Fact – 87% of consumers would switch brands to deal with companies associated with good causes. 87%.

That’s a whole lot of customers to lose if your business isn’t one that’s involved in good causes, either locally or nationally/internationally. Of course, making sure you support causes the right way is key too – no-one likes a bandwagon jumper, especially when it comes to helping people.

It’s something that coffee company Maxwell House clearly understands with their Brew Some Good initiative.

Waking Up the Senses

It’s not a new initiative, by any means. The Brew Some Good campaign has been around for about 2-3 years but, surprisingly, a lot of people still haven’t heard of it.

What the campaign aims to achieve is highlighting people that are doing good in the community, as well as share visions of optimism. Everyone knows about coffee and its ability to wake up your senses when you need a re-energizing hit; Maxwell House wants to highlight people that wake up your senses, by the good work that they do every day.

They do this by inviting nominations for people and organizations doing good in your community. Maxwell House then donates $10,000 to that person or organization, to use for their favourite cause.

It’s a great way of rewarding the amazing people that just go about their everyday work doing good without asking for anything in return, while involving the local community with a brand (in this case, Maxwell House).

Why It Works

There’s nothing flashy about the campaign. There’s no-one from Maxwell House screaming, “Look at how great we are for doing this.” They just view the nominations, encourage you to nominate your favourite causes, and help. Simple.

They also make sure that it’s clear how the help is being used. They have a bunch of videos on their micro-site that shows how a year’s ad campaign budget ($200,000) has helped 21 worthy causes. They even start their TV ads with the words, “Instead of watching a Maxwell House coffee ad, how about we all take an optimism break?”.

And then there’s the human angle.

As part of the campaign, Maxwell House uses videos of real people doing amazing things every day, like the one at the end of this post featuring father and son Dick and Rick Hoyt. It’s a touching story of overcoming adversity and the love a father has for his son.

There’s no Hollywood budget and special effects overkill – just a simple message with simple images. But it’s one that’s more emotional than most Hollywood efforts at emotion.

The Art of Great Business

A lot of businesses say they have (or aim to have) corporate responsibility, but don’t back up the goal with action. Or they make a token gesture to save on year-end tax and then nothing else.

Maxwell House shows that you can have an ongoing initiative, and one that seems so natural and obvious you wonder why others don’t run the same way.

And for that, I’d happily change my drinking habits. Which, as a coffee bean man, says a lot.

How about you – would you be more likely to support a brand that takes an approach like Maxwell House? What other companies are doing great things? Let’s highlight them.

This post contains a video. If you can’t see it displayed properly in your feed, you can view it directly here.

Maxwell House and the Art of Great Business originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.

One of the services we offer at Bonsai Interactive is educating businesses on corporate social responsibility.

This doesn’t just mean donations to local (or national/international) charities; it also starts at home too, and that means with the people around you.

However, another way that companies can become more socially responsible is via cause marketing, which is becoming a lot more mainstream and visible.

Some figures from IAB show why cause marketing is becoming something business can’t ignore any longer:

• 71% of consumers are giving as much (or more) as they were before the economy dipped.
• 87% of consumers would switch brands to deal with companies associated with good causes.
• 50% of consumers would pay more from brands associated with good causes.

As you can see, cause marketing isn’t just good business ethics, it’s good business sense too. But you need to make sure that it’s for the right reason.

The Because of Cause Marketing

Consumers are smart. Everything needs to be “just so” if you want to win their business, and that increasingly means having more than just the cheapest prices or nicest-looking product.

If you’re looking to increase your awareness to consumers via cause marketing, there needs to be a genuine “because” behind the cause.

• Is the cause relevant to you and your brand? No-one likes bandwagon jumpers, especially when it comes to charities and good causes. Picking a charity that doesn’t align with your company ethic could be seen as a sign you’re just using cause marketing for profit dollars.

• Are you a hopper or a stayer? Any worthy cause will tell you that while short-term fixes help, long-term change is where the real needs lie. Invest in your cause marketing for the long-term; grow a relationship with the cause – build and support.

• Are you engaging your employees? A solid social responsibility plan should be including your employees to start with. Make sure they’re fully engaged with your cause marketing efforts; involve at every step and look for feedback on how to improve constantly.

• Why this particular cause? Yes, it’s relevant to your business, but why your chosen one over many others like it? Be clear why you’re supporting; be clear where the dollars are going; be clear what change can be made; and be clear why the need to help now.

Local or (Inter)National

The main question many businesses ask themselves is whether they should be supporting local or national/international causes. Ideally, you’d be able to support both initiatives, which would benefit everyone. But we know ideally doesn’t always cut it.

A lot can come down to your bandwidth.

• Do you have the resources to properly support a national/international campaign?
• Is your customer/client base local or national/international?
• Are there local projects that you can make a big difference to with your support?
• Is your local community one that can work with a cause marketing mindset?

The answers to these questions, and more like them, can help you decide whether you invest locally or further afield. But again, make sure it’s for the right reasons and not simply to make you look good for a while.

Marketing is one of the most important aspects of any business. Cause marketing is joining the fray as an equally important part of your ongoing plans, especially in the eyes of your customers.

How’s your business stacking up?

image: Portrait Artist – Enzie Shahmiri

Understanding The Because of Cause Marketing originally appeared on Danny Brown | Social Media Marketing Blog - The Human Side of Media and the Social Side of Marketing under a Creative Commons license.