A strengths-based approach to eliciting deep insights from social marketing customers experiencing vulnerability

ABSTRACT

The notion of vulnerability is relevant to much of social marketing as interventions often involve people seeking support or people experiencing disadvantage. However, the deficit-framing of people experiencing vulnerability is problematic. We propose that the alternate strengths-based approach will improve social marketing success and illustrate this with data from a project aimed at widening participation in tertiary education. Using data from interviews and co-design workshops with 87 school students and recent school leavers, we offer a new evidence-based definition of customer/consumer vulnerability that is strengths-based. We also present a five-step, evidence-based process for how social marketers can use a strengths-based approach (SA) to elicit deep insights (I) from the tacit knowledge of customers/consumers experiencing vulnerability (V). We term this process SAIV and demonstrate the value of tacit knowledge in intervention innovation and how a strengths-based approach can draw out tacit knowledge. We encourage social marketers to adopt a strengths-based approach, definition of vulnerability and process to enhance intervention efficacy.

KEYWORDS:

• Vulnerability
• social marketing
• critical social marketing
• education
• co-design

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge the assistance of Natalie Bowring, Kara Burns, Mackenzie Geeves, Natalie Sketcher and Rachel Hay. We would also like to acknowledge the support of the larger project’s team being Ms Mary Kelley, Sandra Bridgeland, Kate Flynn, Gabrielle O’Brien, Laura Boer, Professor Sue Trinidad, Professor Lynne Eagle, Professor Judy Drennan, Professor Gayle Kerr, Dr Cathy Cupitt and Dr Diane Costello.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Ethics

Queensland University of Technology Ethics Approval Number 1500000847.

Notes

1. Henceforth referred to these as ‘student personas’ to encompass both current and recent secondary school enrolment status.

Additional information

Funding

Funding for this project was provided by the Australian Government through the Higher Education Participation and Partnerships Program (HEPPP) National Priority Pool.

Notes on contributors

Maria M. Raciti

Maria Raciti is a Professor of Marketing at the University of the Sunshine Coast. Maria is passionate about social justice, particularly redressing educational inequality. Professor Raciti is a Director of the Indigenous and Transcultural Research Centre, an Adjunct Fellow with the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education and was part of an Australian Government departmental task force that led to sector-wide reform to tertiary education. Maria is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK), is regularly engaged as an expert advisor and has undertaken several large-scale research projects that have produced meaningful and impactful outcomes.

Rebekah Russell-Bennett

Rebekah Russell-Bennett is a professor in marketing and co-director of the Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology (BEST) at Queensland University of Technology. She has an international reputation for research and industry relevance in the field of Social Marketing (using commercial marketing to address social problems such as alcohol consumption, chronic disease, water usage, electricity use, public transport and diet). Rebekah uses theories and frameworks from services marketing and social marketing to co-create useful services and products that support people in their life, protect the planet and enable organisational success. Rebekah is the immediate past National President of the Australian Association of Social Marketing (the peak industry body for social marketing in Australia). For details of Rebekah’s Real World Projects in Social Marketing, visit her Service thinking website: www.research.qut.edu.au/servicesocialmarketing. Rebekah is the winner of the 2020 Robert Johnson Best Paper award in the Journal of Service Management on the topic of Transformative Services and Wellbeing. Rebekah holds a PhD in marketing, is the co-editor for the Journal of Services Marketing (A ranked Q1 journal) and has published over 250 peer-reviewed articles with 90 articles in international journals.

Kate Letheren

Kate Letheren is a researcher in the Centre for Behavioural Economics, Society and Technology at QUT. She is an active researcher in the areas of consumer psychology and service interactions, with a specific focus on how consumers engage with humanised technologies like artificial intelligence and robotics. Her work has been published in journals such as the European Journal of Marketing and Tourism Management. Dr Letheren also holds a research interest in marketing education and sits on the editorial board for the Journal for the Advancement of Marketing Education and the Marketing Education Review. Dr Letheren is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.