Cause Related Marketing: October 2008 Archives

Be like RED...More Cause Related Marketing tips for the small business owner

OK...so, we like being held up in the same light as the famous 'PRODUCT RED' campaign which raised about $100 million for the Global Fund for Aids. Harald Eltvedt, in his blog, "Brands: you hate them...and you love them...," used RED to introduce KivaB4B as a cause marketing effort which "may be the first aimed specifically at small businesses." And boiling it down for us, he offers some tips for how small companies can benefit from cause marketing. In his words:

Don't just support your own pet cause. Make sure it is an issue your target market cares about. Cause marketing works best with young consumers and boomers.

Do it in a way that will provide real benefit to a cause (it can't be too small a percentage of profits to be meaningful, for example). Research finds that consumers believe the most important issues for companies to address are health, education, environment and economic development.

Don't think that you can charge more. Cause marketing is more about gaining a competitive advantage and building brand loyalty than it is charging a premium. Consumers won't necessarily pay more just to participate.

Start small. Try a cause marketing effort first on a local level. For example, a toy store could run a promotion where part of the sales goes to support a local school. If it works, you can build on ways to support educational efforts from there.

Not that I'm biased or anything, but using support of Kiva as a first step makes sense for so many reasons, but perhaps most importantly, it's a very easy first step.