The marketing strategy you’ve never heard of and should be using.

Up until I joined the Knoodle team over two years ago, there was an entire discipline within marketing I didn’t know existed. Flat out, 100 percent, knew nothing about. Cause marketing.

As someone that’s worked for quite a few marketing agencies in major cities, as well as hired the biggest firms to lead national campaigns, I was dumbfounded and excited – if not a bit humbled – to learn more.

Redefining the advertising game.

When written, it looks straightforward enough. And it’s quite literal, actually. It’s the use of marketing to directly benefit a specific cause. Not to be confused with nonprofit PR or corporate social responsibility, cause marketing is more nuanced. It’s a strategy used by companies to dedicate a portion of an ad spend to raise awareness around a particular issue.

The concept is quite brilliant, in fact. Corporate social responsibility programs get a bad reputation as a self-serving PR play or a yearly requirement that companies check to keep their board and shareholders happy.

Cause marketing pulls in media outlets as a credible partner and third party to promote and “own” the effort. And the best part? It redirects a part of an advertising spend that would likely already be going to that radio or TV station, directly to a cause. Usually in the form of a contest.

Here’s how it works.

Here’s a real example. Local Phoenix homebuilder, Fulton Homes, introduced Operation K9 Companion with a radio station in the area, BIG94.5 FM. This cause marketing program was wildly successful the first year out the gate and here’s why.

This particular program gave back to veterans and local animal rescues, pairing shelter dogs with veterans in need of a service animal. The concept of helping the veteran community in this way was not a new one, in fact, there was a little known nonprofit organization, Soldier’s Best Friend, that was doing just that – rescuing dogs from shelters then training them as service animals.

Title sponsorships are key.

Fulton Homes worked with the radio station to use the air time they purchased to promote this cause, by way of introducing a contest and giving it its own name. Thus the Fulton Homes Operation K9 Companion was born.

For six months, the radio station would run ads asking for people to nominate a deserving veteran in need of a service animal. Fulton Homes would then select a monthly winner, providing an opportunity for a new veteran and service animal to find one another. Something that would not have happened without this program.

Win-Win-Win

The pup gets a new home. The veteran gets a new service dog. And Fulton Homes gets the credit. It humanizes the company, aligning Fulton Homes with an issue that is bigger than them and one that matters to the community – AND (this is the critical piece) one that specifically matters to the Fulton Homes customer.

The average Fulton Homes buyer is patriotic with traditional views. Operation K9 Companion fit with that belief system and was a mechanism to reach those buyers.

It’s a story worth telling.

That’s almost where it ends. Almost. These cause marketing programs have all the makings of a great story, why not tell it louder? For Operation K9 Companion, we had at least one TV morning show crew at every monthly “winner ceremony,” consistently for 6 months.

Now the advertising value just shot up, including new exposure and coverage, not to mention the ability to then promote these PR wins through social media, newsletters, website content, and the list goes on and on.

The lesson here?

Not only can we always learn more, our work will be better for it. Exploring new ways of advertising and PR activities is the key to staying relevant and memorable. Throwing dogs and veterans into the mix doesn’t hurt either.