Need More Business? Try Cause Marketing!

"I need more business, but my budget is tight" seems to be the cry of every local business I speak to. As I began to hear this more and more I came up with a solution that provides ways to market your business for virtually no cost except for your time.

One way to do this while building your brand is to partner with a charity and leverage the concept of "cause marketing." Cause marketing is about adopting a specific charity or non-profit campaign that complements your business and then promoting what you are doing for that cause.

A great example recently was The Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel's Hand Bag Drive at which they collected used hand bags in good condition to raise funds for the Partners In Education Program. Other successful examples are the businesses that sell soda by the can and are collecting the pull tabs for The Ronald McDOnald House. After taking the tabs to a recycler, the money then goes to The Ronald McDonald House.

There are many ways to utilize the idea of cause marketing. If you are a retail outlet you can become a drop off point for a Toys for Tots drive or a food drive. You can contact organizations like The March of Dimes, Muscular Dystrophy Association, American Cancer Society, Women in Distress, and others and find out what their needs are and how your business can help meet those needs.

The key to utilizing cause marketing is to make sure you are promoting your involvement. Send a press release out to all the media contacts that you have. If you don't have a media list, develop one by simply researching the media outlets in your area.

The great thing about cause marketing is that it can be done for virtually no money as all you need to do is create a program, develop and promote it. That can be as simple as letting your clients know that this month your business will donate a percentage of the profits to a local charity. Then have a picture taken of you writing and sending the check to the charity with a catchy caption such as, "Suzie Smith proves that service to humanity is the best work of life with her donation to (insert charity) made possible through the support of her clients. Suzie Smith can be reached at (insert phone number)."

This month pick a cause and use it to leverage your business success.

****
Jonathan Lederman is President of JSL Services providing his voice talent to local businesses, events, and sports teams along with business consulting, and motivational speaking. Jonathan can be reached at 561-367-9281 or rd1299@aol.com