7 Tips for Socially Responsible Marketing
Smart hustlers know that no business owner is an island. By getting involved in your community, you’ll build a reputation as a caring business owner and keep your company top-of-mind when customers seek to buy what you sell. Here are 7 tips for integrating social responsibility into your marketing strategy.
- Find a relevant cause. You’re more likely to get customers interested in your cause if it’s related to what you sell. For instance, if you own a children’s tutoring service, it doesn’t really make sense to support breast cancer research. Instead, look for a child-related cause you know parents will care about, such as after-school programs for homeless children or promoting arts education in the schools.
- Think small. There are tons of big charitable organizations that get all kinds of support and are nationally known. Why not put your business’s marketing muscle behind a small or startup organization (one that’s hustling, just like you)? That way, you know what you’re doing will really make a difference, and you’ll have the opportunity to play a larger role in the organization’s success.
- Get up close and personal. Sure, it’s fine to donate money to a cause, but it makes a bigger impact—both on the organization and on your customers—when you and your employees step in to help. In the example above, the tutoring service could provide free tutoring for an after-school program for homeless children.
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- Involve your customers. Working side by side to help a cause is a great way to build relationships with customers. Encourage them to volunteer with the organization alongside your staff, or hold special sales days where you donate profits from their purchases to your chosen cause.
- Share the news. Use social media, your website and public relations to let customers and local media know what you’re doing. Get customers to share their own volunteerism via photos or social media posts, too. Create a section on your website dedicated to your social responsibility outreach. For example, the tutoring company could create short videos of their employees tutoring children or leading arts programs in local schools.
- Be authentic. Don’t overstate your involvement in a cause or mislead customers about what you’re doing. For instance, if you’re donating a percentage of the sale from a product to a charity, don’t make it sound like you’re donating the entire cost of the item. That kind of dishonesty is sure to backfire and hurt your business’s image more than social outreach ever helped it.
- Make connections. Smart hustlers know that every interaction is a chance to build new relationships that can lead to bigger things. Reach out to others you meet working for your chosen cause to see how you can work together. Tell colleagues about the organization and get them involved, too. By helping others, you’ll forge lasting connections that will help your business grow.
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