Whether you donate products or services or make a financial contribution, giving back to the community is an excellent way to build good will. Clients respect your community support. And by volunteering your services, you get to showcase your expertise and services to potential new clients.
Supporting charitable organizations also provides an opportunity to network and potentially meet other professionals who may be interested in co-marketing or who can introduce you to other companies and business leaders.
Make giving back part of your brand
Cause marketing takes giving back to the community a step further. Cause marketing provides a high profile way for your spa or massage practice to demonstrate social responsibility. Cause marketing informs your clients about a mutually beneficial relationship you have with a non-profit. The relationship is in investment in your company that not only furthers your business goals; it makes an impact on community or possibly the world. [1]
Your ongoing support of a cause becomes part of the purpose of your spa or massage practice and part of your brand equity. Your support of a nonprofit enables that organization to tap into your marketing efforts, giving them exposure to your clients. Your altruism becomes an added incentive for clients to do business with you in addition to benefitting from your professional offerings. It can help increase bookings and boost your competitiveness.
Campaign Considerations
Here are five things to keep in mind as you consider integrating cause marketing into your marketing programs.
Be sincere: A cause related marketing campaign can be perceived as self-serving and disingenuous and that can create a customer backlash. Approach your campaign for the long term. Develop a plan working with your partner that serves your mutual goals.
Choose the right partner: Choose a cause that aligns with your business. You might want to align with a community sports organization to provide on-site massage before events and discounted rates to team members for full-body massage. In choosing a partner, make sure it has the bandwidth and resources fulfill its part of the outreach. That can mean putting on events or conducting social media campaigns that showcase your efforts and more.
Provide appropriate resources: Be realistic about what activities you can support in terms of marketing dollars and time to make sure your campaign is ongoing and has momentum.
Involve employees: Before you select an organization, talk to your team to find out what causes they would like to support. They will be more motivated and engaged to work on the campaign if it’s something they believe in.
Set expectations: Establish clear goals with your partner organization and for your own marketing. You may offer to provide your partner a percentage of fees from bookings that are generated through the partnership.
Cause marketing can be an enormously effective way for your small business to be socially responsible and advance your business at the same time.
[1] Sweet, Jessica, “Cause Marketing for Your Small Business,” Ezine Articles, June 24, 2010. https://ezinearticles.com/?Cause-Marketing-For-Your-Small-Business&id=4545372