[Guest Post] Courting The Right Cause: How To Establish A Mutually-Beneficial Partnership
Establishing a relationship with a charitable organization often leads to multiple benefits for businesses.
From boosting employee morale to added marketing exposure through cross-promotions, a mutually beneficial relationship between a company and a non-profit can lead to more than the rewarding feeling of helping others in need.
Because cause marketing is the core of what we do at Reed PR, part of developing a client’s overall marketing strategy involves identifying appropriate charitable partners for companies through an in-depth research process. There are a few key factors we look at when determining if a non-profit organization is a good fit for our clients, including an organization’s reputation, marketing efforts, online presence and more.
We’ve put together a checklist of what organizations can do to audit their own presence to become more attractive to potential corporate donors and partners.
We use the criteria below as a baseline to determine the best partnerships for our clients. Whether you are a small business, large company or non-profit, you can use these as a guide to determine the best partnerships to fit your needs.
- Does the organization’s mission and core values align with our client’s brand?
- Does the organization have a large online/social media presence for cross-promotional opportunities? Are they willing to utilize it to promote our partnership?
- Is the organization interested in working with our client? How enthusiastic are they about the partnership?
- How flexible are they in allowing us to customize the programs?
- Is the organization efficient with their funding?
- What is their overall reputation with the general public?
- Is the organization large enough to cover our geographic reach and effectively cross-promote our brand, while still being at a size where we can truly make a difference and won’t be one of dozens of corporate partners?
Once we’ve narrowed down our options, it is critical to discuss and set expectations up front between both parties to ensure we achieve a solid partnership that benefits both parties. Corporations also have to understand that non-profit organizations often have limited resources and any help that their marketing department or agency can provide is greatly appreciated.
When everyone works together for a good cause and our clients’ audiences can see that, it is a win-win-win for everyone. That’s what cause marketing is all about – helping companies do good work for non-profits and having customers participate.
Lauren Reed, founder of Reed Public Relations, develops and manages cause marketing campaigns for many local and national brands. In the past two years, she has worked with Ford Motor Company, O’Charley’s and Bank of America, to name a few. Lauren has also authored pieces for the Nashville Business Journal about cause marketing and how it ties to millennials.
