Societal Marketing in organizations aims in fulfilling the demands and needs of the consumers effectively and efficiently than their competitors keeping in mind the well being of the consumers and the society. This concept of societal marketing is based on social responsibility and it suggests that a company which only believes in exchange relationship with the consumers might not sustain long in the market. Therefore it is emphasized that marketers must look into satisfying the needs of the customers keeping in mind the well being of the society as a whole. There are various objectives of societal marketing, some of them are:
• Marketing and business leaders should adopt roles of leadership for the advancement of society and to achieve new levels of moral conduct.
• Social responsibility implies that a business leader before taking any decisions should think about the protection and enhancement of the society.
• The main of such businesses would be to help the consumers and to induce proper consumption value amongst them.
Societal marketing should not be confused with social marketing. Societal marketing includes integrating issues of social responsibility into commercial marketing strategies. Whereas, social marketing is completely opposite, it uses commercial marketing tools and techniques to social causes. Societal marketing can be defined as a marketing strategy which has a social dimension which includes non economic criteria. It is concerned about society's long term interests. Societal marketing clearly makes the outline between immediate consumer satisfaction and the long term benefits.
The categories of product (according to Kotler) and Societal marketing
The categories of products are as follows:
1. Generic Product – It includes all the qualities of the product. For example for a warm coat, it is about material, fit and all the related qualities of the product.
2. Core Product – It indicative of the basic