The Use Of Cause Marketing To Boost Employee Commitment

By Sebastian Troup


Cause marketing is a strategy which is often used by companies to attract consumers to their products, and with good reason. According to a recent corporate social responsibility study by Cone Communications about 92 percent of consumers, if given the opportunity, would buy a product with social and/or environmental benefit and 84 percent of global consumers would tell friends and family about a company's CSR efforts

Using cause marketing to bring the company's efforts to the customers is a good but a well planned and executed campaign will not only benefit consumers. These types of campaigns can reach even farther. Consider the following data as examples of how effective cause marketing can be.

A job where employees can make a very good impact is important to the employees happiness, and a study from Rutgers University found that more than 50 percent of workers and more than 70 percent of students agree that a meaningful job is highly important, ranking third in importance and only slightly less important than marriage. When the engagement level of a workplace with 10,000 employees is increased by a mere 5 percent, the estimated profits can increase by as much as $40 million, according to one recent study.

The best way to create employee engagement through cause marketing is to involve employees from every level of the organization right from the beginning. Discuss the business strategy and outline a range of potential causes that fall in line with it, and then create a framework for making a decision that everyone can take part in and fully support.

Of course, it is unlikely that 100 percent of your employees will wish to participate, but creative planning can make giving much easier for employees. There are many different options to consider that will keep the level of participation in your cause quite high.

A creative option can be donating a percentage of company profits to a local homeless shelter that the company supports, and this can be a good example. Automatic deduction donations made by employees through payroll deductions can provide an easy way to give. Two employees spending half of their day at work working at the shelter each week can also be arranged by the company.

In addition these ideas, you could organize a company-sponsored 5K run to raise money for the shelter. Other options include donating company gift certificates as prizes for the shelter's annual silent auction or offering special prizes to employees who volunteer at the shelter on their own time.

An employee can get committed when he is empowered. He may also want to share the cause he is into, and this is only natural. There is the natural desire to share experiences and this is through the social networks, of which it is more popular than ever before. Encouraging employees to share information about the company's cause marketing activities can be done, using outlets such as Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.

If you give employee recognitions that are specific, they will get excited to share these things through their social networks, and this extra exposure also boosts more interest in your company and the causes supported by your company.

While employee engagement can be improved quickly and can yield nearly immediate results, it can disappear just as fast. Make sure that your cause marketing and employee engagement plans aren't just a passing fad.

If you can have employee engagement in the long term, it can be more effective and it also encourages a loyal and long standing workforce that have increased productivity and effectiveness. Employees that are with the company for long have tendencies to be better in their relationships with their co-employees, work better as a team member, and also with good tendencies to bring others into this engaging and committed effort also.




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