An Introduction to Cause Marketing

Understanding the concept of cause marketing has become a necessity, with more and more companies opting for it. This type of marketing is actually a co-operation agreement or a collaboration between corporate houses and the nonprofit organizations.

Conducting a successful campaign is tough, considering the many complications involved in establishing a relationship between corporations and charitable foundations.

Cause marketing aims at helping both - the companies as well as the charities. Companies with deep pockets can act as sponsors for charity events conducted by non-profit organizations.

In this way, they will be able to make their products and brands more popular amongst the common people. The word-of-mouth publicity in these cases will be so strong that the companies will see a phenomenal growth in their sales turnover and net profits. This can be the best way of targeting young customers.

Charitable foundations will also simultaneously benefit in their task of providing consistent and quality social service to the people. These charities will get advantage of the strong market reputation of the company and will receive many donations from high net worth individuals.

The private companies can also benefit from a rise in the morale of their employees, from tie ups with nonprofit organizations.

Cause marketing can provide positive and creative publicity for the companies. Print and electronic media attention which they will receive will be helpful for them in chalking out business expansion policies in the years to come. A company having a collaboration with a charity foundation shows that it is concerned about its corporate social responsibility.

Cause marketing practices can be profitable and advantageous until both - the companies and charities perform their duties effectively and with full sincerity. They can also backfire. Any kind of wrong decisions or misconduct on part of the people associated with these two bodies can be harmful for both.

A company with a very good reputation in the market can be at a disadvantage by associating itself with a nonprofit organization, which engages in any unethical or controversial activity. As a result, instead of promoting the products and increasing brand affinity, people will start doubting the intentions of a company.

Care should be taken that the people do not feel that tying up with a charity is just a marketing tool to increase the product sale. Companies face the challenge of convincing the people of their good intentions behind getting involved in charitable activities.

Any kind of negative publicity is also detrimental to the interests of the nonprofit organizations, as their existence directly depends on the faith which people have in them.

Creating such an organization requires hard work, consistency, and a deep feeling of philanthropy. However, the reputation can be disrupted in a single day if any practices of corruption or misuse are found.

Finally, we conclude that the success of cause marketing depends on the interest and policies of both the involved bodies. So, think over this and try to implement the suggestions practically.