Not Everyone Cares that You Care

#1 Thing You Need to Learn from this Post:
Consumers make purchase decisions based on their needs, not your ideals. When those don’t overlap, you can lose market share.

A More Detailed Exploration:
This past week, the Made to Stick guys published An Arms Race of Good on their Fast Company blog extolling the virtues of cause marketing and the Huffington Post ran an interview entitled, Cause-Related Marketing: Just Plain Ol’ Marketing?

Yeah, validation! Let’s ditch all marketing except for cause marketing.  Right? Wrong.

Little Known Secret
I have talked with brand managers and other corporate representatives of highly successful cause marketing campaigns. Here’s a little know secret they’ve shared:

Marketing based solely on cause can lead to market share loss for your product or service.

This happens because your competitors can focus more on value and price advantages, attracting prospective buyers motivated more by those factors. Surprisingly, some of the most lauded cause marketing campaigns have created more good will than profit because they overemphasized the cause aspect.

Lesson to Learn
For those companies choosing the cause route, the key is to balance your messaging mix. That way, you inspire your cause-oriented consumer while reminding others what else makes your product or service great.

What do you think?