Newsletter: 3 Legs of Cause Marketing Success; City Year Talks Corporate Partnerships; Meet Jane Walker
I talk so much about content marketing that people often ask if it's the only thing they need to do to be successful at cause marketing.
My answer is a firm NO. And I suggest they revisit point #3 in this article on the three legs of cause marketing: research, content marketing and sales. While content marketing will fill the top of the funnel with potential prospects and guide some prospects through the consideration stage, you still need sales people.
- 65 percent of people prefer contacting a business via phone call rather than lead forms. Plus, they convert at 10x the rate of site leads.
- A call is better than a click. Calls have 30 to 50 percent conversion rates while clicks top out at 1 to 2 percent.
- Face-to-face meetings are still most effective. Harvard Business Review found that while in-person meetings have declined, their effectiveness hasn’t. For closing pacts, 89 percent of those surveyed said that face-to-face meetings are essential.
Research is also critical.
“There are two key pieces to the information puzzle that helps organization’s secure new corporate partnerships: research and data," said Maureen Carlson, co-founder of Catalist, a company that markets an online matchmaking platform for companies and causes. (BTW, you can give Catalist's platform a try for 30-days for free.)
"Research is essential so that you understand your target company’s brand, CSR strategies, consumer profiles, marketing tactics, and more," said Maureen.
Even with content marketing to fill your funnel and a sales team to follow up with prospects, you'll be in the dark without solid research capabilities. So aim to have all three legs - or your cause marketing will never be on solid footing.
Top Stories
1. This week on CauseTalk Radio, Megan and I talk to Chris Mann, National Vice President of Corporate Partnerships for City Year, about their outstanding corporate partnership program and its growth during Chris' tenure.
Cause Marketing
1. For thirsty do-gooders there are six charitably-minded beers to drink.🍻 Let's all drop these brewers a tweet applauding their efforts - and asking for more clarity on how much is being donated.🙄
2. Check out these 5 questions with Pizza Hut’s🍕head of social impact. Megan and I interviewed Pizza Hut on CauseTalk Radio in 2016. You can listen here.
3. A nice round-up here of cause marketing campaigns in the United Kingdom. For example, men's shops T.M. Lewin launched a Shirt Swap campaign 👔with British Red Cross.
4. Ecommerce brands like L’Oréal Paris💄and Sephora are building customer loyalty with cause marketing.
5. Operation Smile works with Lay's 🥔to spread smiles! Through April 7th, for each bag of the chips – whether flamin’ hot, barbecue, salt and vinegar, dill pickle, classic or any of the other 14 flavors – Lay's will make a donation to Operation Smile. The goal is to raise $1 million!
CSR
1. With a new video series, Kind Snacks is spotlighting the difference between being kind and being nice.
2. The “striding man” now walks with a striding woman - and she plans to make her voice heard this year. The Johnnie Walker 🥃brand has added a female counterpart to its iconic mascot in tribute to women around the world.
3. For those of you who are curious, here are the companies that have cut ties with the NRA. Here's an article on why they are doing it. And, finally, here's why the world's greatest investor won't join them.
Help Wanted**
1. Manager, Corporate Partnerships, City Year (Philadelphia)
2. Program Manager, Cause Marketing & Sponsorship, Susan G. Komen (Dallas)
3. Director, Corporate Partnerships, Boston Symphony Orchestra (Boston)
**Would you like your cause-related job featured here? Hit reply or email me at joe@selfishgiving.com.
Mental Nourishment
Resources to help you to improve or just learn something new and different
1. Email subject lines for gift officers. Some good advice here. Be a great co-worker and share it with someone on your major gifts team!
2. A clever climate life events tool from Greg Schivley, a civil and environmental engineering PhD. student at Carnegie Mellon University. Enter some key birth dates to project how the climate will have changed from your grandma’s birth to when your kids retire. Fascinating!
