Abstract
Successful conservation in the United States relies on collective stewardship by millions of private landowners, challenging those agencies and nongovernment organizations tasked with engagement and outreach. Perennially limited resources compound this challenge, highlighting a deep need for efficient social marketing. In the following research, we test the efficacy of two social marketing strategies—microtargeting and normative appeals—through a randomized controlled trial of an integrated social marketing campaign targeting riparian landowners in the Pennsylvania portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. We used a microtargeting algorithm to predict landowners’ likelihood of responding to a conservation outreach campaign to create treatment groups of high-likelihood prospects versus random prospects (i.e., no microtargeting). A normative appeal was also included as an experimental factor in the campaign communicating that forested riparian buffer investments were common among similar landowners. Among microtargeted landowners, we observed a 66% increase in response to a riparian restoration survey compared to the control group. Additionally, we found a significant influence of a normative message among random (nonmicrotargeted) prospects, increasing response by 23% over the control group. We conclude conservation outcomes may be more efficiently achieved by deploying these marketing techniques on a wider scale to a variety of conservation challenges.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 26-39 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| Journal | Social Marketing Quarterly |
| Volume | 25 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Mar 1 2019 |
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All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Economics and Econometrics
- Marketing
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More “Bank” for the Buck : Microtargeting and Normative Appeals to Increase Social Marketing Efficiency. / Metcalf, Alexander L.; Angle, Justin W.; Phelan, Conor N.; Muth, Allyson; Finley, James C.
In: Social Marketing Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 1, 01.03.2019, p. 26-39.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
TY - JOUR
T1 - More “Bank” for the Buck
T2 - Microtargeting and Normative Appeals to Increase Social Marketing Efficiency
AU - Metcalf, Alexander L.
AU - Angle, Justin W.
AU - Phelan, Conor N.
AU - Muth, Allyson
AU - Finley, James C.
PY - 2019/3/1
Y1 - 2019/3/1
N2 - Successful conservation in the United States relies on collective stewardship by millions of private landowners, challenging those agencies and nongovernment organizations tasked with engagement and outreach. Perennially limited resources compound this challenge, highlighting a deep need for efficient social marketing. In the following research, we test the efficacy of two social marketing strategies—microtargeting and normative appeals—through a randomized controlled trial of an integrated social marketing campaign targeting riparian landowners in the Pennsylvania portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. We used a microtargeting algorithm to predict landowners’ likelihood of responding to a conservation outreach campaign to create treatment groups of high-likelihood prospects versus random prospects (i.e., no microtargeting). A normative appeal was also included as an experimental factor in the campaign communicating that forested riparian buffer investments were common among similar landowners. Among microtargeted landowners, we observed a 66% increase in response to a riparian restoration survey compared to the control group. Additionally, we found a significant influence of a normative message among random (nonmicrotargeted) prospects, increasing response by 23% over the control group. We conclude conservation outcomes may be more efficiently achieved by deploying these marketing techniques on a wider scale to a variety of conservation challenges.
AB - Successful conservation in the United States relies on collective stewardship by millions of private landowners, challenging those agencies and nongovernment organizations tasked with engagement and outreach. Perennially limited resources compound this challenge, highlighting a deep need for efficient social marketing. In the following research, we test the efficacy of two social marketing strategies—microtargeting and normative appeals—through a randomized controlled trial of an integrated social marketing campaign targeting riparian landowners in the Pennsylvania portion of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. We used a microtargeting algorithm to predict landowners’ likelihood of responding to a conservation outreach campaign to create treatment groups of high-likelihood prospects versus random prospects (i.e., no microtargeting). A normative appeal was also included as an experimental factor in the campaign communicating that forested riparian buffer investments were common among similar landowners. Among microtargeted landowners, we observed a 66% increase in response to a riparian restoration survey compared to the control group. Additionally, we found a significant influence of a normative message among random (nonmicrotargeted) prospects, increasing response by 23% over the control group. We conclude conservation outcomes may be more efficiently achieved by deploying these marketing techniques on a wider scale to a variety of conservation challenges.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85059472808&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85059472808&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1524500418818063
DO - 10.1177/1524500418818063
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85059472808
VL - 25
SP - 26
EP - 39
JO - Social Marketing Quarterly
JF - Social Marketing Quarterly
SN - 1524-5004
IS - 1
ER -