The DEL Executive Education program is pleased to offer, for the very first time this fall, “Intermediate Environmental Social Marketing Strategy” (IESMS). Social marketing is a communication tool that applies theories of human sociology to affect behavior change. The course is designed to help environmental professionals across the country and around the globe to successfully develop a campaign to change a specific environmentally-focused behavior. Taught by DEL instructor Brian Day, the course helps participants apply practical field-based tools to their own professional projects. To understand how Day’s lessons in social marketing strategy are helping to shape environmental initiatives here in the Duke community, we reached out to one of the current IESMS participants: second-year Master of Environmental Management (MEM) student Jennifer Cole.

Cole is working on a project for the Duke Carbon Offsets Initiative (DCOI). To reach the goal of carbon neutrality for Duke University by 2025, DCOI seeks to offset carbon emissions.  Cole gave us the lowdown on her group’s efforts “to create effective marketing content for the Clinton Climate Initiative’s Home Energy Affordability Loan program, which provides energy efficiency to employees of companies across the country as an employer-sponsored benefit.” The key is to persuade employers to offer these benefits – which is exactly where social marketing strategy comes into play!

DCOI photo

Cole and her team are creating marketing content for home energy efficiency programs. (photo courtesy of Duke Carbon Offsets Initiative)

“My client [DCOI] expressed interest in one of my team members or I enrolling in this course,” says Cole. Social marketing makes use of key concepts in the study of human behavior, a topic that environmental professionals generally aren’t familiar with. “Since my project is marketing-based and neither my team members nor I have marketing experience, the course is extremely useful for our project methods and analyses.” For Cole, the topic of social marketing also represents a springboard for future work: “I will definitely use it as I move into a PhD program in environmental behavior next year!”

You can read more about IESMS on our website. Registration is open now for the upcoming companion course this spring: “Environmental Communication for Behavior Change.” The principles of communication and behavior change lay the foundation for environmental social marketing. And as always, keep an eye on our upcoming courses for the latest information on new course offerings for environmental professionals.

written by Laura Marie Davis, MEM ’17