What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear the word 'marketing'?
There is a great chance that you instantly think of various examples of advertising campaigns undertaken by companies striving to boost their profits to the maximum.
Or maybe the first association in your head is the idea of excellent communication between a brand and its customers?
In 2017, The New York Times provided its readers with the definition of marketing as "the art of telling stories so enthralling that people lose track of their wallets." In general, the tools involved in marketing activities are concentrated on various techniques revolving around manipulating people into making particular purchases.
But is marketing always all about self-seeking, deliberate actions of companies driven by their desire for profit? Actually, no, not always.
The 'other side' of marketing mentioned here is being brought to life much more frequently by the smallest and the most prominent companies in a broad range of industries.
Cause Marketing, Cause-related Marketing, or Social Marketing?
There are two nearly identical terms most frequently used to describe the "kind-hearted" versions of marketing – cause marketing and cause-related marketing. The first one can be defined as marketing done by for-profit businesses aiming to simultaneously increase their profits as a company and better society in general (according to corporate social responsibility practices).
Meanwhile, cause-related marketing portrays the combined efforts of a for-profit company and a specific non-profit organization, working to achieve a mutual benefit.
There is also one more term, which tends to be used interchangeably with cause marketing. Social marketing is concentrated on building awareness about particular social issues and aiming to change people's behavior with a long-term effect on society's wellbeing.
It is easy to see that many companies decide to become more socially involved by engaging in various campaigns, collaborations with non-profit organizations, or even donating a part of their profits to support charitable initiatives. But is this choice truly profitable for businesses?
The profitability of 'kind-hearted marketing'
Apparently, socially engaged marketing has great potential to be profitable. Probably even more significant than the majority of people might expect. Let's analyze it, beginning with a strictly economic, profit-or-loss type of standpoint, dedicated to the more skeptical readers.
Obviously, in the world of growing consumer consciousness, engaging in the CSR activity can bring many benefits to a company, the most important of them being the customer loyalty. Moreover, 'kind-hearted marketing' has also got another significant advantage, thoroughly examined in a brilliant article, "Selfless Marketing is a Thing (Let me Explain)" by the Catapult PR-IR. Its central message might be surprising for some people: "organizations that talk about themselves all day don't win." The authors advocate that successful marketing methods have a lot more to do with creating a vision for the whole industry than communicating a product-centered message to the customers. This might directly result from negative connotations developed by customers due to intrusive product-centered advertisements, attacking them from practically every possible side.
In general, even if we decide to consider only the pure aspect of profitability, socially engaged marketing is a lucrative choice. Obviously, adding the socially-orientated perspective to our analysis can increase the positive attitude towards the companies that use this type of marketing even more.
Research evidence
Even the data behind socially engaged marketing looks truly impressive. According to the results of The Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2020, "the purchase behavior of 70% of millennial consumers is influenced by companies' commitment to CSR." In addition, a Cone Cause Evolution Survey has shown that as much as 87% of consumers would switch from one brand to another if the other brand were associated with a socially beneficial cause. Even small initiatives like "checkout for charity" (where customers of grocery stores add a donation as low as $1 to their bill, which is later donated to a charity) can have tremendous results. Three major campaigns of this type have raised more than $4.1 billion over the past three decades.
Final thoughts
Generally, consumers willingly support these kinds of activities. Nonetheless, they can become very skeptical about the brand's good intentions if they see a reason for that. This simply means that a brand's genuine initiatives are a must in the 21st century.
However, we should also consider the primary driver of consumer behavior related to cause marketing. Is it more about a real and active incentive to help others, or just about a desire to feel like the finest philanthropist while shopping for some regular items?
Well, that is a question we all should ask ourselves.
Nonetheless, watching socially engaged initiatives converge with a vast sphere of the business world is definitely a heartwarming phenomenon that should be continued and intensified in the upcoming years.
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