Do more for your cause while growing your business. What a concept!

What if there is a practice-building technique which involves: no selling, costs little (or nothing) to implement, is an especially terrific value during lean economic times, attracts new patients, encourages referrals, builds team camaraderie, positions you as a coveted media source, leverages your giving, and is a lot of fun?

Would you want to learn more? If not, you may stop reading now.

The technique goes by various names: I will refer to it here as cause-related event marketing (CREM).

The What and Why of CREM

I like to define cause marketing as the process by which an individual or business seeks to achieve one or more business objectives as a consequence of supporting some form of philanthropy.

“Cause marketing is often sidelined because the impact can be hard to measure.” Says Todd Wilson in his Mediapost.com article Bringing Cause Marketing Forward

*www.mediapost.com/publications/article/237895/

bringing-0cause-marketing-forward

Bringing-cause-marketing-forward

Yet, a Nielsen Study** found that: fifty percent of those surveyed had a more positive impression; eighty percent would pay more; and eighty-five percent would actually switch allegiances if the product or service in question were sold by a company with a demonstrated commitment to social responsibility. These numbers are even higher for so-called Millennials; further evidence that ‘this ain’t no fad’: it’s a trend!

Strength In Numbers

The power of CREM lies in its ability to encourage stakeholders to ‘do well by doing good.’ Each person or business, by virtue of its willingness to help support your event, receives the direct benefit – as with any sale, there are elements of science and art: the art in CREM is in helping prospective supporters visualize how they will benefit.

Following are examples of how various potential partners in your event stand to gain by their participation:

Attendees at your event have a good time, meet new people, learn about the cause you’ve chosen to support, and appreciate that your practice not only good at what it does: it also has a heart.

Merchants, by agreeing to donate or offer at deeply discounted rates, food, entertainment, facilities, decorations, prizes, etc., gain exposure to a new group of prospective customers.

The Media get a ‘feel good’ story to share with their readers, listeners, or viewers.

Your chosen charity receives far more in donations than if you simply wrote them a check out of your own pocket – there is strength in numbers!

You and your practice benefit, not only because of the ‘good feeling’ and heightened appreciation participants have for you and your Team, you also have the chance to spend non-clinical ‘quality time’ with current and prospective patients. That’s really when the magic happens.

All of this adds up to that elusive but desirable phenomenon known as leverage.
That’s why CREM does not simply make sense: it also makes dollars.

And How!

The first step is to gain ‘buy-in’ from your Team concerning the event. You’ll want to ‘paint the picture’ that is …….choose your cause.

• Plan Event
• Begin w/end..
• Current
• Prospective
• Bus
• Schools
• Media
• Engage Audiences / Steps to Success
• Kick-off/follow up meetings
• Confirm Tasks
• Assign Committees
• Winning examples
• LSAC in support NSCIA
• ADM in support of CFAC

Doing well by doing good is a time-honored practice. Unlike Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand,
which holds that society benefits as a consequence of pursuing one’s own personal interests,
cause marketing assumes the opposite. Engaging in an activity whose primary intention is to help others unavoidably helps grow your practice.

That’s why I hope you will choose to embrace cause-related event marketing and leave your world that much better than you found it.

HuB Institute http://sarasotaday.com