The Boston Bruins are teaming up with iParty and Fuddruckers again to raise money for The SPARK Center. This program was a great success last year, raising $45,000. You can read all about it here.
The B’s have been a great partner, as have iParty and Fuddruckers. While this year hasn’t proven to be the dominating season last year was for the Boston Bruins, the team is still first in the hearts of all the kids, parents and staff involved with The SPARK Center.
So your nonprofit has started a cause marketing program. Good for you. Here’s how you can let the rest of the world know it exists, especially the corporate prospects you want to woo.
Blog. You know this is my favorite. The good news is that it’s easy, doesn’t require a lot of work and will support all your other marketing activities. Think of it as an online bullhorn for your program that is fresh, dynamic, two-way and 100% accessible.
You don’t have to post three times a week like I do. Just post when you have a new program to promote, or when you see or read something you really want to share. The important thing is that this info is ready-to-go when a prospect wants to see it–or when they’re looking for it on Google.
Website. Not my favorite since it tends to be more static than a blog, a website nonetheless can be a great place to promote your cause marketing program. Here in Boston, The Jimmy Fund and Children’s Hospital both have cause marketing web pages. My development office will probably have a cause marketing page too when our new web site is finished. If for no other reason, it can boost search engine results. When you search on Boston Cause Marketing on Google, Children’s Hospital is the first program listed.
Twitter. With more and more companies embracing Twitter, the medium is becoming a quick, direct and informal way to connect with businesses. While Twitter is just starting to trickle down to the local and medium-sized retailers I work with, the number of business users is definitely growing. Take my advice: get on Twitter now so you’re not left behind.
Newsletter. These can be print or email. My two favorites are Komen and The Jimmy Fund. The former is so completely juicy for cause marketers that I’ve described it as cause marketing porn. Newsletters are a great way to keep donors and prospects abreast of your latest programs and to plant the seed with prospects for how a program might work for them.
Speaking. Find the places where businesses are curious about using cause marketing (e.g. chambers of commerce, rotaries, marketing and business groups) and share with them the details of your program and how you can help each other.
That’s because of all the ways you can promote your cause marketing program, speaking may be the best. You are your best visual aid. No PowerPoint or handout or web page can beat an engaging man or woman. And what you achieve speaking is what you hope to accomplish with your website, blog, Twitter, etc. (i.e. face time with a qualified prospect).
So don’t be shy. As my friend John Haydon found out this morning after he spoke to 70 people, your next client (in John’s case two!) might be waiting for you when you’re done.
Ad Age posted an interesting article the other day about how every company–large and small–is turning to microsponsor -ships–small consumer driven cause marketing programs that raise hundreds or thousands of dollars–to support everything from breast cancer research to earthquake relief for Haiti and now Chile.
I call microsponsorships the “fortune at the bottom of the pyramid” because they are simple, easy and spontaneous. And as my favorite author Ralph Waldo Emerson observed, it’s only in these actions that we are strong.
Here’s how microsponsorships will lead to stronger nonprofits and a better society.
More dollars for smaller nonprofits. Why should the big causes rake in all the dough? But that’s exactly what’s been happening. National charities like Komen, St. Jude and Children’s Miracle Network swoop in to town and gobble up all the national chains for their far-reaching cause marketing programs. But with microsponsorships, companies of all sizes are using cause marketing to fund local causes that are just as worthy of support.
Better accountability and more transparency. As consumers are exposed to more cause marketing programs, they’ll demand more information on what’s being supported and how much money is going to the cause. Web sites, blogs, widgets and apps will spring up giving the consumer info on how to give wisely at their favorite shops, stores and restaurants.
Companies that don’t support good causes will be bad people. A harsh judgment for sure, but forcing more companies to take a stand on what they really care about and to support a cause will be a good thing for everyone, including the company. Giving through these companies will take many forms, not just transactional cause marketing. Adults will become more passionate about giving. They’ll share this spirit with their children. Ills will be addressed. The world will be a better place.
Companies will put values first, alignment second. Leave it to Ad Age to say that “Even tiny sponsorships have to be closely associated with your brand.” This Garanimal strategy has a vitamin store chain working with a nonprofit that supplies third-world countries with vitamins. Cute, but does that cause really speak to the company’s values? Microsponsorships will allow stores, franchises and regional offices to escape the marketing gestapo at headquarters and to support causes that really resonate with them–and probably with the customers they know better than anyone else.
Some people worry that microsponsorships will mean we won’t be able to go anywhere without being asked to give. You mean like how every where I go now I see advertising? Or deal with people on their cell phones? Being asked to give to good causes where ever I go? I can deal with that.
Joe Waters is Director, Cause Marketing for a Boston hospital.
The views expressed at Selfish Giving are his alone, and are definitely too witty, insightful and fascinating to be anyone else's. View My Bio or Email Me.
