Finding new and innovate ways to market online, companies are looking for ways to get their product across in an ever-changing landscape of social media platforms, websites, and innovative marketing techniques. Growing in popularity and more recently being adopted by companies is the social justice issues marketing strategy. Designed to tie a product in with a particular movement and reinforce the connection between a product/service and affective change.
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If you are interested in utilizing a cause marketing campaigns for your company, then there are a lot of things you will have to consider. Littered with potential landmines, setting up a relationship with an established non-profit or foundation in the social justice issues you are interested in as well as defining your support without marketing too heavily are key. More than any other marketing campaign, looking to those that have succeeded verse failed in the past is an excellent way to craft your own message around something that will galvanize potential customers.
Cause Marketing Campaigns
Cause marketing campaigns have been around for decades. Popularized by the foundations and non-profits raising awareness of these issues, companies have only recently become aware of just how beneficial this can be for business. Empowered to some extent by social media and a push towards raising awareness and online activism, online marketing can be implemented with these topics in mind to increase brand awareness.
As with such campaigns, tact is paramount. First and foremost, your company is providing assistance to something that you believe in. As this is what you want individuals to see, your services should appear as a secondary concern in this form of advertising. Instead of getting direct sales, you get an improvement to brand awareness that helps bring in new customers over time. One of the benefits of this process is that you can bring in customers you would not normally reach, increasing your pool of customers and even expanding your potential demographic.
While not every cause marketing campaign takes off, they all end up doing some for the foundation or non-profit they tie themselves to. In addition, they will increase awareness even if sales do not increase, providing a greater benefit in the long run. While the cost associated with doing such a campaign eats out of profits connected to every purchase, the benefits still outweigh the drawbacks. At the end of the day, your company ends up doing a lot of good, which is great for promotional material now and into the future.
Social Justice Topics
Social justice topics can be incredibly varied. As there are countless well-known problems occurring the world and a real impetus to act underlying American culture, providing a means for individuals to do some good helps both the cause and your product win. Social justice issues can include things like criminal justice reforms, environmental awareness, equal rights for individuals, and awareness campaigns. Tied to these issues are non-profits and foundations set up to provide meaningful change. By aligning with one of these organization and working with them directly, you can sift through the social justice issues you are working on and come up with the one that provides the best synergy.
Successful Cause Marketing Campaigns
There are several good examples of cause marketing campaigns relating to social justice issues. In fact, they can be found all over the world. The ACAT, also known as the Christian Campaign To Abolish Torture, featured a prominent message regarding how victims are people. They included covers for the back of seats that made it look as if a person’s arms were tied behind them. Bruised, it sends a powerful message regarding the state of some individuals and brought a lot of attention to the torture that was being perpetrated by governments and groups around the world.
Another example is a series of ads that Green Peace has run to help show the affects of climate change on the environment. A popular ad they ran in magazines included a two-page advertisement with the first page being a tree, and the second being the same tree except it is cut at the base. Completely blank except for the stump, a powerful message is sent regarding trees. Called “Deforestation With The Turn Of A Page,” the advertisement ran in a number of publications and was got a lot of attention.
Ultimately, the social justice issues you choose to reflect in your marketing should have to do with the product you are selling and your overall brand message. In tying the two together, you combine a call to action with a donation that helps to fight the bigger issues at hand. Online marketing can be implemented with these topics to form new and exciting ad strategies. All that is left is to identify a strategy appropriate with your product and begin testing it.