In this era of science and technology, we have a plethora of information about companies and businesses around us. It ranges from clothes, shoes, and edibles. According to an estimate, 80% of the customers think businesses play a crucial role in completing various social processes.
Even we should call it an era of customers, where brands and companies compete with one another on prices, marketing strategies, and customer acquisition. According to a global consumer study, 91% of the customers say that if the alternative brand provides the same quality and price, they would be willing to change it to support a cause.
According to another study, 92% of the customers say that they would purchase a product if it’s offering social and environmental benefits. 67% of the people said that they had done it for the past year.
Point of the matter is that cause-marketing does not only offer an opportunity; it has also become a goal for businesses to make the world a better place.
Table of Contents
What is Cause Marketing?
Cause-Marketing also goes by the name of cause-related marketing; it’s when a company supports a social or charitable cause and receive marketing advantages in return. Profit and non-profit organizations, both of them employ the cause-marketing for collaboration and raising funds for the social cause.
Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Giving are two related but little different phenomena. CSR means that the company goes much further than just profit-making and does what is good for society in the long term. CG means that the company would provide charities and donations to non-profit organizations. CG is limited in scope than CSR.
Cause Marketing Vs. Social Marketing
Social Marketing is the process of spreading awareness among the general public is to change their attitude and behavior for the good of the whole society. For instance, not smoking, saving the endangered species, recycling, and caring for the environment.
Cause Marketing is the strategy when companies collaborate with the non-profit organization to spread awareness and raise funds for the social cause. The purpose is to earn the goodwill of the general public, and it creates a win-win situation for both of them.
Some people confuse cause marketing and social marketing with social media marketing. Social Media Marketing is an entirely different field, and it means developing your business or brand by using social media. On the other hand, non-profit and profit organizations use social media platforms to spread awareness and raise funds for social causes.
How to Create a Cause Marketing Campaign
The campaign of cause marketing is a step by step process. Now the question is how to create its campaign; some of the essential steps are as follows;
Set a Cause Marketing Budget
First and the most important part of cause marketing is allocating a budget for the campaign that how much budget you can afford for a month. It’s better if you set a numerical figure for a month.
However, if you have fewer donations and your budget is tight, you should start a customer engagement campaign to make people participate. A donation campaign is significant for your budget; it helps you get enough funds to cover up your expenses and carry on with your message.
Craft a Compelling Message
Your cause and message should be compelling, and it should inspire people. It should be something that you genuinely believe in and willing to support it at all costs. If you believe in the cause, it would make you and your team feel good, and it would keep you motivated.
After choosing the cause, then you should craft the cause message according to appropriate wording. Some of the major causes are; anti-bullying, women empowerment, fight against breast-cancer, mental health awareness, body positivity, etc.
Ensure that either your cause or wording of the cause shouldn’t be political and polarizing, because it can jeopardize your entire campaign in the form of protest, boycott, and lowest customer response.
Use Social Media
When we talk about raising funds and awareness, social media platforms (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.) are a great source to get the message across and attract the attention of many people.
Therefore, you should carefully create the advertisement and diligent start the campaign. You must write down the whole plan in terms of budget, financial limits, and other costs. It would help you to be specific about the graphics of the advertisement and the wording of the message. If you don’t the skill set, then you should get some professional help.
Involve Your Employees
When we look at some of the most successful campaigns, then they are more than just raising funds and charitable social cause. They work with and through their employees, they make their employees involved in the decision-making process. When you do that, it would take them to volunteer and put their time, energy, and effort into the cause.
You must communicate with your employees and team members daily, share ideas with them, and get their feedback. It would make them feel proud of their team, and their productivity would increase as a result.
Make the Cause Lasting
An organization by the name of dosomething.org encourages people to focus on the cause, not only the campaign itself. Therefore, you should talk about the values and significance of your campaign. So that they would realize its importance and impact of the campaign should not be limited to one-time fundraising.
Pros of Cause Marketing
Some of the significant advantages and benefits of the cause-marketing are as follows;
Increase Business and Sale
According to a study conducted by the Cone Communication Social Impact Study in 2013; over 90% of the customers say that they would prefer socially responsible companies. 89% of the customers say that they want to hear the update on the social cause that the company is doing.
It means your target customers want you to be socially responsible. If you do what your customers want you to do, then your business’s sale would increase.
Relationship with Customers
Businesses and companies usually rely on developing a long term relationship with customers, because customers bring business, more business means more sales and profit. When a company or an industry spread awareness about a particular social cause, then it helps the company to find something common and connect with customers.
Partner up with other Organizations
A vitamin and nutrition retailer in Vietnam used a tagline ‘Every Body Matter.’ It became so famous in the country that one of the leading non-profit organizations in Vietnam partnered up with the retailer. It was to spread awareness about providing Vietnamese supplements to the children in the 3rd world countries to fight against child mortality.
When a business stands up for some social cause, then it’s highly probable that it would be connected with non-profit organizations. Such merging would increase brand awareness and attract more customers.
Customers’ Loyalty
Critics and proponent of the cause-marketing say that it attracts more customers and increases brand awareness. When you have something more than just a transactional relationship with customers, then it would increase brand loyalty among customers.
Cons of Cause Marketing
Some of the main disadvantages of the cause-marketing are as follows;
Wrong Decision
Companies usually make wrong decisions when they partner up with non-profit organizations. It’s because businesses want sales and increased profit, and non-profit want money without any ties. For-profit and Non-profit organizations have different objectives and goals and sometimes it can create conflict in the long-term.
Very Costly
When you plan to earn goodwill through cause-marketing, you have to write a considerable amount of cheque without any leverage. You never know whether it’s working for you or against you. Sometimes it only attracts a small percentage of the target customer market, and sometimes it doesn’t.
Example of Cause Marketing
Some of the famous examples of the cause-marketing are as follows;
Project Body Hair by Billie
It’s a women razor brand, and the company never showed body hair in its promotional video. The purpose of the video was to promote the idea that hairs on the female body are natural. The video became so popular that it has approximately 1.5 million views on YouTube, and the company acquired 65000 followers in the first 11 months.
The Best Men Can Be by Gillette
It was a famous slogan ‘the best men can get’ of the company (Gillette). Later on, the company changed its slogan to #MeToo movement. The goal was to prevent sexual harassment cases.
Innocent and Age UK – The Big Knit
The Big Knit started a campaign against the isolation of elderly people. The purpose was to bring old people together and create their knitting groups. The cause campaign became so successful that it raised 1.75 million pounds.
Conclusion
After reading the article, we have concluded that cause-marketing is suitable for your business. of course, it has pros and cons. But if you plan it well and apply it at the right time, then it would be beneficial for your business.
