Cause Marketing Should have a strong ROI

Many experts and business leaders agree – cause marketing not only should have a positive ROI, it should actually generate a better return than other marketing expenditures.

As a matter of fact, cause programs may pay off considerably better than most ad campaigns and promotion efforts, the theory behind it being that consumers' emotional connections in equating a cause with a brand may be stronger than the connections forged through brandsell advertising and promotional activity. When cause marketing is done the right way, with the right authenticity and the right tone, consumers reward it.

But, as with many cases, the impact of cause marketing often gets measured only in fuzzy terms, such as goodwill generated or millions of people helped, rather than the hard dollars returned for dollars spent that data marketers increasingly try to generate for other programs.

Cause marketing programs should be measured in both “hard” and “soft” results, quantitatively and qualitatively:

• increase baseline sales volume
• number of media impressions generated
• number of product donations and trial/conversion generated through it
• increase brand and program awareness
• drive favorable consumer attitude towards the brand and the causes associated with it.
• enhance brand and corporate image
• boost morale of employees and participating customers - feeling they are making a difference

Last but not least, beyond the goodwill generated in the U.S., product donations are developing markets for brands in countries where none existed before, and even helping break down trade barriers.

Examples of successful brand cause marketing programs are Campbell’s Labels for Education, General Mill’s Tops for Education and Crest’s Health Smiles 2010. Some examples of successful corporate cause marketing initiatives are Ronald McDonald House Charities - providing housing and care for sick children, P&Gs commitment to the Special Olympics, Häagen Dazs' support for efforts to curb the declining honeybee population, Sears’ Heroes at Home - refurbishing and remodeling army-family homes, and The Lexus Environmental Challenge - asking teens to create environmental programs.