Addressing complex social problems with a multi-environmental stakeholder coalition

Individuals exist within an environmental context that strongly influences their overall health and welfare. Environmental context refers to the context in which a person lives, works, and socializes. This paper presents a social marketing strategic planning model which begins by analyzing the micro, meso, and macro environments to identify causes or influences of a target social issue or problem. Contributors to the social problem are prioritized with respect to the degree to which they exert influence or causality. Next, stakeholders (those who have some interest in the social problem) are identified. Stakeholder perceptions and values are examined in order to develop an effective coalition of stakeholders who can work collaboratively at the various environmental levels to ameliorate the target social problem. As social marketing has evolved in order to develop more effective solutions to complex social problems, integrating a systems approach is useful to understand the dynamics influencing the social problem. Individuals are not targeted myopically but placed into an environmental context to understand and respond to influences on unhealthy behaviors and living conditions. Engaging a coalition of stakeholders who are motivated to alleviate the causes of the social problem must be skillfully managed by social marketers but offers promise in addressing complex social problems.