Experts say cause marketing increases sales and customer loyalty, improves employee morale, generates media coverage, and has a positive impact on your community.
Alure Home Improvement’s philanthropic efforts do all of those things. But the proof of the karma is in the sales presentation. “The most impact we get is with our designers,” Selesnow says. “Our guys walk into the home with the Extreme Makeover logo on their shirts. The client may not even be familiar with us. But that’s an instant rapport-builder. The first 15 or 20 minutes we’re talking about our involvement. It gets the conversation going.”
According to a 2002 Cone Inc. survey, 80% of Americans have a more positive image of companies that support a cause they care about; nearly 66% say they’d switch to a brand or retailer associated with a good cause if the price were the same; and more than 50% would be willing to pay more for a cause marketer’s products or services.
BUSINESS RESULTS Cause marketing differs from conventional philanthropy. It’s planned. “If your idea of a program is to hand over a check and send out a press release, you’re practicing philanthropy, which is good,” Hessekiel says, “but you are not executing a program that will generate business results for your company.”
That kind of program involves an active, ongoing alliance with one or more nonprofits. And it takes work. In 2005 Schmidt Siding & Window Co., in Mankato, Minn., became involved with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, a nonprofit that benefits children who have life-threatening medical conditions. To raise money for the group, the company raffled off a playhouse its crews had constructed. One year the company even rented space in a local mall to display the playhouse and spur ticket sales. For two years in a row it organized a garage sale that the whole workforce participated in. “Our entire parking lot was full,” recalls president and co-owner Dale Brenke. Employees also sold raffle tickets. In each of those years, Schmidt Siding & Window Co. was able to raise just short of $5,000.
Brenke, who manages Schmidt Siding & Window Co.’s marketing, actively puts together these programs with nonprofits, including the company’s current affiliation with Volunteers in Action. Last year 17% of the 2,365 leads that came in to Schmidt Siding, a $6 million company with a $200,000 marketing budget, were sourced to a category that the company calls “reputation.” Cause marketing is just a part of that, Brenke says. And while these alliances generate all the good things that cause marketing should — more business, better morale, and increased media exposure — it’s also the case, he stresses, that they require a high degree of energy and attention, since causes, by their nature, tend to run out of steam in time.
CHOOSE YOUR CAUSE Often the willingness of company owners to say yes to every request for assistance dilutes the positive effect of those donations on the company’s image or reputation. Experts advise picking one or a few causes or nonprofits and sticking with them. “It’s not effective to donate tiny amounts to nonprofits and then portray yourself as a friend to nonprofits,” advises Phoenix-based cause marketing expert Amy Belanger. “It should be significant enough that you’re actually building a relationship with an organization.” That type of relationship, she says, generates a much higher degree of customer response. Legacy Roofing, for instance, had the public relations firm it uses draw up a list of nonprofits, three of which it went on to support (see “Building a Legacy of Giving,” above).
Many companies in the remodeling industry work with Habitat for Humanity as their charity of choice. That makes sense because “your construction and project management know-how are among the most valuable assets you can provide to a nonprofit partner,” Hessekiel says. On the other hand, your efforts can easily go uncredited when you work with the same nonprofit everyone else does.
Kris McCurry, of Brave New Markets, a Maryland marketing company with many home improvement companies among its clients, advises home improvement company owners to:
- Start with your employees when looking for a cause or charity to get behind. That, she says, will “earn you the buy-in and participation” that might not be there if you make that decision independently.
- Do your homework and make sure that the organization you choose is truly doing the kind of work you believe in.
- Determine what your goals are in participating or donating, and act accordingly, Hessekiel says. “Do you want to generate publicity among potential clients? Build team spirit among employees? Win Brownie points with local officials?” Knowing your goal will make it easier to determine what you can invest in a program.
- Consider suppliers, who may connect with a non-profit at the national level and be looking to solidify that connection locally.
And although there’s nothing wrong with making your community involvement part of your marketing message, you should also let the nonprofit promote you — on its Web site, for instance — which is as good or better than having to toot your own horn.
