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CAUSE MARKETING



“It is literally true that you can succeed best and quickest by helping others to succeed.”   – Napoleon Hill

WHAT IS CAUSE MARKETING?

Cause marketing is a powerful tool for non-profits in creating awareness and generating funding. It also has the potential to be an engaged and supportive tool for companies as well.

In 1988, a seminal article in the American Marketing Association’s Journal of Marketing described Cause-Related Marketing as: “The process of formulating and implementing marketing activities that are characterized by an offer from the firm to contribute a specified amount to a designated cause when customers engage in revenue-providing exchanges that satisfy organizational and individual objectives.” In other words: “You buy. We’ll give.”

This article will take you through its benefits, how it works, and tips to get the most out of your cause marketing strategy.

10 MOST COMMON "CAUSES"

  1. Donation with purchase

  2. Donation with coupon redemption

  3. Donation with activation

  4. “Proud supporter”

  5. Buy one, give one

  6. Volunteerism rally

  7. Consumer-directed donation

  8. Consumer pledge drives

  9. Dual-incentive approach

  10. Request for consumer action

TYPES OF CAUSE MARKETING

  1. Message-focused campaigns – When business organisations raise awareness around a social topic or deliver a social message via their promotional articles or videos, it’s a message-focused campaign in play. Budweiser asked people to not drive after drinking in its #FriendsAreWaiting advertisement. The campaign portrayed the eminent beer brand as taking a firm stand and established its trustworthiness in the market.

  2. Cause-related marketing – This type of marketing follows the “You give us, we give them” model. Cause-related marketing is more-or-less like business giving. When a firm X ties up with a non-profit Y and donates 2% of its revenue to the cause, it is cause-related marketing.

  3. Transactional campaigns – This is where a company’s contribution to a cause is triggered by consumer action. For instance, to increase their social media engagement, a start-up may offer to donate one dollar each time a post is shared.

  4. Non-transactional Campaigns – The type of marketing in which the help is not directly related to consumer action is called non-transactional campaign marketing. A company may sponsor events of the non-profit it has ties with. The association is not affected directly or indirectly by a consumer action, but these events act as promotions of the business.

  5. Point-of-sale campaigns – Point-of-sale is where customers pay for goods and services; that is, the location where transactions occur following a purchase. Consumers are often asked to donate a small sum to the charity at the checkout counter. Online platforms like Swiggy also ask their customers to leave tips while placing the orders. This donation during checkout is an example of a point-of-sale campaign.

  6. Volunteerism – Contributions don’t always have to be monetary. A company may support the cause of its choice by asking its employees to volunteer with an apt non-profit.

  7. Digital engagement – Here, businesses spread awareness and raise funds for a non-profit’s ideals by campaigning on a digital platform.

HOW TO CREATE A CAUSE MARKETING CAMPAIGN?

  1. Set a Cause Marketing Budget

  2. Craft a Compelling Message

  3. Use Social Media

  4. Involve Your Employees

  5. Make the Cause Lasting

Let’s Discuss these STEPS in Details:

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF CAUSE MARKETING

CAUSE MARKETING DURING THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

  1. Ben & Jerry’s – #LiftTheBan

  2. Iceland x Greenpeace – Rang-tan Palm Oil Campaign

  3. The Body Shop X Cruelty Free International – Forever Against Animal Testing

  4. Brew Dog – Punk Sanitizer

  5. Airbus, Dell, DHL, Ford, Microsoft, Rolls Royce, Siemens, Unilever & More – Ventilator Challenge UK

  6. Cadbury’s & Manchester United – Donate Your Words

  7. EE – free data to NHS

  8. Decathlon – Ventilator masks

  9. Nike – face shields

1. Ben & Jerry’s – #LiftTheBan

The purpose of Ben & Jerry’s 2019 #LiftTheBan campaign is to raise awareness and pressure the government to ‘lift the ban’ on UK asylum seekers not having the right to work while they wait for a decision on their claim.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BquSOOMBB2D/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=f8472aaa-5b7b-4f9f-83ac-927f7bd275af

2. Iceland x Greenpeace – No More Palm Oil  

Towards the end of 2018, frozen food supermarket Iceland pledged to remove palm oil from its own label food, investing millions of pounds to make the change. They are the first UK supermarket to have made this move.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp-QO4_HmKU/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=embed_video_watch_again

3. The Body Shop x Cruelty Free International – Forever Against Animal Testing 

This campaign reiterated The Body Shop’s continued fight and stance against animal testing, and reminded consumers about their commitment towards testing in cosmetics.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BssfY5Pj8q0/?utm_source=ig_embed

4. BrewDog – Punk (hand) Sanitizer 

When the coronavirus started spreading throughout the UK at a rapid pace, BrewDog decided to begin producing hand sanitizer at their distillery in Aberdeen, Scotland to do their bit meet the sudden high demand across the country.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_ATGfiAb4p/?utm_source=ig_embed

5. Airbus, Dell, DHL, Ford, Microsoft, Rolls Royce, Siemens, Unilever & More – Ventilator Challenge UK 

More than twenty UK companies in the engineering, technology and industrial sectors have collaborated to work on Ventilator Challenge UK.

Participants include Airbus, Dell, DHL, Ford, Microsoft, Rolls Royce, Siemens, and Unilever among others, demonstrating the effectiveness of collaboration during this time.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_C8bdQAJfU/?utm_source=ig_embed

6. Cadbury’s – Donate Your Words

This campaign was started pre-coronavirus outbreak, and remains to be as important and impactful as ever.

In an effort to fight loneliness among the elderly, Cadbury’s have collaborated with Age UK to highlight the need for people to reach out and communicate.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/B393Y8QDQa1/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=7bc71ed4-8610-4b6b-a7a7-5ff5bc4393ce

7. EE – Free Data for NHS Staff

In an effort to show appreciation for the NHS staff who are fighting the coronavirus on the front lines, a number of companies have publicised all kinds of different donations and discounts.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-1UWl_gM3f/?utm_source=ig_embed

8. Decathlon – Ventilator Masks 

Sports equipment company Decathlon were approached by ISSINOVA – the Institute of Studies for the Integration of Systems, an independent Italian research institute, for help in the creation of ventilator masks.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B_FXel3ACGi/?utm_source=ig_embed

9. Nike – Face Shields 

Nike is another sports company that has found a way to produce much needed PPE to medical professionals who are combating coronavirus.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B-vspsLhj_Y/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=ad3ab233-e202-4291-b0a4-9b74fd34552d

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