Cause marketing is a strategy which is often used by companies to attract consumers to their products, and with good reason. According to a recent corporate social responsibility study by Cone Communications about 92 percent of consumers, if given the opportunity, would buy a product with social and/or environmental benefit and 84 percent of global consumers would tell friends and family about a company's CSR efforts
Those are powerful statistics in favor of establishing a strategic corporate giving program and using cause marketing to bring it to your customer base. But consumers aren't the only group that can benefit from and appreciate a well-executed cause marketing campaign. Consider these statistics:
A job where employees can make a very good impact is important to the employees happiness, and a study from Rutgers University found that more than 50 percent of workers and more than 70 percent of students agree that a meaningful job is highly important, ranking third in importance and only slightly less important than marriage. When the engagement level of a workplace with 10,000 employees is increased by a mere 5 percent, the estimated profits can increase by as much as $40 million, according to one recent study.
Getting employees at all levels involved in cause marketing is the best way to get employees engaged and committed. This can be done by laying out a range of potential causes and producing a structure for the decision making where everybody is involved and they can support fully, and this is the business strategy to follow.
It's impossible to settle on the perfect philanthropic solution that every employee can comfortably participate in. Get creative during the planning process and determine a few different giving options the company can offer in support of a cause.
For instance, perhaps you wish to support the local homeless shelter. Of course, the company can donate portion of its profits to help out, but you also can provide a payroll deduction option for employees to make monetary giving extremely easy. In addition, you can provide paid work time for employees to volunteer at the shelter. You might designate one half-day each week and send two or three employees to the shelter.
In addition these ideas, you could organize a company-sponsored 5K run to raise money for the shelter. Other options include donating company gift certificates as prizes for the shelter's annual silent auction or offering special prizes to employees who volunteer at the shelter on their own time.
An empowered employee will be an engaged employee. When someone gets excited about a cause, it's natural that they want to share it with others. Online social networks make that natural desire thousands of times more powerful than it was in the past. You can take advantage of that fact and engage your employees in the process by encouraging them to share information about your cause marketing activities with their Facebook friends or Twitter followers, and especially to tout their own part in it.
If you give employee recognitions that are specific, they will get excited to share these things through their social networks, and this extra exposure also boosts more interest in your company and the causes supported by your company.
The employee engagement you have accomplished can disappear fast, just as fast as you have acquired and improved on it and acquired results. This can be a passing fad, but you have to make sure that this is not happening in your cause marketing plan.
Maintaining employee engagement over the long term is far more effective as it encourages a loyal, knowledgeable and long-standing workforce that continues to increase in productivity and effectiveness. People who have been at a company for a long time tend to have better relationships with their co-workers, foster more collaboration within teams, and have a better chance of bringing new hires into the engaged fold as well.
Those are powerful statistics in favor of establishing a strategic corporate giving program and using cause marketing to bring it to your customer base. But consumers aren't the only group that can benefit from and appreciate a well-executed cause marketing campaign. Consider these statistics:
A job where employees can make a very good impact is important to the employees happiness, and a study from Rutgers University found that more than 50 percent of workers and more than 70 percent of students agree that a meaningful job is highly important, ranking third in importance and only slightly less important than marriage. When the engagement level of a workplace with 10,000 employees is increased by a mere 5 percent, the estimated profits can increase by as much as $40 million, according to one recent study.
Getting employees at all levels involved in cause marketing is the best way to get employees engaged and committed. This can be done by laying out a range of potential causes and producing a structure for the decision making where everybody is involved and they can support fully, and this is the business strategy to follow.
It's impossible to settle on the perfect philanthropic solution that every employee can comfortably participate in. Get creative during the planning process and determine a few different giving options the company can offer in support of a cause.
For instance, perhaps you wish to support the local homeless shelter. Of course, the company can donate portion of its profits to help out, but you also can provide a payroll deduction option for employees to make monetary giving extremely easy. In addition, you can provide paid work time for employees to volunteer at the shelter. You might designate one half-day each week and send two or three employees to the shelter.
In addition these ideas, you could organize a company-sponsored 5K run to raise money for the shelter. Other options include donating company gift certificates as prizes for the shelter's annual silent auction or offering special prizes to employees who volunteer at the shelter on their own time.
An empowered employee will be an engaged employee. When someone gets excited about a cause, it's natural that they want to share it with others. Online social networks make that natural desire thousands of times more powerful than it was in the past. You can take advantage of that fact and engage your employees in the process by encouraging them to share information about your cause marketing activities with their Facebook friends or Twitter followers, and especially to tout their own part in it.
If you give employee recognitions that are specific, they will get excited to share these things through their social networks, and this extra exposure also boosts more interest in your company and the causes supported by your company.
The employee engagement you have accomplished can disappear fast, just as fast as you have acquired and improved on it and acquired results. This can be a passing fad, but you have to make sure that this is not happening in your cause marketing plan.
Maintaining employee engagement over the long term is far more effective as it encourages a loyal, knowledgeable and long-standing workforce that continues to increase in productivity and effectiveness. People who have been at a company for a long time tend to have better relationships with their co-workers, foster more collaboration within teams, and have a better chance of bringing new hires into the engaged fold as well.
About the Author:
Sebastian Troup loves blogging about philanthropic solutions for businesses and non profit organizations. To get more examples of corporate social responsibility, or to find help setting up a corporate charitable giving program, please go to the Truist website now.
No comments:
Post a Comment