Cause marketing isn’t new. It’s been around, up and down and reviewed many times as a tactic.
But something is new on the cause-marketing front and big companies and entrepreneurs alike would be wise to notice — and employ. There’s experimentation in doing the sort of thing that might have once been part of cause marketing as overt marketing. The result may be good for businesses and communities alike.
For the unfamiliar, when a company invests in a charity or goodwill project then buys ads to tell you about its good work, that’s cause marketing. It doesn’t undermine the contribution or commitment to the cause.
Related: Has Your Company’s Charitable Giving Become an Empty Ritual?
And many, many nonprofit organizations doing amazing things rely on corporate generosity and philanthropy to fulfill their missions. The nonprofit that employs me, the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, is just one such example.
It’s doubtful that companies, especially big ones, give out money merely to add their corporate logo to a nonprofit’s website. It’s unlikely that a startup such as JackPack is solely calculating the impact on customers when it decides to dedicate to Vitamin Angels a portion of each purchase of its Pretty Fit product, a curated selection of fitness materials for women.
