Why Brand Cause-Marketing Materials?

In the first two blogs of this series #1 & #2, we talk about metrics, forward-facing metrics, and illustrating your progress, and now we want to talk about why having consistent campaign branding makes a difference. Professional marketers know that staying on brand is incredibly important. It builds a visual story, it sets the expectation for participation and price points, it defines inclusion, and it reinforces impressions with the repetitive visual cues. 

So how do you mix the emotion-evoking goals of cause-marketing with your organization’s branding? Or do you lead with your organization’s branding and add the cause-marketing? 

What Does This Look Like in the Real World? 

You may have something as simple as a line on your website or a sign on your register that says Proceeds from Today’s Sales Benefit the Local Children’s Hospital, in a font from your style guide and with your logo on it. Easy enough. 

Or you may go a little more custom to grab someone’s attention. Picture Thanksgiving time, you’re in the grocery store where you donate a dollar or two and you write your name on a turkey-shaped piece of paper that has multiple business logos on it. That signed card goes on the wall with dozens of other turkey-shaped pieces of paper, you see your neighbors’ names, you see a photo of a family with food on the table, and you smile because it only cost you a dollar or so to do something good in the world that day and you have proof you did it. (FYI – the psychological term for this is “Social Proof” and it is incredibly important to today’s marketing.) The next time you come in, you smile again because your name is already on the wall on that card with logos you like to be associated with, and there are now hundreds of turkeys on the wall promising even greater good is achieved. 

Tip: For those who haven’t ordered these types of cards before, the custom ones come as a die-cut shape and specialty printers often have a selection of shapes on hand, which can be very budget-friendly. Or you can opt to have a new die shape created and that is more expensive and takes additional time. Plan accordingly.

Another Real World Example

Another popular trend is a fundraising thermometer. Some organizations will have a very generic thermometer. Pre-printed and they fill it with a marker as goals are met. Some will invest in an automated digital thermometer. There are online services for that. But why miss out on the opportunity to brand your thermometer? It doesn’t have to be a traditional thermometer shape. It can be the shape of donated car, a saved turtle, a full bowl, a stack of library books – whatever the cause you can reinforce with a thought-provoking image.

Another reason you should have a branded thermometer is because your team will need it for various reasons – websites, social media, newsletters, flyers, posters, etc – and the investment for a graphic artist’s is wise to get the various sizes and messaging done at once. At you plan your campaign, you can order a series of graphics that indicate the progress, and swap out each graphic at your campaign’s pace, rather than having to wait for a graphic artist to come back to you. You can plan ahead for “urgency” posts – such as “We’re 5 away from our first hundred”, “We’re 10 away from our goal!”, and it will all be ready at the team’s disposal. 

Participation Recognition

Trophies, medals, ribbons, stickers, and other promotional items are all part of the psychology of marketing and are especially helpful in cause-marketing. People were drawn to you because of an emotion for something they hold dear. Give participants a takeaway that makes them feel like they made a difference. Think of how many “I Voted” stickers fill your social media feed during election time. Something like a branded sticker can be a status symbol or again social proof, they can even be highly coveted. Some organizations, such as marathon events, cover the costs for their medals or ribbons in the entry fees, and you can plan for the same. 

Does your logo need to be on every promotional item? No, not necessarily. You make the brand impression when the promotional item is handed to someone. They make the connection as part of the memory. 

Take Away 

Determine your campaign’s emotional journey and highlight your branding through graphics. You want your branding to continue even after this campaign is done. Drifting too far away from your branding loses the momentum of impressions for your organization.