How can a business demonstrate their commitment to making a difference?
These three B2B businesses have made a public commitment to a cause. Each works to show that commitment in a meaningful way, and marketers can learn lessons from each of them.
According to TechCrunch, Atlassian, an enterprise software company, was founded with the intent that one percent of of its profits, equity and employee time would go to charity. Over the past five years, much of Atlassian’s social good focus has gone to Room to Read, an organization dedicated to providing education and raising literacy rates in poor countries.
In a recent blog post, Atlassian calls their approach “causium marketing.” “Causium” is a combination of “freemium” and “cause.” Their approach involves selling inexpensive versions of Atlassian’s starter software to startups and small businesses.
Lesson: By creating a promotion for small teams that led to a charitable donation, Atlassian expanded their user base while supporting world literacy. The work is good for the company, because as startups using Starter Licenses grow, they will likely purchase full-scale Atlassian software. And the money raised has been far from trivial: as of February 2014, Atlassian had contributed $3 million to Room to Read.
Atlassian made cause marketing integral to their mission and the delivery of their product. Their partnership with Room to Read is not limited to a short-term campaign — it has grown over the past five years. Consider how your company can integrate support for a cause into your mission in a similar way. You’ll be doing good, and people will come to associate your work with your cause.
Tork, a business offering a range of hygiene products and services to the food service and healthcare industries, took a similar approach. According to Joe Waters of Selfish Giving, Tork discounted one of its napkin dispensers for four months, slashing the price from $8 to $2. For each dispenser purchased, $1 went to the charity No Kid Hungry. Sales of the dispenser doubled and the money raised for No Kid Hungry exceeded expectation.
Lesson: Tork’s fundraiser, promoted through a trade press release, e-blast and sales conversations, was a success. For companies taking their first steps into cause marketing, Tork’s example is a good one. The company also promotes social good in other ways, including sustainability initiatives, and continues to promote No Kid Hungry on their site.
Since 1994, Mischler Financial Group has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for service disabled veterans, donating to a variety of programs including the Wounded Warrior Project.
This support has been given in a variety of ways, from the donations of a portion of November profits to career mentorship of disabled veterans. Mischler has also advised other companies on how they can support veterans.
Lesson: Mischler Financial Group’s CEO is himself a service disabled veteran, leading to his focus on helping others in the same position. If you are looking for a cause for your business to support, talk to your employees. It’s likely that some of them will already have personal connections to organizations that could use your company’s assistance.
If you choose to support a variety of groups serving a similar cause, as Mischler Financial Group does, be sure to make the overarching cause commitment clear to your clients and potential clients.
Photo credit: photogeek13 via Flickr Creative Commons
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