Cause Marketing

Understanding the concept of cause marketing is a necessity with more and more people making use of this method. Cause marketing is actually a co-operation agreement or a collaboration between corporate houses and the non profit organizations. Doing these jobs can be tough considering the many complications which such people will have to deal with while establishing a peaceful and friendly relationship between corporations and charitable foundations. In the next section, let us first discuss the advantages of cause marketing.

Advantages

Cause marketing aims at helping both - the companies as well as the charities. The companies with deep pockets can act as sponsors for the charity events conducted by the non profit organizations. In such a way, they will be able to make their products and brands more popular amongst the common people. The word of mouth in these cases will be so strong that the companies will see a phenomenal growth in their sales turnover and net profits. This can be the best way of targeting young customers who are the biggest consumers of most of the products introduced in the markets. The charitable foundations will also simultaneously benefit in their task of providing consistent and quality social service to the people. These charities will get advantage of the strong market reputation of the company and will receive many donations from potential donors such as wealthy individuals. The private companies can also benefit from a rise in the morale of their employees from tying up with the non profit organizations.

Cause marketing can provide positive and creative publicity for the companies. The print and electronic media attention which they will receive will be helpful for them in chalking out business expansion policies in the years to come. A company having a collaboration with a charity shows that it is concerned about its corporate social responsibility.

Disadvantages

Cause marketing practices can be profitable and advantageous until both - the companies and charities perform their duties effectively and with full sincerity. Any kind of wrong decisions or misconduct on part of the people associated with these two bodies can be harmful for both of them. A company with a very good reputation in the market can be at a disadvantage by associating itself with a non profit organization which does any unethical or controversial activity. So, instead of promoting the products and increasing the brand affinity, the people will start doubting the intentions of the company. At the same time, care should be taken such that the people should not feel that tying up with a charity is just a marketing tool to increase the product sale. The companies face the challenge of convincing the people their good intentions behind getting involved in charitable activities.

Any kind of negative publicity is also detrimental for the interests of the non profit organizations as their existence directly depends on the faith which people have in them. Creating such an organization requires hard work, consistency of several years and a deep feeling of philanthropy. However, the reputation can be disturbed in a single day if any practices of corruption or misuse are found out.

Finally, we conclude that the success of cause marketing depends on the interest and policies of both these bodies. So, think over this and try to implement the suggestions practically. Good luck!