Why Cause Marketing Works

• Business relationships, like all relationships, are based on trust. This includes the relationships between “consumers” and the companies they buy products and services from.
• Research clearly shows that Americans increasingly expect companies to invest in social good, to serve in community in ways beyond the products and services they provide.
• "More than eight in ten American consumers report trusting companies who support a cause they care about. Consumers recognize and remember companies who give back to their communities. About one in four, and almost half of Influential Americans, can spontaneously name a good corporate citizen. Americans indicate they are more likely to invest in, work for, and buy from companies that support social causes, as well as welcome them into their community." The Evolution of Cause Branding, Cone/Roper, 2004)
• Sociologist, and author of The Cultural Creatives, Paul Ray’s research confirms that support for social causes and other service, is part of an overall mix which must include high quality products and services, fair prices, excellent service, and good employee relations, to establish overall authenticity.
• In response to an authentic social positioning, based in genuine service to society and values consistently applied throughout a company’s business, people will be loyal consumers, recommend a business and its products to others, and otherwise support a company.
• When a company engages its employees in its cause program, providing opportunities for them to be of direct service and connect with consumers and other stakeholder groups, the connections are even deeper, for all involved.
• Research indicates that young people, 18 – 25, are particularly sensitive to and appreciative of a company’s genuine service to society.
• Effective cause marketing establishes and builds on deep-seated, values-based relationships with diverse stakeholders, and is clearly becoming an instrumental element of sustainable business.

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