Using marketing methods in sanitation

Marketing is not just about advertising. It is fundamentally about understanding a target audience, what customers want, and how to alter perceptions to successfully sell a product. The unprecedented power of marketing can determine whether a business or industry succeeds or fails. Sanitation marketing, a relatively new concept within the field, seeks to use marketing techniques to encourage hygienic practices or boost demands for sanitation facilities (e.g. a new flush toilet). The four well-known elements within marketing are: price, place, product and promotion. In this blog entry, I will outline the importance of the four Ps and how they can be relevant to water and sanitation solutions in Africa. 

There is no official definition for sanitation marketing. Whilst some see it as selling sanitation using commercial marketing methods to encourage communities to build facilities, other define it as strengthening supply by building the capacity of the private sector locally (Water and Sanitation Program 2012).

PRICE AND PLACE
Price can refer to money or a non-monetary payment for sanitary products. Households must be willing and able to pay, meaning that paying for a resource must be deemed acceptable and that people must have money or access to credit to pay for it. Willingness to pay for water in developing countries is very high, though calculating this in the first place may be controversial in itself. Depending on location and stakeholder, water can be considered an indicator of a strong government, a basic necessity, a gift or blessing, power and security, or an environmental resource. If governments and development organisations wrongly estimate the willingness to pay of a community, water supply projects fail (Littlefair 1998). For instance, in Guinea in 1987, water collection rates were very low and only about 15% of those billed paid, a reflection of the country's economic state (Bayliss 2003). Place and price are closely interlinked; cost of living varies from country to country, for example, or from rural areas to urban areas. Where a product or service is sold determines how it can be priced and whether or not it will sell.

The Community Cleaning Services (CCS) scheme in Nairobi, Kenya, employed a handful of youths in Mathare (an informal settlement) to clean over 100 toilets and improve sanitation conditions, as well as prospects for young people there (Thieme and DeKoszmovszky 2012). The programme had to be officially drawn to a close in 2013 after running for several years. This was largely a result of unforeseen financial issues; it was not difficult to convince people that CCS was valuable, but rather to persuade them that it was worth that price. It failed to break even and SC Johnson could no longer justify investing in it. There were problems related to payment habits. For instance, in the month of February demand fell for the service, as children were on school holiday and some parents did not see the point of paying for cleaning if the children were going to quickly dirty the toilet again. In addition, parents were more financially strained around this time because school fees were due (Thieme 2015). Better marketing - a fuller understanding of the people, habits, social norms and perceptions particular to that place - would have improved the design and success of the project.

PRODUCT AND PROMOTION
As we can see from the example above, a product can be a material good or a service. A key question marketeers must ask themselves is: what does the population want? In Mathare, a major attraction of the CCS was the 'whiteness of the bowl' and 'sweet smell' which were a matter of social and personal pride. Customers wanted a toilet that family and guests could use without shame or discomfort (Thieme 2015). No product will see a successful uptake without appropriate promotion, which is essentially communication and brings together all the Ps. It can take many forms, from a demonstration to social media to  posters or adverts. In the case of CCS, the team's uniform was a symbol of its professional image. They would walk through the settlement during the busiest time of the day to their first toilet wearing their uniform and carrying their equipment as a form of advertising to pedestrians.

Promotion is the pathway by which a behaviour or perception can be 'targeted for modification' (Water and Sanitation Program 2012). The act of hand washing has been heavily promoted to improve sanitation. Projects such as School Led Total Sanitation (SLTS) have educated children in schools to wash their hands regularly and not practise open defecation (Joshi et al. 2016). Similarly, Unilever's Lifebuoy 'Help a child reach 5' was a campaign to teach millions of children in developing countries the importance of hand  washing, reducing infant mortality rates in many areas. The company collaborated with UNICEF, USAid, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and various NGOs to deliver the project (Financial Times 2007).

Overall, it is clear that the four marketing Ps are 'at the core' of any sanitation initiative and must be taken into account seriously, not just in Africa but worldwide (Water and Sanitation Program 2012).  In order for schemes to successfully improve water and sanitation conditions they need to understand people's needs, perceptions and communication methods, as well as how these vary spatially.