Cause Marketing

Has your company ever done any cause marketing? If you aren’t familiar with the term, cause marketing generally refers to a partnership between a business and a charity they wish to support. The idea is to encourage consumers to support your product(s) with the understanding that some percentage of the sale will be donated to the charity. It basically works like this:

  

• The business identifies a charity to support and agrees in writing to collect a certain minimum dollar amount to be donated at the end of a specific time frame (usually a year). 
•  The charity provides their logo and any other materials the business will need to begin their cause marketing campaign. 
•  The business communicates the initiative to its employees, customers, vendors and fans. For a consumer goods provider, they may change their product packaging, update their website, or advertise the cause online. 
•  Sales or other related metrics are tracked so the correct donation may be made. The metrics are directly related to how the company chooses to set up their campaign (examples: buy product A and $.25 from each item sold will go to the charity; “Like” us on Facebook and $1 for each Like will go to the charity). 
•  At the end of the agreed upon timeframe, the donation is made to the charity and press releases go out all around!

In years past, many businesses would either send a check to the charity or would sponsor an event where they would receive name recognition for their sponsorship. In today’s economy, many small to mid-sized businesses are hesitant to spend large sums on sponsorships or simply don’t have the cash to do so. While there are some rules that must be followed to utilize cause marketing, it is an option to allow your business to contribute when you might not otherwise believe you cannot do so. To learn more about cause marketing, contact us at cs@vitalinkweb.com.