Social marketing and public health strategy

This chapter explores how social marketing can be used to add value when developing a public health intervention that is designed to influence attitudes and behaviour. It examines the difference between how social marketing can add value to policy selection, strategy development, and operational social marketing programme delivery. The chapter explores the challenges of influencing public health policy and approaches to using social marketing principles to inform public health policy and strategy development. The advantages of developing a strategic approach to the application of social marketing are also covered, including a description of what constitutes the application of a strategic social marketing approach and how it can be analysed and evaluated. The implications for project and programme delivery, including the need for vertical and horizontal integration, are also examined.