Cause Marketing

Causemarketing.biz, this humble little site you’re reading right now, is the Interweb’s largest, most diverse and comprehensive blog on cause marketing. Maybe the site's size and renown explains the volume of off-topic pitches I get from well-meaning PR people. There’s a name for these people. When they send me helpful pitches that are pertinent to causemarketing.biz I call them PR angels. When they pitch me ideas that are off-topic, too long, too dumb, or addressed to “Dear Alden,” I just call them clueless. Editors and reporters have started to out the clueless. Heck, even PR people are outing the clueless. It's never been more chic than right now to complain about PR idiots. I’m not going to out any clueless PR people by name. Not today anyway. But to prove my point, here is a short list of subject lines that have appeared in my in-box in the last week: “Text Messaging: a Marketers Paradise for Increasing Brand Engagement.” “Sales and Marketing Team: The Real Drivers ...

The production of a cause marketing proposal is a very big topic. Rather than tackle it in one ginormous 5,000-word post, I’m going to tackle it piece by piece over the next month or so. Today’s piece of it; "preparing for every contingency in your cause marketing proposal." Let’s say hypothetically that you’ve made your best cause marketing pitch to a would-be sponsor. It’s smart, strategically appropriate, and well activated across new media and old. You’re certain your prospect’s customers will get it and respond. But then a week goes by without hearing back from the prospect. So on day eight you call, but don’t press very hard. The prospect apologizes all over herself. “Everybody back at corporate loves the proposal,” she says. “Trouble is, unbeknownst to the marketing staff, the CEO had promised a campaign to another cause. The marketing department doesn’t think they can or should do both this year.” So sorry. Maybe next time. While you could play off of their guilt and ...