Nobody can deny the fact that a successful cause marketing campaign offers many rewards. At the same time, a cause marketing campaign that is poorly built can lead towards disastrous results. There are many hazards associated with such a campaign.
We all know that marketing mistakes can drastically hurt any business. With cause marketing, mistakes can be even worse. The two really common mistakes presented below are specifically damaging and need to be avoided at all costs. Never make them!
Choosing Incorrect Companies or Causes
Making correct choices before the cause marketing campaign is started will be a huge necessity if you want to succeed with such a promotion method. No matter what cause marketing strategy you use, you want to choose the correct nonprofit or cause to support. If you do not do this, the program that you create will have a very weak foundation.
Making a wrong choice makes the customer and the employee to respond in an indifferent way. In some situations the responses can even be really negative. Cause marketing halo is not earned and problems surely appear.
Whenever you choose the companies that you work with and the causes that you will support, you want to consider the following traits:
- Authenticity
- Transparency
- Commitment
- Sincerity
Not Understanding That the Campaign Is Marketing-Based
This is something that often happens when the business owner really wants to help someone or something. Cause marketing does normally have philanthropic objectives. However, these are not the main focus of such a campaign. A company will want to use cause marketing in order to enhance the relationship that appears with potential and existing customers.
When goals are mainly philanthropic, a simple donation would create the desired results. With cause marketing we basically use our marketing department in order to work for the cause AND promote the business, a brand, a product or a service. This can increase donations and will enhance company visibility.
This mistake is extremely common when looking at nonprofit organizations. They naturally see cause marketing as being philanthropy and do not understand the true potential associated with a properly built campaign. You always want to build awareness and you want the visibility that appears when the campaign is properly created.
Remember That the Goal is to Raise Awareness
Remember that the goal of a cause marketing campaign is always to raise some sort of awareness for something. When you simply focus on the good that you do, it is a certainty that there will be problem. At the same time, you want to properly choose the association that appears between your brand and other brands.
Contrary to what many think at the moment, it is difficult to create a very good cause marketing campaign. Keep in mind that the mistakes highlighted above are just some of those that you could make. Because of this, make sure that you always have patience and that you analyze absolutely everything that is associated with what you try to build. Remember that cause marketing starts when you choose what you want to get associated with!
