According to Wikipedia, cause-related marketing is defined as “a type of marketing involving the cooperative efforts of a “for profit” business and a non-profit organization for mutual benefit.” Simply speaking, it means that companies link their products or services with non-profit organizations, especially charitable organizations, and when their customers purchase particular products or services, these companies will make donations.
Cause- related marketing has been a popular marketing strategy, and it is widely used in many industries. The first thing comes to my mind is a pink ribbon. We can find many products with pink ribbon printed on it such as pens and mugs, which means that by buying these products, you are supporting breast cancer research. Another good example would be McDonald’s marketing campaign –MacDonald will donate $1 to Ronald McDonald House Charities with each sale of Big Mac.
Not everyone applauses for cause-related marketing, some criticize that companies use this strategy as an efficient way of increasing sales, and their claim of doing good to the world or giving to the charity is mainly used to attract more customers.
In my opinion, case-related marketing is a smart marketing strategy that brings these companies (sellers) and charitable organizations to a win-win situation. Companies could build positive public image, gain reputation and obtain increased sales. Charitable organizations would gain more funding and exposure. Also, customers could benefit since many want to make their contribution to the society by helping people in need but cannot access to those people. With CRM, they can do good simply by purchasing products or services they need in daily life.