Survey confirms cause marketing delivers ROI

Aligning your company with a charity or cause can deliver a clear return on investment in the form of enhanced customer relations and improved sales, according to a major new survey released this week.

The US survey of more than 350 consumers and communications professionals found that 72 per cent of consumers had purchased a product because it supported a cause they believed in, while nine out of 10 said it was important for firms to support causes and charities.

Marketing professionals agreed there was commercial value in cause marketing campaigns – many of which in recent years have backed environmental causes and charities – with 65 per cent claiming they generated positive PR and over a quarter recording increased sales as a result. Improved staff morale and retention rates were also identified as key benefits resulting from cause marketing campaigns.

"Companies are beginning to clearly understand that there is a return on their reputational investment," said Mike Swenson, president of Barkley PR, which carried out the research alongside magazine PR Week. "[And] cause is the perfect storm to allow companies to engage employees and customers in a more meaningful way."

However, some experts have advised firms' to exercise caution when selecting a cause to support and argue that businesses would often do better to improve their own environmental and ethical performance before investing in supporting an external charity or cause.

Speaking this week to the Treehugger blog, Katrina Kahl of San Francisco-based Breast Cancer Action warned that some cause marketing campaigns were proving counter-productive and advised customers to think carefully before buying products that claim to support charitable causes.

"There are some products that have a pink ribbon on them, but might actually be contributing to the disease by producing toxins that have been linked to breast cancer," she warned, citing the example of car companies supporting cancer charities. "It's a little ironic to encourage people to test drive a car for breast cancer, knowing that what's coming at the other end of the tailpipe is actually contributing to people getting the disease."