Connect with Customers Through Cause Marketing, Part 3

We've already shown how important cause marketing is in terms of solidifying your reputation, and in attracting and keeping customers. But it’s also a key component to keeping your staff happy and dedicated.

Did you know 87% of employees working for companies with cause marketing efforts feel a strong sense of loyalty? Through cause marketing, your store forms a strong bond that connects you with your community and your employees.

In the last few weeks, we offered tips on different tactical approaches to cause marketing. Today, we look at transactional promotions. These engage participation with an offer to make a contribution (by the store) for the solicitation of a contribution (from the customer), based on consumer behavior like buying a product or redeeming a coupon.

Jewelers of America’s Director of Education David Peters shares ideas on how to thrive with transactional cause promotions:

• Do a service department or watch battery promotion: Donate all or a portion of proceeds for a specified period of time to your charity.
• Try a free service offer: When providing a free or low-cost service (like adjusting a watch band), ask the customer to drop a donation in your charity’s canister in lieu of charging them.
• Designate a specific item (like a mother’s ring or necklace) as a charity item, and tell your customers that a percentage of the profit will go to your store’s charity.
• Designate a special week or month to your charity during which time a portion of your sales go to the charity.
• Offer to make a fixed percentage contribution to your charity for every $100 or $500 a customer spends.