Cause Marketing: What Is It and Why Use It?

In a new series, home improvement industry leader Brian Gottlieb will share quick tips and must-knows for home improvement business owners. In this second episode of Mentoring Minute, Gottlieb talks cause marketing:

Transcript:

If you were to ask me, "What is the purpose of business?" I would tell you that the purpose of business is to make a decent profit decently.

That second part, "to do it decently," we like to do it through something called cause marketing.

So what is cause marketing? And then how does it fit within a marketing budget?

What is Cause Marketing?

I want to use an example: There's a there's an organization out there called Bombas socks, and what Bomba socks does, and what's it's near and dear to their heart, is they see that there's a big problem with those that are homeless, and the most requested item are socks by homeless people.

So Bombas socks created a campaign—and they still do it to this day—where if you buy a pair of Bombas socks, for every pair you the consumer buy, we're going to donate one pair to somebody in need. That's called cause marketing.

The secret to cause marketing is what you're doing is you're actually creating a co-producer out of your customer, your customer is a co-producer in your cause.

WATCH MORE MENTORING MINUTE: Understanding the Heart of Every Business: KPIs

If you think about: you've got the consumer, you've got the cause you believe in, and then you have the organization. Cause marketing ties all three things together. Bombas socks can't give any socks to to the homeless unless if you first, as a consumer, buy one.

Cause marketing, what it really does, is it it humanizes your organization.

Cause Marketing Humanizes Your Organization

Most home improvement company's advertising looks something like this: 50% of installation! Free installation! Project starting at $59 a month! What that is to me is if you're going for a walk around your neighborhood and a dog all of a sudden starts barking. The first time you pass by it, it scares the heck out of you, but after you've walked through your neighborhood 12 times or 15 times or 20 times, it's, "Oh, there's the barking dog."

Cause marketing offsets the barking dog of direct response marketing with conversation. You're talking to the consumer, you're talking to the community, and you're making a positive impact inside of your community.

I believe cause marketing, when done properly, helps all your other marketing sources work better.

Cause marketing: It should be a marketing line in every marketing budget, and it should make a positive impact in the communities that you serve.