Quick Reference:Community-Based Social Marketing
When members of a community use resourceswisely, for example by recycling or taking masstransit, a community moves toward sustainabil-
ity. To promote sustainability, then, it is essential to have a firm
grasp of how to effectively encourage individuals and
businesses to adopt behaviors that are resource efficient.
Most initiatives to foster sustainable behavior rely upon
large-scale information campaigns that utilize education and/
or advertising to encourage behavior change. While educa-
tion and advertising can be effective in creating public
awareness and in changing attitudes, numerous studies show
that behavior change rarely occurs as a result of simply
providing information (see Chapter 1 of the online guide at
www.cbsm.com). Community-based social marketing is an
attractive alternative to information-based campaigns.
Community-based social marketing is based upon research in
the social sciences that demonstrates that behavior change is
most effectively achieved through initiatives delivered at the
community level which focus on removing barriers to an
activity while simultaneously enhancing the activities
benefits.
Community-based social marketing involves four steps:
1) Identifying the barriers and benefits to an activity, 2)
Developing a strategy that utilizes “tools” that have been
shown to be effective in changing behavior, 3) Piloting the
strategy, and 4) Evaluating the strategy once it has been
implemented across a community.
Identifying Barriers and Benefits
Research indicates that each form of sustainable behav-
ior has its own set of barriers and benefits. For example, the
factors that impede individuals from composting are quite
different from those that preclude more sustainable forms of
transportation. Even with apparently closely associated
activities such as recycling, composting and source reduction,
different sets of barriers and benefits have been found to be
important.
Barriers to a sustainable behavior may be internal to an
individual, such as one’s lack of knowledge, non-supportive
attitudes or an absence of motivation. On the other hand,
barriers may reside outside the individual, as in changes that
need to be made in order for the behavior to be more
convenient (e.g., providing curbside organic collection) or
affordable (e.g., subsidizing public transit or compost units).
Multiple barriers and benefits may exist for any form of
sustainable behavior. As a result, community-based social
marketers begin the development of their marketing plan by
identifying these barriers and benefits.
Uncovering barriers and benefits involves three steps
(see Chapter 2 of the online guide at www.cbsm.com). Begin
by reviewing relevant articles and reports. Next, conduct
obtain qualitative information through focus groups and
observation to explore in-depth attitudes and behavior of
residents regarding the activity. Finally, conduct a survey with
a random sample of residents.
Prior to conducting a literature review, ensure that you
have a clear mandate. That is, you need to know exactly what
behavior(s) you are to promote. For example, a mandate to
promote waste reduction is too general, while a mandate to
promote curbside recycling and backyard composting has
the level of detail you need to focus your literature search. In
conducting the literature review consult four sources: 1) Trade
magazines and newsletters; 2) Reports, 3) Academic articles,
and 4) Authors of reports and articles that you found particu-
by Doug McKenzie-Mohr, Ph.D.
Environmental Psychologist
www,cbsm.com

2Community-Based Social Marketing
larly useful.
The literature review will assist you in identifying issues
to be further explored with residents of your community
through focus groups, observation and surveys. Limit the
size of each of your focus groups to 6 to 8 people and make
it easy for people to participate by providing services such as
childcare and transportation. Come to the focus groups with
a set of clearly defined questions that have been informed
by your literature review. The facilitator of the focus groups,
must clearly steer the discussion and ensure that all partici-
pants feel comfortable in participating. Have an assistant
who takes notes during the group. Don’t provide information
about your program prior to the focus groups as this
information will influence the information you receive from
participants. When the focus groups are completed, tabulate
the responses that you received and identify barriers and
benefits that are mentioned by significant numbers of
participants.
Focus groups are useful in obtaining in-depth informa-
tion but are limited by the small number of participants and
the influence that the group itself has upon what each
member feels comfortable saying. Surveys overcome these
two limitations.
Observational studies of specific behaviors are another
valuable tool. By directly observing what people do you can
more easily identify skill deficits, sequences and incentives
that are already at work to reward existing behaviors.
Observational studies help reduce the problems of self-
report data and get the researcher much closer to the
community and the behavior. Observation is also useful in
evaluating behavioral compliance, particularly for behaviors
where people are being asked to learn and maintain new
skills.
Conducting a survey consists of seven steps.
First, begin by clarifying the objective of the survey. Do this
by creating a survey objective statement which indicates the
purpose of the survey. This statement can be used to ensure
that you have the support of your colleagues before pro-
ceeding. This statement can also act as a reference when
later deciding upon the relevance of potential survey items.
Second, list the items which are to be measured. Note that
at this point you are not concerned with writing the ques-
tions, but rather with identifying the “themes” or “topics” that
will be covered in the questionnaire.
Third, write the survey. In writing the survey avoid “open-
ended” questions since they are difficult to analyze and
extend the length of the survey. Further, limit yourself to only
using a few types of scales for “closed-ended“ questions, as
this will speed conducting of the survey. When selecting
how many options to provide on the scale, use six- or seven-
point scales as they provide a broader range of answers than
scales with fewer options. Whether you select six- or seven-
point scales, stay with your choice throughout the survey. As
you write your survey, ask four questions of each item: 1) Is
this a question that can be asked exactly as written?; 2) Is this
a question that will mean the same thing to everyone?; 3) Is
this a question that people can answer, and 4) Is this a
question that people will be willing to answer?
Fourth, when the survey is completed ,take the time to pilot
it with 10 to 15 people. Piloting the survey allows you to
scrutinize the wording of the questions and the length of the
survey. Don’t include the data you obtain from the pilot with
the data you obtain from the actual survey.
Fifth, select the sample. Surveys are most useful when the
respondents are randomly selected from your community. A
sample has been randomly selected when each adult in the
community has an equal chance of being asked to partici-
pate. When this criteria is met, you can generalize your
results back to the whole community with confidence.
Sixth, conduct the survey. If you are conducting the survey
in-house, see the set of instructions for interviewers provided
in Chapter 2 of the online guide at www.cbsm.com. If the
survey is being conducted for you by a research firm you can
expect that it will take approximately a week to two weeks
for the survey to be completed.
Seventh, analyze the data. Unless you have someone on
staff with a statistical background, you will want to have the
survey data analyzed for you. In having the data analyzed,
ask for a thorough description of those individuals who are
engaging in the activity, as well as for those that are not