Designing a marketing roadmap to scale a social enterprise : analysis of an Italian case study

In this turmoiled world there is a rising need for new solutions to complex social problems. Social enterprises are helping solve these issues where traditional for-profit, non-profit or governmental institutions are failing. These organizations are characterized by their dual mission, prioritizing both social and economic aspects. For social enterprises to continue providing solutions they need to grow or scale up. Scaling up a social enterprise is an important step that allows societies to further benefit from the organization’s impact. A way they could achieve scaling up is from the outcomes of a marketing strategy. However, there has been little research done focusing on marketing strategies specifically designed for social enterprises, especially research that focuses on giving recommendations that can be easily followed. The purpose of this thesis is to elaborate a marketing framework that can be used by different social enterprises to scale up. This thesis seeks to explore and understand how marketing can be adapted and adopted by social enterprises to accomplish their economic and social goals. Qualitative research of interviews and document analyses has been undertaken with a single social enterprise. The case study analysis revealed its’ as-is situation and specific type of social enterprise, information which was later used in elaborating the marketing strategy. Part of the strategy is sharing the values of the social enterprises through the presence and expansion of different communication channels, such as the Internet and social media. A second part of the strategy is the development of client retention methods, necessary for customer engagement and income sources. Thus, social enterprises can attain scalability by actively sharing their stories and engaging with customers and potential customers on various communication channels. This research, however, is limited to the analysis of a single social enterprise, making it hard to create generalizations. Therefore, the study of more cases is necessary to support and test the marketing strategy. The recommendations of this thesis contribute to theory on social enterprise marketing and offers a framework that can help practitioners eventually scale up.