Abstract:
The term Social marketing was introduced by Kotler in 1971.
However it has just gained popularity in the last decade in
the key sectors of the economy in developed countries like
US, Canada and Australia.
This study shows the usefulness of the social and
relationship marketing in the NGO sector. The findings of
this study show that the performance of an NGO can be
improved by applying the concepts and tools of marketing
such as promotion, branding and positioning.
The information regarding the subject matter has been
accumulated through the open-ended discussions with the
staff members of five national NGOs. Being an exploratory
research, qualitative research analysis techniques have
been followed.
The present study has explored that the concepts of social
and relationship marketing are unknown within the NGO
sector of Pakistan. Pakistani NGO staff is against the use
of relationship marketing tools such as branding and
considers such techniques to be related with the commercial
businesses for profit seeking purposes only. They are
unaware about the ultimate benefits of branding on any
NGO’s major objectives. However, few NGOs are applying
creative social marketing techniques in their programs.
It is suggested that hiring the marketing specialized
workforce can assist NGOs in the application of effective
social and relationship marketing. Where as the application
of effective social and relationship marketing in the NGOs
can bring benefits such as increased awareness, effective
communication, time & cost savings, long term customer
relationships as well as the community support.
