Social Marketing is the environmental professional’s secret weapon.  It is the skill you didn’t even know you needed in order to make the world a better place.  The Nicholas School Executive Education (NSEE) program is pleased to once again offer “Intermediate Environmental Social Marketing Strategy” (IESMS) as an online course this fall beginning the week of October 3, 2016.

What is Social Marketing?  Simply put, it’s a strategy 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.  Want to encourage people to bag their pet’s waste in order to improve water quality in your local community? Use a social marketing campaign.  Perhaps the most famous example is the US Forest Service using Smokey the Bear to advise us that, “Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires.”  That’s powerful stuff – getting people to change their behaviors when there is no financial incentive or personal gain.  That’s social marketing.

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About our class:  Instructor Brian Day helps participants apply practical field-based tools to their own professional projects.  You can read more about IESMS on our website. Registration is also now open 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 Allison Besch, Director of Executive Education programs, with excerpts from an article by Laura Marie Davis, MEM ’17 (Fall 2016 newsletter)