items
Once the preliminary work is done, the nutritionist can think on the marketing methods which are most effective. They are as listed below:
a. Advertisements in print and electronic media
b. Posters
c. Peer nutrition educators
d. Articles in local media
e. Contests and debates among the peers
f. Surveys
g. Automated messages to the phones
h. Nutritionist - public interactions and conferences
Once execution of the program is initiated, further more marketing strategies can be implemented as listed below:
a. A trail run and assessment of the program (initial step) feasibility and its public reach
b. Information about the nutrition program in the local media, posters, and campaigning peer nutrition educators
c. Develop materials and display at various places to educate people, in the form of powerpoint presentations, booklets, and letters
d. Initiate public intervention in taking part in the program
e. Emphasize in the community the need of healthy citizens and how the program can help achieve it
f. Economical and financial benefits
During the implementation phase, regular assessment of effectiveness of the program shall be done, which helps to determine if the marketing strategies worked out or any new input is needed to achieve the goal. Feedback from the target audience helps to refine the program.

Question 3

Define market segmentation and illustrate how it is used effectively to market nutrition interventions.

Answer 3

Market segmentation is division of potential and actual markets into distinct and homogenous subgroups. It is a marketing strategy to subdivide consumers perceived to have common needs, interests, and priorities, and then design strategies to target them. Market segmentation offers the following benefits:
• Demographic segmentation of target groups
• Geographical segmentation
• Psychographic segmentation
• Behavioristic segmentation
Market segmentation to market nutrition interventions: When a nutrition intervention program is to be implemented, market segmentation helps it the following ways:
• An understanding of the demographics helps to get information on the total population of the area where the program is intended to be executed
• Rate of change of population
• Age and sex distribution
• Socioeconomic status
• Rate of change of population
• Health related information of the population
Age and health related information of the population is particularly important to a public health nutrition program.
Once segmentation is done, the following decisions can be made further:
• Select the target markets (target audience)
• Develop positioning for each target market
• Develop marketing strategy for each target market
The marketing strategy includes the following things:
• Product - in terms of its necessity, quantity, quality, features, and services
• Place: Location of its production, transport, coverage, and inventory
• Price: the market price, discounts, credit terms
• Promotion: Advertising, personal promotion, publicity
• Branding: to build a brand value and brand image

Question 4

Describe methods for collecting both primary and secondary data for a situational analysis.

Question 5

Based on a specific community nutrition program, product, or service:
a. identify your target market
b. describe an appropriate marketing mix for your target market
c. develop a marketing strategy to promote the program, product, or service