Social Marketing
Nutrition and Physical Activity


What Makes Social Marketing Different?

Marketing Mix

The marketing mix, also known as the "4 P's," is made up of four parts that, together, create the exchange offered to the target audience

  • Product: What the audience gets or what you offer; can be tangible items, intangible benefits, or the behavior itself.*
  • Price: What the audience gives up to get a tangible product; also the costs or barriers to making the desired behavior change.*
  • Place: Where the audience is located or gathers, performs the desired behavior, accesses. products/services, or is thinking or hearing about the health issue.*
  • Promotion: Messages, materials, channels (path used to reach the target audience), and activities to promote behavior change and describe the product, price, and place features of the program.*

Each of these 4 "P's" is explained in more detail in the next few pages of this module. All of the 4 P's are interrelated and somewhat overlapping. If you change one, it is likely to have implications for the rest.

*Definitions adapted from CDCynergy: Social Marketing Edition