Creating A Cause Marketing Campaign: A Guide

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Updated: October 8th, 2022

What Is Cause Marketing?

Cause marketing is a type of marketing or advertising focusing on social issues. Brands venture into cause marketing to raise attention around a particular topic while increasing brand awareness.

According to research, customers prioritize companies that are responsible, caring, and advocate for issues.

Therefore, cause marketing is an important marketing strategy.

Key Takeaways For A Successful Cause Marketing Campaign

Choose a cause valued by your employees and your customers
Ensure your message is compelling and relevant
Choose the right cause and maintain being authentic to your brand.
Encourage active customer and employee engagement

How Cause Marketing Works

Cause marketing involves a brand pledging some percentage of proceeds from sales towards a charity or a cause. Supporting a cause reflects business priorities towards customers well being.

Businesses approach cause marketing from two distinct perspectives.

The company could choose the designated charity, or
Allow customers/employees to nominate their preferred cause.

The Benefits Of Cause Marketing

Some benefits of cause marketing include:

Heightened customer loyalty
Boosting your company’s public image
Distinguishing your company from the competition
Building employee morale and loyalty
Improving employee productivity, skills, and teamwork

Therefore, cause marketing is not just about marketing your brand and its products, it may improve team satisfaction and your company as a whole.

Examples Of Successful Cause Marketing Campaigns

Here are a few cause marketing ideas and examples to inspire you:

1. Bandcamp Cause Campaign That Led To 15X Increase in Sales

Bandcamp is a website where musicians upload and sell their music directly to fans. Recently, artists complained about varying streaming royalties paid by various platforms.

To show support, Bandcamp decided to start waiving their share of sales on select days. The campaign makes sure artists get paid more for their work.

During Bandcamp Fridays, the website collects 15% from the digital music sales and 10% from the merchandise sold on the website. the campaign saw artists getting back 25%. This shows that Bandcamp cares about who uses its platform.

The first run of the campaign saw music fans spending up to $4 Million, which was about 15times the amount usually made on Fridays.

2. Essence Partners with Pine-Sol to Launch Build Your Legacy Contest

Essence is a magazine that celebrates African American women. To promote black-female entrepreneurship, the magazine partnered with Pine-Sol to launch the “build your legacy” contest.

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Participants submit a video explaining what business they are in, and how they are creating their own legacy. The grand prize winner received a cash prize and had a chance to connect with a business consultant to discuss successful decision-making.

Essence aligned the cause with their core reason for existence. That way, the company builds customer relationships while promoting the campaign.

How To Create A Compelling Cause Marketing Campaign

Choose the right cause (something that reflects your own overall brand)
Figure out how to gain attention for that cause
Create visually enticing materials
Communicate with partners to let them know about your campaign
Inform the media on the progress and the reason for furthering the cause

Brand authenticity is one of the main components of a successful cause marketing strategy. Besides, make sure the cause aligns with the overall business objectives.

meet the author

Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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