“It’s clear that brands now are being asked to do much more than just brand their products. Customers are taking the extra step to ask, ‘Hey, what is this company all about?’.” – Antoine Andrews
When you connect your brand to a cause you make a promise to your customers, staff, and stakeholders. As we build quarterly promotional calendars for our customers our most exciting content comes when we can connect your brand to a cause and create supportive messaging around that cause. Whether it be childhood nutrition, mental health, sustainability, diversity, equality, etc. when a brand can use its position to make a difference, studies show customers have more loyalty to the brand.
5 Ways to Connect Your Brand to a Cause
- Offer financial support. For example a percentage of profits from a specific product’s sales, annual corporate profits, or profits from an event, etc.
- Increase awareness of a cause and offer educational resources for their followers
- Offer ways customers can participate in contributing to the cause through their efforts
- Evoke change through working with, hiring, sourcing products and services that support their beliefs and chosen causes
- Create an event to increase awareness with a course, a presentation, etc. Or raise financial support through a fundraiser or auction, etc.
Keep Authenticity when You Choose a Cause
I am writing this in February and am happy to report on the many large brands sharing black stories and standing for equality and change. Just this morning I received an email from Disney+ with their campaign Black stories. Black joy. Black History. Moments later an email from Hulu.
Hulu’s Black Stories Always promotion recognizes that the interest in Black History isn’t just in February. A variety of Dramas, comedies, documentaries, etc. are available 24/7, 365 days a year. Subscribers can search within the app for Black Stories. They can also follow the link from social media promotions or email campaigns. Hulu has developed evergreen digital content for the campaign. Each February during Black history month it is locked into the promotional calendar.
Thoughtful, inclusive, creative, on-brand.
What a consummate way for a media company to raise their platform and lift Black History and culture. Hulu understood the need for black stories to be shared, they considered how to fill the need, and recognized they had a platform to make a difference. Creating the catalog that continually expands offers value to subscribers and builds loyal audiences. This compilation not only exposes larger audiences to black history, it advances black voices, demand for black actors, and more. All the while educating and entertaining bingers.
Personally, I started with Mudbound and then got hooked on the series Snowfall. Waiting for this dramatic series to drop more episodes I’m inspired to watch more of the Black Stories catalog. The Hulu brand has demonstrated how to use its role to shine a light on society’s problems, introduce history and new ideas, be inclusive, and entertain audiences with diverse catalogs and messages. Now, when I am looking for a story with depth, I look to Hulu first.
Even if your brand does not touch the number of people that Hulu or Disney+ does, your brand has the power to make a difference. In addition, the morale of the entire corporation is lifted when you are working together to create change. So what is important to you? What is important to your team? How do the products or services you offer affect a population, a community, a culture, the future, etc?
When you choose to connect your brand with a cause, follow through on your promises through perpetuity. In 1990, Starfish tuna claimed they would change the way they were sourcing tuna. Dolphin numbers were being diminished in part because they were being netted by large tuna harvesters. By making a commitment to change the way they captured tuna they eased consumers’ minds that no harm would come to dolphins. Unfortunately, many reports claimed there was no such action taken by Starfish. Not only did they not create positive change and save dolphins, but customers also sued them in 2019 for not following through on their claim.
How Your Brand Can Make a Difference
It’s great when you tie your cause to your brand or connect your brand to a cause. In the case of Starfish, it was evident. In other companies and industries, there may not be an obvious path. I encourage you to give it some thought. What do your customers feel strongly about? What causes are in mainstream media that align with your business or personal beliefs? With a few exploratory conversations with your customers, ideas develop from local issues, personal experiences, family, company history, etc.
Be selective here. If brands connect to each and every cause, studies show they are less effective. Don’t be viewed as wishy-washy. Be choosy, show support in what you believe in, but build focused efforts to connect your brand to a cause that resonates with you, your team, and your customers. Don’t try to be all things to everyone.
For instance, the Connection Group team loves nature and the outdoors and feels strongly about protecting our environment. The print industry uses virgin wood and damages the environment. In response, we adopted sustainability practices over twenty years ago.
• commit to the reduction of virgin material use in our office
• established a recycling program
• source the highest recycled content in print stock for client print projects as possible
• partner with vendors who share our beliefs and follow sustainability practices
What cause can your brand embrace?
Also, we are a certified woman-owned business and as such are advocates for diversity, inclusion, and equality. We demonstrate our support by providing high-value services to diverse businesses, primarily women-owned businesses. By delivering valuable brand services, reliable support, and fair pricing, our efforts help lift women-owned businesses. We also seek partnerships with other women-owned businesses for our needs, personally, and professionally. We know that the more women-owned businesses we help succeed the more equitable the marketplace can be. Living our cause and connecting it to our brand extends our impact.
Support a cause and demonstrate that your brand is committed to changing the world. Or keep it closer to home and lift your local community. Our customer Augusta Mills is a woman-owned flour mill in Michigan. Their motto is family, community, love. One of the causes we help them to promote each year is families baking together. Teaching children to bake, inviting them into the kitchen to make their own food is empowering. It helps strengthen families and teaches a skill to fulfill our basic need for food.
What cause can your brand embrace? How can you create change with your promotions, advertising, actions, or profits? If you are curious how you can share a cause effectively with your audience, connect with us. We are happy to help with a consultation. Or, we can assist with building a promotional plan and editorial calendar that can help you beginto share your story. Connect with your customers on a level that makes a difference to you, to them, to your team, and to the cause you believe in.
Stay connected, we’re here to help!
