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Get New Customers by Partnering With a Non-Profit
Tip #383 - Cause Marketing Success Stories
Dear Tip of the Weeker,
The holidays are a fantastic time to do cause marketing events, so plan a couple this holiday season!
Let me back up for just a moment and I'll explain what cause marketing is, and isn’t.
It’s not merely giving every Tom, Terry and Tony a donation check, gift certificate, or item of merchandise and hoping that you'll get something in return. It is creating a mutually beneficial partnership with a local non-profit organization, a local cause. They send new customers into your store (their supporters or members) and, in exchange, you donate cash or services back to the group.
The amount you donate depends on how much their supporters spend in your store. You write a check when, and only when, their members come into your store and buy. If they send lots of new customers into your store who spend lots of money, they get a big check. If they don't, they don’t.
It’s a real partnership. It’s a two-way street. A value-for-value exchange.
Here are three reasons why the holidays are the perfect time to do cause marketing...
You'll get bigger numbers of new customers coming into your store. Unlike other times of the year, people feel like they have to shop during the holidays, so you're likely to get a higher response rate during a holiday event.
You'll sell more. People naturally tend to feel generous and giving during the holidays. And because their purchase is supporting a cause dear to their hearts, they’ll tend to spend even more than they normally would.
You'll have more people to sell to once the holidays are over. Sure, you'll probably be busy during the holiday season even without the cause marketing events. But the more new customer information you can capture during the busy 4th quarter, the more people you can contact about shopping with you again once things slow down.
Wishing you great sales and lots of fun,
