Cause-Related Marketing

Cause-Related Marketing, CRM, and the Impact on Your Business Sales

When considering an advertising and marketing campaign for your business, you may be looking to Internet marketing as a viable option. Internet marketing, in the form of sponsorship, is a new concept in advertising and marketing for many companies, but is growing rather quickly.

Sponsorship as a form of marketing your business can be further sub-classified into a division of Internet marketing known as cause-related marketing (CRM). The general concept behind CRM lies in the benefit to your organization, through a boost in sales, by way of donating or developing a sponsorship opportunity to a non-for-profit organization.

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While CRM is effective at reaching those individuals who are involved in charitable giving normally, the challenge with CRM lies in reaching those among the general population who are not regular charitable givers. Therefore, when establishing a CRM account with your Internet marketing company, it is important to discuss how you will reach the population of individuals who are considered non-givers and how to encourage them to give to the cause you are sponsoring.

Involvement in the sponsorship will be key to gaining the optimal outcome with your Internet marketing campaign. While you may be inclined to pass off your sponsorship dollars to the non-for-profit organization, with the intent of reaching an array of individuals who are charitable-friendly, this will not, in turn, prompt sales to your organization. The key to optimizing the outcome of your sponsorship and Internet marketing campaign lies in the ability to become actively involved. You can obtain detailed information about finance vs marketing.

Reaching out to individuals who fit your demographic, but are otherwise considered non-active charitable donors, can be achieved through social networking sites and even through the development of Internet blogs. While these require work, your Internet marketing agency can develop a strategy to give you authorship and blog exposure without ever requiring that you make the contacts personally. The key, however, will be in paying for those “ghost writing” services.

Internet marketing is diverse and should be part of the marketing campaign you develop for your competition. While sponsorship is growing in popularity, the sub-classification of sponsorship, involving cause-related marketing, CRM, is important to develop relationships that build sales for your company. The key to optimal CRM outcomes lies in the promotion of your cause to the non-active charitable givers and, to do this, you must become actively involved. If your time constraints do not permit your active involvement, consider the services of a “ghost writer” and ask your Internet marketing company about the options for posting blogs and networking through social networking services.