What is cause marketing?
In this blog I will look to explain and answer the question "What is cause marketing?".
Sometimes know as or referred to as cause related marketing it is a simple concept that can be split into two types.
The first one is quite obvious and is the marketing done by a non profit for generating awareness and donations.
The second is when a company does some joint marketing to again raise awareness or donations, but does not generally involve the company actually donating direct although it might. In general it is based around leveraging audiences and displaying corporate responsibility.
This is nothing new and was first started in the mid 1970's. Over the years as more and more people listed corporate responsibility as a key driver in their choice of employers. As a result there has been many key partnerships formed with corporations and charities.
In the modern day American Express were credited with coining the term cause marketing after a reported successful campaign where a number of charities benefited. The concept was simple for every transaction over a small period of time 2 cents was donated to the fund and for every new account opened a larger amount was added.
Overall the campaign raised over $108,000 and also increased the perception of American Express as a socially responsible brand.
Cause related sponsorship still continues to attract around $1.6 billion dollars a year and is likely to increase.
Further studies also show that younger generations are heavily influenced by a brands corporate responsibility and will even switch brands based on the perception of that brand and the work they are doing with charities and not for profits.
Other examples include football teams that allow causes to sponsor the football shirts in place of a multi million pound deal with another brand. Stamps of authority on food products like heart foundations all over the world.
More than ever how your brand is perceived is more important than ever before. Doing the right thing is very much expected and if you are in a position of influence using it for good can have many positive advantages.
You do not have to be a big brand to do cause marketing, just by lending your time and or support to a local charity can have a profound effect on everybody involved.
There are some companies that will even allow you to take a week or two to do charitably work of your choice.
So there you have it a quick run down on cause marketing and something to think about in your business if not now then maybe in the future.
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