Editor’s note: The following is a guest post by Marc Horne. Marc is a co-founder of DailyDealBuilder.com, provider of daily deal software, solutions, and training.
“Cause” marketing or cause-related marketing refers to a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a “for profit” business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit. The term is sometimes used more broadly and generally to refer to any type of marketing effort for social and other charitable causes, including in-house marketing efforts by non-profit organizations.
Cause Marketing differs from corporate giving (philanthropy) as the latter generally involves a specific donation that is tax deductible, while cause marketing is a marketing relationship and not necessarily based on a donation.
We have seen plenty of examples of Cause Marketing being used in the daily deal industry and the fact of the matter is that it works. Although originally a marketing strategy that occurred offline, cause marketing has been conducted more and more through online channels in the last decade as the internet has increasingly grown and the deal industry has taken well to the cause.
Let’s face it – “cause marketing” feels good.
It feels good buying a pair of shoes from Tom’s Shoes knowing that they will be giving a pair to a child in need. It truly is a win-win-win situation and adding cause marketing further strengthens the anatomy of running a great daily deal promotion.
It’s a win for the actual cause or charity that is being helped.
It’s a win for the end consumer because they are able to help the charity out through their purchase.
It’s a win for the daily deal site using cause marketing because they are able to help out a great cause / charity and also give their customers the opportunity to do so. It also provides the deal site with positive public relations, improved customer relations, and additional marketing opportunities. Having higher sales conversion rates because of cause marketing isn’t a bad thing either.
It’s also a win for you, the daily deal site owner, because you can sleep well knowing your company’s efforts are helping make the world a better place.
According to the Cone Millennial Cause Study in 2006, 89% of Americans (aged 13 to 25) would switch from one brand to another brand of a comparable product (and price) if the latter brand was associated with “good cause”. The same study also indicated that a significant percentage surveyed would prefer to work for a company that was considered socially responsible.
Cause marketing not only helps people in need, but it helps promote awareness while at the same time proving that corporations can actually act in the interest of society; and in doing that society responds in kind.
How is your company helping to make the world a better place (besides creating jobs, which we recognize is in and of itself a great feat)?
Who might you be able to form a strategic relationship with and make a move that betters the world and causes a positive ripple effect?
