As we discussed in a previous post, a good way to give your content marketing campaign a nudge is to tie it to a cause. This practice, also known as “Cause Marketing”, is becoming increasingly popular among businesses. The data available reflects the growing reality that affiliation with a cause is a fantastic way to draw customers, with 89% of consumers willing to switch brands to one that supports a cause. Furthermore, 42% of clients are willing to pay extra if it means supporting a good cause.
Given the potential for profits, as evidenced by this and additional data (much of which can be found at the Cause Marketing Forum), it is clear why most businesses would invest in cause marketing. Of course, it is not without risk, and appearing to be insincere may turn off your customers or at least irritate them. A perfect example of a cause marketing failure would be the Starbucks Race Together campaign back in March, one which ended up backfiring spectacularly. The last thing any company wants is to start a campaign that is not only ineffective, but the only response is condemnation. As such, making sure you look sincere is important. Otherwise, you’ll end up a lot like Starbucks. Here are some steps to take to make sure that if you engage in a cause marketing campaign, it sounds sincere.
Mesh the Cause with Company Culture
Go through your company and ask yourself: does your company culture reflect the cause you want to support? For smaller businesses a little hypocrisy can be covered up, but a larger company with more eyes on it will have to go over every detail related to the cause with a fine tooth comb. If your attempt at cause marketing appears hypocritical, people will call you out on it. It is not just a matter of data of course – speak with your employees and get to know them. Find out how they feel about it and look at demographics data, age data, and more information to ensure consistency.
Tying into this is the old saying “practice what you preach”. Remember that every cause supports a particular course of action or lifestyle, and if you are going to join in a cause be sure you incentivize those actions or that way of life. Nobody is going to blame you if your employees refuse to jump in, but you can offset accusations of hypocrisy or hopping on the bandwagon by providing incentives for the desired behavior.
If your company sells hunting supplies and employs hunters as one example, giving to an organization like ASPCA or PETA would appear very hypocritical and inconsistent. If you claim to support our troops, put that into practice by hiring military veterans. Furthermore, make sure that company events, if they do not tie this cause in, at least do not contradict it.
Related to company culture is understanding your business’s history. No business can make a complete 180-degree turn on a topic overnight and be believed. If you wish to support a cause, and it does not mesh with current company culture, accept it will be a painstakingly slow process to get people to support you. Given that, it may be better to seek out a cause that meshes with the business as it stands today.
Do Not Simply Cut a Check
If all you do is give money and do nothing more, you are not going to see the expected returns from cause marketing. The best way to show your sincerity in a cause marketing initiative is to donate you product or service to the cause in question. Being able to give up a bit of profit is seen as easy, taking a loss on something you and your employees invested time, money, and resources into is a bit more challenging.
If your company is service oriented, resist the urge to solicit your employees to perform a service for a charity for free. You’ll get a weak response, and if you make it mandatory you will invite grumbling and low morale, which could lead to loss of employees. Furthermore, demanding employees to invest their own time and money into a cause marketing campaign while the company expends no resources does not speak to sincerity. Paying your employees to work on a charity project for free will not only demonstrate your commitment to the cause, it will probably boost morale.
In the case of a product-oriented company, again resist the urge to take a cheap route. If you have multiple variations of a product to give, find the one that best fits with the needs of the non-profit you are supporting. Even if that particular variety is more expensive than others, give it away anyway – this will again demonstrate sincerity to your observant customers.
Market the Non-Profit
You can do more than just donate your product or service, you can also donate your marketing resources as well. If the cause you support does not have much exposure, you can help to promote it through the channels and relationships you have already established. This will not only increase exposure for the cause, but also demonstrate the commitment of your company to raise awareness for whatever cause you are choosing to support.
If there is no non-profit organization (or none that seem trustworthy) supporting the cause, you can also form one of your own and commit marketing resources to that group.
Do Your Research
In all of the above points, there is one unspoken rule that should guide every endeavor: do your research. Most of these causes are very nuanced and have far more surrounding them than meets the eye. If a problem in the world were easy to fix, it would already be resolved. If you are going to throw your company’s weight behind fixing an issue in the world and want to seem sincere while doing it, be sure that everybody who interfaces with the public is knowledgeable about the problem.
Say you are supporting a cause trying to resolve global poverty. Understanding the nuances and causes of poverty around the world will create the impression among your consumers that you not only understand the problem, you are being effective in resolving it. The surest way to ensure lifelong loyalty when it comes to supporting a cause is to one day be able to turn around and say “we fixed it!” Most of these problems (like world hunger) will probably remain in place for centuries, but demonstrating an understanding of the challenges will at least help convince the public you are not in this merely for the financial benefits
