Development Administration has come on its own as an area of practice and study. It is differentiated from conventional administration by its emphasis on social and economic change. In the field of management, the concept of Social Marketing has been advanced and applied in many non-business contexts. Social Marketing is very similar to development administration in its aims and approaches. Social Marketing in fact has been presented as an approach for planning social change. This paper examines the relationships between Development Administration and Social Marketing. The commonalties of the two are discussed using a comparative framework. On balance it appears that Social Marketing and Development Administration (as usually practised) are sufficiently different so as not to allow fruitful interchange. This paper makes suggestions regarding how Social Marketing can be adapted to the needs of Development Administration.