Role of social marketing in promoting primary care to succeed in current era

Social marketing has expanded its purview in the modern era aiming at a behavioral change of target audience on a large scale. Public health practitioners now admit the value of community-based approaches to social change. Three main patterns of health education materials are social marketing communication material, information and education communication (IEC) material, and behavior change communication (BCC) material. Social marketing is a strategy based on marketing principles of selling products. The communication material suggests that the healthcare option for a particular disease is the best solution, and therefore choice or critical thinking is not necessary. IEC strategy attempts at informing people and increasing their knowledge about a disease, having them use it as a basis for action. BCC strategy promotes individual change leading to healthy community behavior. Social marketing communication material for communities should be creative, innovative, original, with clear messages in English and other local languages, reproducible, acceptable, and reflective. Primary care requires customizing health education material using translatable strategies based on social marketing to change health-care patient behavior for wellbeing. The concept of social marketing should be emphasized in early medical education. In the present times, doctors and medical students should be informed about different communication strategies to transform communication material into program tools to achieve health.