Having escaped the bonds of traditional philanthropy, cause marketers set forth for the land of milk and honey. During their journey, a tribe among the cause marketers, called Komen, made a great golden [deep-fried] chicken and they worshiped it.

Everyone got really pissed. And they complained of the golden chicken.

To avoid ever having another stupid golden chicken, the cause marketers agreed to these 10 commandments of cause marketing.

#1 You shall know what cause marketing is. You can use my definition of cause marketing, but I point you to others. Be sure to read the comments to my post as well.

#2 You shall not confuse cause marketing with philanthropy, sponsorship or corporate social responsibility. While cause marketing certainly involves giving, philanthropy is not the primary goal. Marketing is. Sponsorship is very similar to cause marketing, but what distinguishes the two are the tactics they employ. I’m not totally sure what CSR is, but it’s not cause marketing. What I do know is the former is a strategy that can employ cause marketing as a tactic. Calling cause marketing CSR is like calling a savings account an investment strategy.

#3 You shall choose your cause marketing partners carefully. As we learned from Komen and KFC, not all cause marketing partners are a good fit. Consider carefully with whom you partner or you just might do more harm than good. Take a cause marketer’s Hippocratic Oath: “Do no harm.” Don’t harm your organization, the constituents you serve or your trusted partner.

#4 You shall create cause marketing programs that are win-win. The essence of cause marketing is mutual benefit. Just as nonprofits hope to increase visibility and raise money, for-profits aspire to enhance favorability with consumers and, ultimately, drive sales. If it’s not win-win, it doesn’t work. And it’s not cause marketing.

#5 You shall act like a business person, with a conscience. Cause marketing exists at the intersection of philanthropy, business and marketing. You have to be innovative, results driven and customer-focused like a business person, but giving, human and humane like a philanthropist. A cause marketer must balance herself between value and values.

#6 You shall not limit the benefits of cause marketing to money. Cause marketing is a great way to build your brand, increase your visibility, promote your events, recruit participants for your cause walk, run or ride and identify prospects for major gifts. The list goes on and on.

#7 You shall make your cause marketing program transparent for all to see. Consumers aren’t fools. When they support a cause marketing promotion, identify the cause that’s getting the money, how much they will receive and a quick blurb on how they will use it. “For every (RED) beverage purchased at Starbucks, five cents will be donated to buy lifesaving medicines for those living with HIV in Africa.” Don’t hide your giving behind “A portion of the proceeds will be donated to organizations that fight breast cancer.”

#8 You shall not expect results overnight. It takes time to build a successful cause marketing program. Most begin with an existing company or corporate leader that you’ve already worked with. Once you have the credibility of a couple successful programs behind you, it will be easier to create partnerships with new businesses. Training helps.

#9 You shall use social media strategically with cause marketing. Businesses are using social media more than ever. It’s important you keep pace with new trends and new technologies to solidify cause marketings place in the corporate marketing mix. Of course, I’ve written that geo-location services like Foursquare will be huge for cause marketers so it’s good place to start!

#10 You shall not over complicate cause marketing. The tactics behind cause marketing aren’t brain surgery. KFC’s ambitions to make the single largest donation to a breast cancer organization hinges on a simple percentage of sale program (i.e. 50 cents from every bucket).

As cause marketing guru Kurt Aschermann wrote on his own commandments a while back:

Cause-related marketing really isn’t that difficult. Just handle the relationship, deliver what you promise, and provide value to your partner. Best of all, cause-related marketing is fun and exciting. The sooner you master it, the sooner everyone will benefit from its incredible potential.

Unlike Moses’, my 10 ten commandments aren’t written in stone. Moses didn’t have an iPhone so his weren’t super easy to change. I’d love to hear what you would edit, add or delete.

I need your help before I formally present my 10 Commandments of Cause Marketing at full-day seminar I’m helping to teach at the annual Cause Marketing Forum Conference in June.

Last week showed that cause marketers need some commandments by which they should conduct themselves and execute cause marketing promotions. No one wants to get burned by another golden chicken.

Thanks to everyone who came out to the Association of Fundraising Professionals Brown Bag today to hear me, Joanna MacDonald and Dan Curtin, General Manager of Zipcar Boston, talk about cause marketing.

As promised, here are my slides from the presentation (at least the most relevant ones). I’ve linked them to several posts that might be helpful to you.

What is Cause Marketing? Read my post of the same name, and be sure to check out the comments.

Point-of-Sale. You can read about several great examples of pinup programs that support Komen, Jake’s Ride and BMC. Not familiar with pinup programs? Here’s a primer.

Percentage-of-Sale. Check out this post I wrote on Absolut Boston and the Charles River Conservancy.

Sponsorships. As I explained today, cause marketing isn’t sponsorship, but I know selling sponsorships are still a big part of what nonprofits do. That’s why I’ve written a whole series on it called Selling Local Sponsorships for Nonprofits.

iParty and Ocean State Job Lots. You heard a lot about iParty and Ocean State today. These links share some more background about them and our partnerships with them.

Zipcar. As you heard today, this car-sharing company has been a good friend of the hospital. Here are some more details about the email pinup they did for us.

Foursquare. I’ve written three posts on Foursquare and one on CauseWorld. You should also read this AdAge article on Foursquare, which highlights how businesses are using the service. Consider the possible extensions to cause marketing.

Cause Marketing Forum. Their annual conference shouldn’t be missed! You can also follow CMF’s founder on Twitter. Visit CMF for loads of case studies on cause marketing and info on the conference.

The future is free. I talked about this in my “prophecies” for cause marketing. Read about it here.

Hire us. BMC is always looking for new nonprofit and for-profit partners. You can learn more about the different ways we can work together here.

It’s the beginning of a new year so let’s start fresh by defining what exactly cause marketing is.**

Keep in mind that this is my definition of cause marketing. (There are other definitions out there.)

Cause marketing is a partnership between a nonprofit and a for-profit for mutual profit.

A few things about my definition.

First, my definition is focused on cause marketing, not the marketing of causes. CM for me is not about advertising campaigns for causes.

Just this year I’ve come to appreciate why some cause marketers still use “cause-related marketing” to distinguish transactional cause marketing from cause advertising. While I admire the precision of the phrase, the expression is so clunky I can’t bear to use it!

Second, the word partnership means something. The relationship is work-work and win-win. No one is getting a free ride, an unexpected check, or a cursory thank you in the mail.

Finally, the profit in cause marketing comes in two forms, first for the nonprofit and second for the for-profit.

For the nonprofit, the profit is money AND branding/visibility. St. Jude’s raised tens of millions this fall through Thanks & Giving. Last year, Komen raised around $30 million. Cause marketing also offers causes valuable branding and visibility. There is no better example of this than Product RED, which has built a top philanthropic brand through its pacts with partners like Gap, Starbucks, Apple, and now, Nike.

For the for-profit, the profit is greater favorability with consumers and, potentially, increased sales. The premise is a simple one. Consumers buy from companies they like and respect. Cause marketing is a conduit to earning their favor.

There are three tactical approaches for cause marketing:

Point-of-Sale. For those of you who know me, you know I’m all over this. Just do a search on my under “pinups.” These are programs that happen at the register with pinups, paper icons, scannables, paper plaques, call them what you will. The MDA Shamrocks are the classic example.

Percentage-of-sale. These are products or services from which a dollar amount or percentage of the purchase price goes to a good cause. One of my favorites is the New Balance/Komen partnership. New Balance donates 5% of the MSRP of all items from the Lace Up for the Cure Collection with a minimum guarantee of $500,000. In 2009, Komen received a million dollars!

Licensing. This approach is dominated by the big charities and companies. A longstanding licensing pact is Arthritis Foundation’s Ease of Use Commendation for the Advil Caplets Easy Open Arthritis Cap.

Three clarifications on cause marketing.

#1 – Sponsorship is different from cause marketing. But not in definition. I agree that sponsorship can involve a partnership between a nonprofit and for-profit for mutual profit. The difference lies in execution (i.e. point-of-sale, percentage-of-sale, etc.).

#2 – Cause branding is different from cause marketing. Chris Mann from New Balance makes an excellent point on this in the comments below. Read it and my response. But let me say: Cause branding, like corporate social responsibility, is a strategy. Cause marketing is a tactic that falls under cause branding and CSR.

#3 – Cause marketing is not pure, altruistic philanthropy (gasp!). Like the name says, it’s, eh, marketing (which I define as the things we do to get and keep customers). One of the goals of CM, especially as I define it, is money for a cause. But it’s not the only goal and it’s certainly not given without strings attached, for both partners.

It’s not giving. It’s SELFISH GIVING.

Now that we’re clear on that, what questions do you have?

**Hat tip to @grantgriffith for encouraging me to write this post!

It seems every day more and more nonprofits are asking me if I’m available for training and consulting. I am, as is my whole team (because, as you know, we always do things together).

Here’s how you can benefit from our experience.

• I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that anything I could teach you in a teleconference or in person you could probably learn from reading the five years of posts I’ve blogged on Selfishgiving.com. It’s all here, folks. If you’re strapped for cash, but have plenty of time, it’s a great option.

• An easy, affordable way to learn about our cause marketing practices is to sign-up for Six Figure Cause Marketing. You can learn all about the program at the landing page we’ve created, but let me mention a few things.

**If you think $299 is a lot for a teleconference program, think again. This program is designed to raise you real money, and I have the deposit slips to prove it. It isn’t called Six Figure Cause Marketing for nothing. It’s the first cause marketing program for ordinary nonprofits that truly goes beyond the platitudes and theories sold as how-to in other training programs.

**I don’t personally profit from the program. All the money goes to Boston Medical Center.

**Six Figure Cause Marketing is designed to be a teleconference program but it can be done in person, or in any other format you like. Email me at joe@selfishgiving.com.

• Some nonprofits that already have a corporate partner lined up and are eager to get started have us run their cause marketing program from beginning to end. Read my post on our work with the Boston Bruins Foundation. This is a good option if you already have a partner in place and you’re comfortable sharing with us a portion of the proceeds.

Of course, there are numerous reasons why your nonprofit would want to work with mine.

You have a fabulous event that you believe is ripe for sponsorship, but you don’t know how to sell it. We’ll evaluate the event and tell you if it is indeed sponsorable. If it is, we’ll sell it for you.

You have a CEO from a major corporation on your board and while she privately supports your organization, her company has never been publicly involved with you. We can provide her with options that will be win-win for both organizations.

Or, maybe you’ve finally met that dream company that’s said, “We love your cause. How can we support you?” But you have no idea what the next step is. And even if you did your three-person nonprofit couldn’t execute a program. We can take the worry and hassle out of doing it yourself.

The cause marketing programs we typically create for nonprofits are unique and won’t conflict with your other fundraising efforts. I can also assure you that our programs would be challenging for you to execute without experience or training. That’s why we’ve waited five years before offering our services to others.

In short, learning from us on how to execute turnkey and lucrative cause marketing programs is a smart decision. And taking that extra step to work with us on a joint program is just short of genius.

We look forward to hearing from you. You can email me at joe@selfishgiving.com.

As a fan of pinup programs, especially for small nonprofits, I’m frequently asked how important the “ask” is at the register. The ask happens when you’re checking out and and cashier says, “Would you like to donate a dollar to help _________?”

To understand why the ask is so important to the success of a pinup program, you needn’t look any further than the stores you visit everyday.

“Do you need batteries for that?”

“Would you like to try Via, our new instant coffee?”

“Would you like to supersize your meal?”

They ask because when they do you usually say yes and buy more. A lot more.

The same is true of pinups. The more you ask people to give a buck or two the more people will. I call this active cause marketing (ACM).

But ACM isn’t for everyone. Some retailers see it as pestering the customer. An example here in eastern Massachusetts, and I limit it to my area because I really don’t know what they do in other parts of the country, is Whole Foods. They practice what I call passive cause marketing (PCM). And for all the shortcomings of PCM, Whole Food does it pretty darn well.

They put the gift request in a can’t-miss spot near the register where customers can decide for themselves if they want to contribute.

I ran across the pictured Autism Special Education Center pinup program at my local Whole Foods in West Newton, Massachusetts. The pitch was in a great location. Right in my line of sight on the credit card machine where I swiped my card. All I had to do was pick the card for either the $2 or $5 donation and give it to the cashier who scanned it just like any other item.

While this approach won’t raise as much money as an active pinup program, it’s a hundred times better than most passive cause marketing programs I see. Usually the donation request is far beyond passive; it’s hidden behind the gum in aisle three, or worse.

But let’s not forget how much the type of customer that shops at Whole Foods contributes to the success of this PCM program. Their average shopper is affluent, educated and sophisticated (so far it hasn’t rubbed off on me), which makes them more open and progressive about supporting causes they care about.

While this program was for autism, other PCM programs I’ve seen at the register are for food pantries, homeless shelters and especially “green” causes. Again, right in line with the interests and concerns of their yuppie shoppers.

I’ve never had success with passive cause marketing programs, but that’s not because they didn’t work. I didn’t set realistic expectations for myself and was disappointed when they didn’t raise as much money as ACMs. Now I know better.

To date, I also haven’t worked with retailers with the kind of customers that are more responsive to PCM programs. I’ll have to keep looking because Whole Foods in Massachusetts has already said no to doing a PCM for my cause.

Fortunately for me, there are a lot of other places to shop.

Powerful presentations are the backbone of most successful cause marketing pitches. Whether you’re talking to one person or a hundred, the ability to speak compellingly, sincerely and briefly can be a deciding factors in earning a company’s cause business.

I have no doubt that speaking well has made a huge difference in my success. Representing a small, relatively unknown hospital in Boston requires not only better ideas than our competition, but also the eloquence to make them glow more brightly.

So in the spirit of the bright and hot summer sun, which we are just starting to enjoy here in Boston, here are 11 ways to make sure your next cause marketing presentation is the hottest and brightest thing in the room.

In battle the eyes are defeated first. I hate to admit it, because I like my comfy jeans as much as anyone, but clothes do matter. A professional appearance sets the right tone for business presentations. Most companies expect nonprofit types to show up in a hemp shirt and sandals. Show them that you’re more like them than their stereotype and you’ll have a better chance of earning their trust and business.

Start with the unexpected. Don’t–I repeat, DON’T–start by talking about your nonprofit (a.k.a. The egocentric, bloodsucking charity that everyone expects.). It’s a big turn-off. Start by talking about your prospect, the proposal, their competitors and how you plan to help them accomplish their goals. By the time you get around to talking about yourself, it will be the cherry on the sundae.

Easy on the slides. There’s a terrible addiction out there to PowerPoint. Everyone wants a million slides to cover every word they say, but what they’re really doing is hiding behind an electronic podium. My simple rule: only use a slide when what you want to say isn’t best said with words. This will limit your slides to pictures, video and the occasional graph. That’s it. Remember, YOU are your best visual aid. 

Be yourself at your best. Not all of us are marked to be great speakers, but as communicators we all do something well. Maybe you explain things well. You’re organized. You’re inspiring. You’re concise. You’re a great storyteller. Build your presentation around what you do best. Let your strengths do the work.

Tap the power of “team speaking.” Just as everyone does something well, team speaking aggregates those talents into one fabulous presentation. For example, when I give presentations I often do the overview of cause marketing and my nonprofit’s program. But I tap more knowledgeable members of my team to speak on specific programs. The mix of speakers works well, shares the chore of speaking with others and gives listeners some much needed variety.

Follow the 50/50 rule. Speaking is different from other forms of communication. Unlike a proposal where a prospect can reread areas whenever they want, speeches go in one ear and probably out the other. That’s why your speech should be evenly balanced between new material and (pre)review of what you’ve already said. (Pre)review can take many forms. “This point is important…” “The three areas we’ll cover…” “Now that we’ve talked about point-of-sale, let’s talk about licensing…”

Channel you inner Letterman. Besides Presidents Obama and Clinton, people really don’t look up to statesmen as models of great communicators anymore. They think of Conan and Leno and Larry King and Jon Stewart and Oprah and other celebs. What do these stars share? They’re engaging, funny, conversational, empathetic, and have a lot of different ways of making their points stick.  In short, think of your presentation as a sort of a mini-talk show. You’re the host. You have an audience that you need to woo, move, impress and, yes, entertain. You’ll do that through laughter, compelling dialogue, technology and guests. Got it?

If you’re nervous, you’re lucky. That’s just the type of energy jolt you’ll need to rev you up for a presentation. Your shakes aren’t a liability. They are a symptom of the high octane fuel running through your veins that needs to be put to good use. Stop viewing the jitters as a bad thing. Be thankful that you’re a live wire and share the electricity!

We’re not impressed that you can read. Good public speaking is not about reading your notes. Listeners expect eye contact, impromptu speaking and, if the setting permits, conversation. That’s not to say that you should never bring notes to a presentation. I personally like when you do. It shows me that you’ve put some preparation into your speech. Now show me them know the difference between reading and speaking.

Boil it down. A good speech has many components, but it should always boil down to one action item. For me, it’s often something that’s not even very big, just an important next step in moving the potential partnership forward (Note: You’re not delivering the Gettysburg Address. Your speech isn’t going to change the world. Get over yourself and be practical, tangible and realistic.). Make it clear for them by the end of your speech: what is it that you want them to do.

Shut up. Over a hundred years ago Mark Twain said “Few sinners are saved after the first twenty-minutes of a sermon.” How many cause marketing prospects could you close in the first 20 minutes of a presentation? If you use your time well, A LOT! People tend to blather on and on these days with no purpose in sight. Again, do the unexpected: respect your prospect’s time and deliver a compressed, relevant, powerful pitch. Then shut up and sit down.

The Tour de France, the world’s most famous bike race wraps up this weekend–sadly, without our hero Lance in yellow. It’s been a tough struggle for the Tour the past couple of years. First, it didn’t have a big name rider like Lance involved anymore. But an even bigger problem has been the drug scandals that have knocked out some of cycling’s best riders and left a blemish on the sport.

And sponsors don’t like controversy. T-Mobile and Adidas are just two of the premium brands to exit the event. Not that the Tour ever attracted a lot of well known brands to begin with, at least ones we’re familiar with here in the states.

Faced with a tarnished image, the Tour regrouped for 2009. Lance was back, which helped I’m sure, but it wasn’t enough to bring back the big sponsors.

Reading all about this in a Business Week article that Kris from  @sponsorpitch sent me got me thinking about the connections between the Tour’s challenges and those we face as cause marketers, and what can be learned. Like the Tour, let’s do this in stages.

Stage 1: Reputation is everything. Professional cycling’s refusal to clean up its act has nearly killed the sport as sponsor money has bled out. No margin, no mission. Of course, in anything we do we have to mind our reputation (or character, as Scotty Henderson better describes it). But as cause marketers we need to leverage our strongest selling point: our hard fought reputations are springboards to enhance the reputations of others (aka “halo effect”). Said or unsaid, that’s why corporate sponsors align themselves with us. A marketing director once asked me if her company was spending tens of thousands of dollars on radio, TV and print ads, why would she invest in cause marketing? “Those other media give you visibility,” I replied. “I give you favorability.”

Stage 2: Target smaller companies. With the absence of large sponsors at this year’s Tour, organizers targeted smaller companies who were only too happy to pay a modest investment to reach an international audience.

Many teams operate on budgets of less than $10 million, and some of the cost is shared by secondary sponsors. So for a few million, companies such as Taiwanese mobile-phone maker HTC or the Netherlands’ Rabobank gain a global TV audience.

Fortunately, large companies aren’t fleeing cause marketing partnerships because of impropriety as they are with the Tour. But you’ve probably witnessed what I’ve seen: these big companies have found other things to do with their time and money than spend it on you. Learn from the Tour and target smaller companies that are better candidates and eager participants in your cause marketing programs. Most of the money raised in cause marketing now happens at the grass-tops–with the biggest companies in America–and not enough below. There lies the opportunity.

Some of the sponsors for the Tour de France include national lotteries, flooring-product makers and petro-dictatorships. As cause marketers we clearly have a long way to go (especially with the petro-dictatorships).

Stage 3: Even if you can’t win, go for the breakaway. Something you see all the time during the Tour are these yahoos who sprint off the front of the main pack of riders (called the peloton in cycling lingo) only to be reeled back into the pack a short time later. Why do that? Sponsors love it. When you’re the only one riding out front you (and your sponsor) get lots of TV time. The sponsor is happy because it gets some “alone time” in a sea of Tour sponsorships. The Tour organizers are happy because they can show next year’s sponsors just how much an individual sponsor can standout during the big race.

What about your cause marketing program? Do you give your partners a chance to breakaway from the pack for their moment of glory? Regardless of which program they choose, I give all my partners a chance to stand out from the crowd. All the pinup partners for Halloween Town, for instance, get a free sponsorship that includes a brandland experience at the event. A super-market chain sponsored the Pumpkin Patch where kids decorated their own pumpkins and had their pictures taken. The sponsor stood out from the other sponsors, who had their own unique event experience, and gave me a great sales tool to use with potential sponsors the following year.

The Tour de France isn’t three stages long, nor are the lessons we can learn from it limited to three. I know there are more. And I know I have a few cycling enthusiasts among my readers! Think of it as the team time trial, and it’s your turn to take the lead. Let’s shift this conversation into high gear.

A summer ritual here on the development team is planning for the next fiscal year, which begins October 1st. Part of that planning process involves a half-day retreat for directors at my boss’ house where we discuss our goals for the upcoming year.

Before my boss left for vacation last week he said to me: “At the retreat I want you to talk about how we can use social media for prospect research, fundraising and advocacy.”

I wasn’t surprised that he asked me to talk about social media. My boss is a pretty progressive guy first all all. Also, we’ve been talking about it off and on for the past year and my boss knows I personally use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn (see the links on the right sidebar) and having been blogging for four and a half years.  I was excited about the prospect of finally talking about how we could use it for branding and fundraising. But then I realized that while I was an avid user of social media I had more questions than answers about social media. Questions like…

If we did plunge into social media, on what should we focus? (e.g. Twitter and Facebook but not Youtube and MySpace?)

Should we develop a broad social media strategy for the development office, or should we only try to implement social media programmatically with key events and programs (e.g. Halloween Town, Boston Marathon/Team BMC)

If we do choose the broad social media strategy, who would execute it? This is a real issue. With the marketing team focused on patient outreach and overhauling 1400 web pages on the hospital’s web site, there’s no time left for social media. And this is not the year we can hire an employee or a consultant.

How would a social media strategy work with other things we’re already doing, like email and direct mail?

These are just a few of the initial questions I had.

My first step was to go back to the nonprofits I admired (I’m not original, but I am an excellent copier!) for their social media prowess, especially smaller organizations that were just getting started.

I’ve always looked to Share Our Strength for examples of great cause marketing, but of late I’ve also seen great examples of social media from their go-to guy Jeff Weidner.  The Jimmy Fund here in Boston is great example of an organization just getting started, trying new things, experimenting and finding their footing in a brave, new electronic world.

From these two, I’ve narrowed the platforms on which I think we need to be. I’ve also my noted the challenges of each.

Blogging. I know the power of blogging firsthand because I’ve been doing it for five years. But I also know how demanding it is and how it needs to go way beyond some CEO posting his or her quarterly letters. Paul Levy’s blog is a great example of what’s possible for a hospital blog. Here at BMC, I’d love to start a blog written by one of our emergency room docs chronicling Boston’s busiest trauma center. I also think a blog centered on the uninsured and educating people about getting the care they need when they find themselves without health insurance is fitting for a public hospital.

Youtube. Setting up our own Youtube channel is a priority for me. I love the one Share Our Strength has. We have patient stories we could post there, but there are opportunities every day to collect meaningful footage here at the hospital. I read not long ago that video will replace the direct appeal letter someday. I agree, and consider a strong visual component crucial to any social media effort.

Flickr. For pictures from events and other places. A couple years ago we had a famous photographer do photos of our patients that were really powerful. They could be posted here for everyone to see, instead of tucked away as they are now.

Facebook. I’d create a page for the hospital, but I don’t think I’d do either a fan or cause page just yet. Interestingly, I just saw today that the most popular cause on Facebook has 5,516,134 members, and raised $56,661, or just over $.01 per member.

Twitter. You know I’m bias about Twitter–because I love it!–but we would definitely have our own handle. Personally, I find that being very active on Twitter helps everything else you do online, especially blogging. I would love to see if that holds true when I’m tweeting and blogging for the hospital.

So these are my questions for you:

Do I have all/right forms of social media?

How do implement social media across the department? With the reality of resources and people power, can it be done piecemeal (by event or program) and still work?

Who else out there is doing a good job putting all these pieces together? I’m looking for normal, regular nonprofits like mine that are trying, trying again and succeeding.

Thanks in advance for your help!

In Malcolm Gladwell’s book review of Chris Anderson’s Free: The Future of a Radical Price (which I learned of from one of my new favorite bloggers and twitterers @danblank) he shares this study from a MIT economist.

He offered a group of subjects a choice between two kinds of chocolate—Hershey’s Kisses, for one cent, and Lindt truffles, for fifteen cents. Three-quarters of the subjects chose the truffles. Then he redid the experiment, reducing the price of both chocolates by one cent. The Kisses were now free. What happened? The order of preference was reversed. Sixty-nine per cent of the subjects chose the Kisses. The price difference between the two chocolates was exactly the same, but that magic word “free” has the power to create a consumer stampede.

I’ve seen and tapped the power of “giving it away” in my own cause marketing efforts, and gone so far as to launch a Free is For Me program that guarantees our corporate partners do direct costs. None. Zip. Zilch.

The benefits of giving away cause marketing programs to businesses has three important benefits.

It moves you to the front of the line. Suddenly you’re that free Hershey Kiss that everyone wants to pick! In dealing with businesses that are constantly being pitched to pay for local radio, TV, print and other marketing vehicles, an opportunity that costs nothing but can deliver is quite attractive to business owners, especially in this economy. In short, free gets people’s attention.

It makes you competitive. Although cause marketing has been around since the early 1980′s, it’s still a new idea for many businesses, especially smaller ones. I’ve always said that if a business owner has the choice between paying for advertising or paying for cause marketing, they will always, ALWAYS choose advertising. Not because it works, mind you, but because it’s familiar to them. Giving cause marketing programs away to businesses dissipates the anxiety that comes from unfamiliarity and uncertainty and makes it easier for businesses to give it a try.

You tap the real money. Gladwell poses an interesting question: where will the real money be made on the iPhone, in selling the phone or the apps? Apple may ultimately decide that’s it’s better to give away the phone because they could make more money selling apps.

Up to now, most fundraisers look at corporate support through the narrow lens of philanthropy and sponsorship, both of which require money from the corporate checkbook.  Cause marketing looks beyond corporate giving to a much more lucrative prize: the customers that patronize these companies.

There’s a story about U2′s Bono that when he went to speak to corporate leaders about Product RED they were so impressed they offered to write him a check on the spot. But Bono refused. He didn’t want the easy money. He wanted a product from which Product RED could receive a percentage. The risk was greater, but so was the reward. Last count, Bono had 130 million reasons why he chose wisely.

But, as Gladwell points out, free also has its drawbacks, and they certainly strike home with cause marketing.

“Free is not important to me.” A prospect said this in response to my Free is For Me program. She was right. Not surprisingly, people value the things they get for free less than the things they pay for. I’ve certainly seen this from less committed partners who signed on for a cause marketing program and then let it flop because they had “no skin in the game,” as my boss likes to say. That’s why it’s important to screen your partners carefully, and to make sure that they recognize the real, valuable benefits of the program–for both partners.

There are costs to free.  It’s expensive to give it away and to recoup your money somewhere else. Gladwell points to Youtube, one of the most popular services on the web yet it will lose $500M this year. Cause marketing has its own expenses. In percentage-of-sales programs (i.e. pin-up, mobile, paper icon, etc.) there are design, printing and shipping costs just to name a few. This drives up the cost of executing a “free” program for a corporate partner that you’re relying on to reap a return from its customers. And because we also pride ourselves locally on extending additional benefits to our partners in the form of event sponsorships–at no additional charge–this layers on more expense. Never was free so expensive, or so risky.

Gladwell’s right in his summation that free isn’t the only way to do business. The New York Times gives away content on its web site but The Wall Street Journal has a million subscribers who pay for it. Network TV gives away programming and is suffering a slow death. Cable is doing better charging viewers hefty monthly rates. Free or paid, either can work, or not. I think this is true of cause marketing too. It’s striking the right balance in the given situation.

Free is a great way to get in the door and to start a conversation. But I’ve had many meetings end with a partnership that was sealed by a company check (despite my protests!). The important rule for every cause marketer is to be open, entrepreneurial and to exercise the discipline needed to seize the best opportunity for your organization.

Be like Bono. Be passionate. Be bold. Reach for the greater good. You can be the rock star of your organization. But please: don’t wear your sunglasses indoors.

A week doesn’t go by that I don’t get a call or email from four or five people looking for work.  Most of them come from marketing, advertising and public relations. Some are changing careers. Some just can’t find work in their chosen fields.  They all see opportunity in cause marketing, and they’re right.

This post is for all of you, because I know I haven’t gotten back to everyone.  And I know–despite your kind assurances to the contrary–that I haven’t been as helpful as I would have liked.  This post is also for all the people who haven’t contacted me, but I know will.  This will hopefully be a resource to them, as will all your comments, no doubt.

So how do you get a cause marketing job in Boston?  (I say Boston because that’s where I live and work but I suspect that what I’m about to say applies to a lot of other cities.  But correct me if I’m wrong.)

Cause marketing jobs aren’t so much born as they are made.Very few nonprofits in Boston have staff dedicated to cause marketing.  In addition to my own nonprofit, I can really only think of two other full-fledged cause marketing shops: The Jimmy Fund and Children’s Hospital.  The function just hasn’t been formalized within many nonprofits–yet.  Of course, you could work for “The mother of cause marketing” at Cone, Inc. on Boylston Street in Boston but that’s agency work and is different from doing cause marketing for a local nonprofit.

I suggest you be prepared to pitch a nonprofit on building a cause marketing program for that organization. Of course, very few organizations will hire you just to do cause marketing so be prepared to do other work: communications, major gifts, operations, etc. But pitched correctly cause marketing is a great value-add for any organization, and you should be bolstered knowing that close to zero of the nonprofits out there are doing the work.

It’s at this point that I ask that job hunter on the phone or across the table if they are skilled enough to pitch a nonprofit on building a cause marketing effort and experienced enough to execute that plan if they really got the job.  They almost always answer yes, but the real answer is usually no.  This leads me to my next point.

Get experience in cause marketing. Pretty brilliant stuff, eh?  Sadly, (but luckily for some, I guess) only a nonprofit would be dumb enough to hire someone with no experience to run their cause marketing program.  Believe me, I’ve seen it.  But it never works out so let’s not take advantage of someone and waste every one’s time, okay?  If you really want to work in cause marketing you should work in the field for a bit so you can learn the ropes and see what’s involved.  I hire volunteers all the time who become full-fledged team members, get real assignments, real experience and real recommendations when they apply for real jobs.  But you don’t have to come and work with me.  Volunteer with another organization for which you feel passionate.  Ask them if you can help them with cause marketing.  I’ll bet you a stack of paper icons it’s something they’re not currently doing.

If you don’t have someone to learn from, examples abound of successful cause marketing efforts.  Just look to nonprofits–of similar size and focus, if possible–and learn from what works for them.  When I first got into cause marketing I had no one to learn from except from what I saw and read.  Fortunately, I live in a City with two strong, local cause marketing teams, Dana-Farber and Children’s Hospital.  And it helped that my job was in a hospital too.  I started my own program by applying some of the things that had worked for them.  And you know what? They worked for me too!

I also learned a lot by reading whatever I could get my hands on, including every case study at Causemarketingforum.com.

But tapping someone else’s experience isn’t limited to one city.  It could really work anywhere.  There is a very talented young man on Twitter right now, @KyNamDoan, who is working hard to land a job in cause marketing in San Francisco.  He’s smart because he knows that he can’t just limit himself to cause marketing.  He also knows that while he’s very knowledgeable about the field, he doesn’t have a lot of experience.  After talking with KyNam on Twitter and then by phone I contacted a colleague at a public hospital in San Fran and asked if he could volunteer with them.  I wasn’t surprised by her response.

“He sounds great,” she said, “how much experience does he have running cause marketing programs.”

“Not sure he has any,” I replied.

“Joe, I appreciate the offer, but how does that help me.   I don’t need another intern to manage,” she said.

“You won’t have to manage him,” I assured her.  “I will.”

I realized I could help both KyNam and another public hospital because I knew exactly what both needed to do to be successful.  The effort would be win-win.  KyNam would get some valuable experience and cause marketing would become entrenched at a key public hospital in San Fran, the home of several important national retailers.  Not a bad deal for me as I would like to establish a national cause marketing program for public hospitals.

I’m still working to get KyNam in the door at that San Francisco hospital. I also think I could teach him cross-country what he needs to do to launch successful cause marketing programs. But the facts remain that most cause marketing jobs are made, not born. To work in cause marketing you need either some applicable experience or be a keen observer of the industry, preferably both. That’s it. That’s how it happens.

So for all of you who want to get into cause marketing, get started. As my brother, a teacher, likes to tell his students: “You have a wonderful future ahead of you. I suggest you get going.”