Selfish Giving For The Little Guys
Here is an excellent post from fundraiser Joe Waters, who blogs at Selfish Giving.
Joe offers smart advice on how small- and mid-size nonprofits should pitch cause marketing relationships to small- and mid-sized businesses.
Two of his observations:
"As a mid-size nonprofit working with similar sized businesses on cause marketing programs I always get questions on how cause marketing will impact the bottom-line. I find that larger businesses are less concerned with cause marketing being a sales driver and can afford to lump it under the do-nothing moniker of "branding." But not so with small business owners. Every dollar spent has to drive sales and grow the business."
Indeed, that’s why Joe prefers to call cause marketing "selfish giving." He adds:
"Unlike the media salesman that wants you to write a check for another flight of ads, the cause marketer wants access to something that you (the business) value but costs you nothing to deliver: your customers."
Here are the questions Joe answers …
- Will my participation in a cause marketing program boost sales?
- How does the costs of cause marketing compare to other types of media (e.g. radio, TV, print, billboard, etc.) I invest in?
- How is cause marketing different from the other ways I invest my time and money to promote my business?
- If I run a point-of-sale program, how do I handle customer questions on how much my business is donating?
- Don’t customers find these programs a hassle and would rather not be bothered?
- If I do this for you every charity in the City will be hitting me up to do something similar or to give them money. Won’t I have a gigantic bulls eye on my business?
- When I die and go to hell, can I use my cause marketing efforts as "Get out of hell" free card?
Good questions … practical advice. Joe, you deserve a raise!
Tom
One response to “Selfish Giving For The Little Guys”
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Tom, I think I’m going to let you speak to my boss about that raise! Joe