Application of social and relationship marketing in Pakistani NGOs

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.