The worldwide internet penetration rate is at around 65.7% and constantly climbing.
This means that as businesses take advantage of their online presence, consumers are also becoming more discerning in terms of which business they choose to support.
The internet has introduced unparalleled transparency. That’s why many companies are opting to cater to these consumers and become more transparent through a marketing strategy known as “cause marketing”.
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In this article, we delve into the heart of cause marketing, showcasing how brands can authentically connect with their audience, foster loyalty, and make a positive impact on society.
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Cause marketing requires an understanding of empathy. Why? Because empathy is the driving force behind successful cause marketing strategies. Let’s explore this topic in a bit more detail.
Empathy is an emotional or cognitive response to a person or people experiencing strong emotions. Through this response, we go beyond merely listening and recognizing how a person feels.
Instead, we take it one step further to try to understand the “why” behind the feelings. By putting yourself in someone else’s shoes, we are better able to view and understand things from their perspective.
Empathy and sympathy are often used interchangeably but they are not the same.
Having clarified that empathy is about understanding why someone feels a certain way, sympathy is about simply recognizing the emotion. That’s why empathy goes a lot deeper.
And when it comes to marketing, businesses that try hard to recognize and understand others’ perspectives and emotions go further than their competitors.
When a business shows that it cares about social causes and is transparent about its support, customers are much more likely to trust that business and increase their loyalty towards it.
This means businesses can benefit from enhanced customer relationships when they focus on understanding deeper and meaningful societal issues.
In short, business empathy towards a social cause = customer trust, and loyalty = greater revenue.
We’ve briefly touched on cause marketing until now, but it’s time to delve a little deeper into this concept.
Cause marketing is when a business uses a digital marketing strategy to align with the cause of a nonprofit organization, for a dual benefit: a greater and more positive societal impact and improved revenue.
Of course, the nonprofit organization also benefits from this relationship through various ways in which the marketing campaign is executed. For example, they can receive greater awareness and exposure, financial donations, or other forms of support.
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Having mentioned some of the perks of cause marketing on nonprofits, let’s explore some of the benefits of this strategy on brands and businesses.
While there are many ways in which a business can benefit from cause marketing, some of the most important advantages include:
Today, there are thousands of examples of successful cause marketing campaigns. However, one of the very first instances when a corporation introduced it goes back to 1983.
This is when American Express decided to raise money for the restoration of the Statue of Liberty.
What this organization did was donate $0.01 each time one of its customers used their charge cards. As such, what was called the “Restoration Fund” raised over $1.7 million and card use rose by 27%.
If you are convinced that cause marketing is the right approach for your organization, your next step is to create your campaign. However, this requires following several steps to ensure your campaign’s success.
Below is an outline of these steps to help you get started.
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Step 1: Choose the social cause you want your business to be associated with
The very first step is to select your cause.
Ideally, you want to do your research into various causes that speak to your business’s vision and align the cause with your brand.
This will ensure your strategy comes across as professional, clear, and more authentic.
Step 2: Set benchmarks and key performance indicators for the campaign
What gets measured gets managed and while supporting a social cause may seem like a fluffy concept, it should actually be strategic and you should introduce measurable key performance indicators (KPIs) and goals to be achieved that ensure you can make data-informed decisions based on the campaign’s performance. You should also be able to clearly define the contribution that you are willing to make.
Contributions could include time, services, products, money, or other valuable assets.
Step 3: Set aside time and resources for the cause marketing campaign
Since every marketing effort in any organization is usually associated with costs, you need to make sure that you have a dedicated budget for your cause campaign.
You also need to decide on a time frame for its implementation. Pay attention to corporate schedules, global events, team availability, etc.
Step 4: Get customers involved by leveraging the right marketing channels
Choosing to partner with a reputable nonprofit is an excellent way to reap all the benefits of cause marketing.
One of the reasons for this is that nonprofits have some of the highest email open rates across multiple industries.
Thus, if a business chooses to implement an email marketing campaign in conjunction with a nonprofit, their email open rates would be around 20.39%.
Therefore, if you want to leverage the nonprofit’s power of exposure, you should consider email campaigns, in addition to other marketing channels, to get your customers and the nonprofit’s audience involved as much as possible.
Make sure you have clear calls-to-action (CTAs) and make your content shareable so that it reaches the maximum number of people.
Step 5: Work with your chosen nonprofit to jointly promote the campaign
After you’ve launched your cause marketing campaign, it’s essential to work in partnership with your selected nonprofit or charity.
This means sharing each other’s content on social media, tagging one another, sending joint press releases, using one another’s logos in both organizations’ marketing materials, promoting the campaign through each other’s newsletter and email subscriber lists, etc.
While implementing an empathetic cause marketing campaign will show your audience that your organization deeply cares about social causes close to their hearts, it doesn’t come with its challenges.
Here’s what to consider as you embark on this journey:
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Some best practices for effective, empathy-driven cause marketing campaigns and strategies include:
When it comes to cause marketing, the sky is literally the limit because there are so many social causes a business can get involved in and support.
Bearing this in mind, consider some trends and opportunities when it comes to the future of cause marketing.
For example, you will want to consider technological innovations (such as the role of artificial intelligence in creating your campaign), institutional changes and developments, demographic changes, environmental changes, and others.
Each of these should be considered through the micro, meso, and macro lenses.
Cause marketing is here to stay. It is a socially conscious way for companies to conduct business.
It can align with their corporate social responsibility efforts and lead to widespread benefits that cannot be neglected.
If you are planning to launch your next cause marketing campaign, consider our steps for doing so, useful tips, as well as potential challenges for greater chances of success.
Nikola Baldikov is a skilled SEO expert who is dedicated to helping businesses thrive.
He is the esteemed founder of InBound Blogging, where his expertise lies in search engine optimization and crafting effective content strategies.
Throughout his career, he has had the pleasure of collaborating with a wide range of companies regardless of their scale and has consistently aided them in accomplishing their objectives online.
During his leisure time. He finds joy in engaging in football matches and dance routines.
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