Community-Based Social Marketing

Purpose: to help other instructors teaching the same course

Common Course ID:  30487
CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: These open resources, including peer-reviewed articles, video content, and other materials, are used in an undergraduate marketing course taught by Dr. Shikha Upadhyaya at California State University, Los Angeles. The resources provide students with an overview of core concepts and practical examples that support applied learning. They also help the instructor reinforce and clarify key ideas through active learning exercises in class. A primary motivation for adopting an open textbook is to make course learning more accessible and affordable for all students while leveraging a wide range of high-quality, openly available materials. Most students access these resources through the course modules, which include links to the university library and other openly available sources.

Course Title and Number - Community-Based Social Marketing - MKT 3950
Brief Description of course highlights:  Applies the marketing process to building and developing community-based programs in the surrounding Cal State LA community. Considers the role of local business, non-profits and government utilization of marketing to engage and shape community behaviors for collective good. https://ecatalog.calstatela.edu/preview_course_nopop.php?catoid=75&coid=551135  

Student population: MKT 3950 is an upper division, Ge course with Civic Learning (CL) designation. This course is open to all majors. Typical students enrolled in this course include students from various majors at various academic levels.

Learning or student outcomes: 
SLO 1. Comprehend the history and development of marketing in socially relevant contexts/participation as opposed to purely financial/revenue driven ones.

SLO 2. Analyze a targeted local community in order to discover and prioritize community development goals/needs that marketing can play a role in achieving/realizing.

SLO 3. Expand their understanding of marketing that includes its role in developing communities and social good as opposed to merely developing businesses or institutions for financial gain.

SLO 4. Articulate the framework for social marketing generally and community based social marketing specifically.

SLO 5. Apply the marketing process, which includes the marketing mix (product, place, promotion, price) to non-profits, government and businesses that wish to partner with local area communities in order to support socially beneficial goals.

SLO 6. Analyze communities more effectively utilizing PESTLE so that CBSM strategies are relevant, as well as capable of provoking specific and targeted change for the social good of the community.

SLO 7. Utilize established marketing processes, techniques and technologies in order to draft CBSM marketing plans and apply them to specific and appropriate behavioral changes.

SLO 8. Present a community based social marketing plan in a professional way (written and spoken) to community leaders (business, government and/or nonprofit) and stakeholders.

SLO 9. Evaluate the implementation process of CBSM strategies within a community for effectiveness via appropriate measurement tools and techniques.

Key challenges faced and how resolved: One of the key challenges was to ensure that all relevant open-sourced materials were accessible to all students and available through the university library.

OER/Low cost Title: Community-Based Social Marketing List

Brief Description:  Some materials are provided through the university library and some are openly licensed and publicly available on various hosting platforms.  Reading list:

• Andreasen AR. Marketing Social Marketing in the Social Change Marketplace. Journal of public policy & marketing. 2002;21(1):3-13. Doi:10.1509/jppm.21.1.3.17602 
• Kotler P. The Battle between Commercial Marketing and Social Marketing. Social Marketing Quarterly. 2022;28(4):325-331. Doi:10.1177/15245004221136334 
• Polio Vaccine. A&E Television Networks; 1997:. https://csula.idm.oclc.org/login? url=https://video.alexanderstreet.com/p/Y7mLW5qJA 
• Fries S, Cook J, Lynes JK. Community-Based Social Marketing in Theory and Practice: Five Case Studies of Water Efficiency Programs in Canada. Social Marketing Quarterly. 2020;26(4):325-344. Doi:10.1177/1524500420971170 
• Shoffstall EJ, Somor JL. ‘Walking the talk’: Applying community‐based social marketing to a pilot food waste programme at Lincoln Park Zoo. Zoo biology. 2022;41(5):448-468. Doi:10.1002/zoo.21727
• TedX . How to Motivate Yourself to Change Your Behavior.; :16:48. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp0O2vi8DX4 
• McKenzie-Mohr D, Schultz PW. Choosing Effective Behavior Change Tools. Social Marketing Quarterly. 2014;20(1):35-46. Doi:10.1177/1524500413519257 
• Brennan L, Klassen K, Weng E, et al. A social marketing perspective of young adults’ concepts of eating for health: is it a question of morality? The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity. 2020;17(1):44. Doi:10.1186/s12966-020-00946-3 
• Sârghie MMP. Using Social Marketing to Tackle Compulsive Buying. Social Marketing Quarterly. 2021;27(1):3-12. Doi:10.1177/1524500420988263 
• Edgar T, Huhman M, Miller GA. Understanding “Place” in Social Marketing: A Systematic Review. Social Marketing Quarterly. 2015;21(4):230-248. Doi:10.1177/1524500415607453 

Please provide a link to the resource https://calstatela.instructure.com/courses/125966/external_tools/3918

Student access:  Materials were made available via the course shell on Canvas Learning Management System. 

Provide the cost savings from that of a traditional textbook.  On an average $110 (paperback, Amazon) per student

License: Mix, mostly Copyrighted, made available via university library.

OER/Low Cost Adoption Process

Provide an explanation or what motivated you to use this textbook or OER/Low Cost option.  MKT 3950 is designed as a zero-cost course to reduce financial barriers and ensure all students have immediate access to course materials from day one. Using openly available resources also enabled the inclusion of timely, community-relevant content (e.g., public agency toolkits, nonprofit case studies, and current examples) and the tailoring of materials to different learning needs and local project contexts. It also allowed me to integrate other hands-on learning experiences in collaboration with local community partners.

How did you find and select the open textbook for this course?  Rather than adopting a single open textbook, I built a set of openly sourced materials and zero-cost content by drawing on university library holdings, open-access journal articles, government and nonprofit reports/toolkits, and practitioner resources aligned with CBSM and social marketing. I also drew on my personal expertise in this space, recommendations from colleagues, existing course-design best practices, and training, selecting materials based on credibility, relevance to CBSM concepts, and fit with applied project work.

Sharing Best Practices: Based on my personal experience with this course, these are some best practices pertaining to OER or zero cost:

• Taking small steps by replacing just a few high-cost readings with strong open alternatives, which can then be expanded over time.
• Helping students understand the importance of the material by following a consistent module structure in the LMS, such as providing short “why this matters” or “key questions to consider” notes for each resource, and prioritizing materials that are accessible (screen-reader-friendly, mobile-friendly) and easy to use.
• Partner with a librarian early and keep a simple tracking document for links, licensing, and updates.

Describe any key challenges you experienced, how they were resolved  and lessons learned.  The biggest challenge is that OER and zero-cost materials can be distributed across many sources, which requires more instructor time for curation, link-checking, and ensuring the shared content aligns with the course's learning outcomes. Since these materials are not primarily designed for a course or educational setting, they may not have ready-made supplemental materials. Therefore, OER and zero-cost materials work best when the course is well-designed, with clear learning outcomes, structured in a learning management system, and with clear alignment between materials and assessments/assignments. 

Instructor Name - Dr. Shikha Upadhyaya
I am a Marketing professor at the California State University, Los Angeles.
Please provide a link to your university page.
https://www.calstatela.edu/business/facultyprofiles/shikha-upadhyaya

Please describe the courses/course numbers that you teach.  

Community-Based Social Marketing (MKT 3950) The purpose of this course is to learn about the benefits, structures, requirements and techniques of social marketing generally and CBSM specifically for both non-profits and corporations, and how these can vary for different types of institutions. Students will learn how to apply the marketing process to socially beneficial products or services so that non-profits and business organizations can engage in beneficial community-based positive shifts in behaviors and practices. You will not only be challenged to explore the concepts of social marketing generally and CBSM specifically as theoretical topics but will additionally be required to develop and apply those concepts via creation of a marketing plan for a local service organization or business that wants to enhance its role in developing the community in which it is located.

Qualitative Market research methods course (MKT 4461)  This upper-division undergraduate course provides an overview of qualitative marketing research in a local and global context with basic application of key qualitative research approaches including observational methods used in Ethnography and Netnography.

Describe your teaching philosophy and any research interests related to your discipline or teaching.  My teaching philosophy is grounded in applied, equity-centered learning that helps students connect marketing theory to real-world problems, communities, and consumer experiences. To support this, I emphasize evidence-based strategy and skill-building through hands-on projects in my courses. For example, in Community-Based Social Marketing (MKT 3950), students learn CBSM and social marketing tools, then apply them by developing a marketing plan to support positive behavior change with a local non-profit organization. Similarly, in Qualitative Marketing Research Methods (MKT 4461), students explore core qualitative approaches (including ethnography and netnography) to generate meaningful consumer insights. These teaching methods closely align with my research interests, which focus on marketing for social impact, consumer well-being and vulnerability, and qualitative/human-centered methods that elevate community voices and inform more inclusive marketplace practices.