'Cause marketing' tips: Boost business by giving back

American Express first came up with the idea back in 1983. For several months, each time a cardholder charged an item, the company donated a penny toward restoring the Statue of Liberty. The result was a few million dollars to refurbish the Lady, plus glowing press, consumer goodwill, and increased sales for Amex.

Cause marketing has been growing ever since. For-profit businesses are expected in 2005 to spend more than $1 billion in sponsoring nonprofit causes, according to the IEG Sponsorship Report, a Chicago-based industry newsletter.

But forging a business partnership with a nonprofit can get tricky. Here are dos and don'ts for choosing a cause and negotiating an agreement, plus some real-life examples of how to get real business bang for cause-worthy bucks.

1.


Identify a cause that fits your business.

The goal should be to align your brand with a synergistic nonprofit cause or organization in order to create win-win marketing. Your customer will feel good about buying your product. Your company will gain profile, a reputation for caring, and, depending on the campaign, increased sales. The nonprofit will generate publicity and awareness for its cause. Win-win, indeed.

But all of that only works when your product and the cause share natural affinities. If you own a steakhouse, for example, don't partner with a group that promotes the vegan lifestyle.

"Look at what you sell and understand the targets you're trying to reach. Then align yourself with causes that will bring out the emotions of that audience, from a grassroots, a community and a media standpoint," advises Rodger Roeser, who, at Justice & Young Public Relations in Cincinnati, has concluded several deals for small businesses with such groups as Habitat for Humanity, March of Dimes and more.

For laundry services client Appearance Plus in Cincinnati, Roeser planned a three-month Coats for Kids campaign that began in October 2004 and ran through the Christmas holiday. "We ran promotions in newsletters and took out media ads to publicize the campaign. We agreed to dry-clean coats and blankets for free and distribute them to the needy during the holiday," he says. "The goal was to get people in the store."

Result: Appearance Plus saved a bundle on the cost of customer acquisition, which dropped from $150 to $50 per customer.

2.


Don't manufacture your concern.

There's no point in supporting an issue you don't really care about — people are bound to catch on. Having a genuine passion or interest in the cause means you'll stay engaged and you'll still feel successful even if marketing efforts fall a tad short. Plus, when the owner is engaged, employees tend to get involved as well.

For example, Lisa Bell, who owns Tivoli Partners, a Charlotte, N.C., direct-response marketing agency, chose a cause she cares deeply about that also resonates with her community and clients.

"For more than five years, we've been a major supporter of the Charlotte affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation," Bell says. "In Charlotte, so many lives are touched by breast cancer. Clients and potential clients appreciate our work for Komen and view us as a good corporate citizen. It's definitely helped our business."

"Cause marketing is most successful when the mission of the nonprofit truly resonates with the values of the sponsoring company," says Jeetendr Sehdev, a New York brand strategist.

3.


Define your marketing goals.

Decide upfront why you're getting involved and what you want out of the partnership. There's a range of possible marketing benefits from such sponsorships.

Non-tangible benefits include building company credibility, enhancing your reputation, differentiating the brand, strengthening customer loyalty, and improving employee pride and retention.

Tangible benefits might include increased sales and specific publicity, such as increasing the company profile by having the name highly visible on walkathons and festivals or on posters and Web sites. You also might seek local media coverage.

4.


Don't gloss over the business benefits.

Just because you're dealing with a nonprofit is no reason to ignore standard business practices. "The pitfall for small businesses in cause marketing is not understanding the basics — the equivalent of not knowing how to ask for the order," says Diana Kimbrell of Kimbrell & Company, a cause-marketing agency based in Sausalito, Calif.

Be specific about what you expect. Spell out the details and then get a signed contract. Says Kimbrell: "Calculate how many times your company name and logo will be seen, what kind of information will be placed on their Web site, how many banners will be seen, what kind of article will be written for the nonprofit's newsletter and how many people it goes to. It's simple math."

5.


Put metrics on the process.

You don't need to get carried away, but you need to measure results to learn what works and what doesn't. You can request a periodic report, as informal as you like, from the nonprofit. Or, assign an employee to track sales or promotions, preferably someone who cares about the alliance.

6.


Don't be modest about your involvement.

This is marketing, after all. That means you must spread the word. "For the past three years, Tivoli has sent out animated e-mails that tout the success of the annual Race for the Cure," says Lisa Bell. "I've shown these e-mail messages in meetings as an example of our work. And it's amazing how many people received it and passed it along to friends."

7.


Integrate cause marketing with your other efforts.

Partnering with a good cause is only one method of getting out your message, of course. You can't rely on that alone.

"Cause must be treated like any other campaign in terms of identifying audience demographics, defining the scope of marketing reach, media coverage potential, the costs of banners, ads, radio spots and so on," says Kelly Hayes, president of Milum Corp., an Austin, Texas, software company.

Harness the power of cause marketing — but make sure it's part of a bigger overall marketing strategy.