Cause Marketing for the Rest of Us

Joe Waters, of the Selfish Giving blog which keeps up with cause marketing, recently wrote about the realities of cause marketing for the average nonprofit.

He is not trying to discourage small nonprofits from seeking cause marketing opportunities, but he does want them to understand that big cause marketing requires big resources. Here are Waters' cautions:

• Big cause marketing programs have dedicated cause marketing teams. Yours won't. The marketing people at most nonprofits are one-person operations and that person wears many hats. They may be in charge of public relations, development, event planning, etc. Waters says small organizations, however, can always look for opportunities to collaborate with businesses across a broad range of activities.
• Big cause marketing programs raise gobs of money from cause marketing. Yours won't. It's ok if you don't raise millions, says Waters. Even a small amount can be helpful and cause marketing projects bring more value in terms of closer ties to businesses and publicity.
• Big cause marketing programs deal with cause branding, passion branding and corporate social responsibility. Yours won't. Waters says that local programs are usually very simple, limited and tend to be transactional, such as point-of-sale programs. Waters suggests that while you should always be striving for deeper and more long-lasting cause marketing programs, don't turn up your nose at the smaller ones. Sometimes, running a number of these can add up to something significant.

For more on cause marketing and sponsorships:

• Cause-Related Marketing: What You Need to Know
• Made Possible By: Succeeding With Sponsorships
• What You Should Know About Baby Boomer Women and Cause Marketing