Social Marketing Strategies of Successful NGOs - A Strategic Perspective with Reference to Selected NGOs in the States of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Governments, especially in developing and emerging economies, are limited in their capacity to promote social development, due to scarcity of resources to handle such a formidable task. The tax base is too narrow to generate adequate funds for a multitude of competing needs. Governments do not have sufficient number of trained staff with a focused approach who can implement social marketing programs effectively at the grass roots level. An important drawback with governments in developing countries is their "multilayer” or hierarchical approach, characterized by bureaucracy and delay in decision making, which reduces their effectiveness in implementing programs. Unlike the NGOs, which have the capacity to work closely with their beneficiaries, governments are far removed from their beneficiaries.