How small businesses are using marketing techniques to demonstrate their values through social causes

• Cause marketing can help businesses support social causes that align with their values and connect with customers. 
• They can help a business highlight its mission and goals through action-oriented campaigns.
• These experts say cause marketing should be equally balanced with the needs of the business. 
• This article is part of "Marketing for Small Business," a series exploring the basics of marketing strategy for SBOs to earn new customers and grow their business.

In November 2022, Philadelphia-based jewelry brand Bario Neal debuted a "Bans Off Our Bodies" charm and pledged 100% of the profits to ARC Southeast, a nonprofit that provides funding and support for reproductive care and abortion services to people in the South. 

"We're a female-founded business, and supporting female organizations has always been really important to us," Page Neal, principal and lead designer of Bario Neal, told Insider. "To us, the rollback of Roe v. Wade was such an oppressive action taken by the Supreme Court to take away women's rights. It's really important to us to support women in areas where rights have been taken away." 

By March 2023, she said the company had sold 70 of the charms and raised about $2,400 for ARC Southeast. 

The "Bans Off Our Bodies" charm is just one way Bario Neal engages in cause marketing, which refers to for-profit businesses and nonprofits engaging in corporate activism. 

Cause marketing can include sponsoring events, fundraising, or raising awareness for a social or charitable cause. Nicole Conway, principal of Conway Marketing Group, told Insider that this type of marketing works best when businesses support causes or charities that align with their values or make a difference in their local communities. 

How cause marketing can benefit small businesses 

Cause marketing can increase brand awareness for businesses and exposure for nonprofits, Conway said. It boosts a company's credibility in communities and helps companies attract customers who "want to see that their purchasing power is well-spent and goes to something they care about," Neal said. 

More than 80% of consumers said they prefer spending with companies that have values that align with their own, and 75% will stop buying from brands over a conflict in values, according to a Harris Poll commissioned by Google Cloud. 

When businesses support causes, it can also improve employee morale and help with hiring and retention, Conway said. "People want to work with real people who have hearts, brains, and consciences." 

To create a successful cause marketing campaign, small businesses can take these steps: 

1. Establish clear values and goals 

"What is the company's mission, vision, and values?" Conway said that's the first question business leaders should ask themselves when delving into cause marketing. 

Having a mission to do good in the community or a desire to make a difference and identifying causes that are important to the company will lead to opportunities to get involved, she added. A clear mission also helps bring authenticity to cause marketing. 

One of the values at Motivosity, an employee engagement and recognition software, is "serve always." The Lehi, Utah-based company looks for ways to give back locally, including within its tech and business community, said Logan Mallory, the company's vice president of marketing. 

In December, Motivosity teamed up with a local networking group, Tacos Together, on a toy drive and donated 500 plush yetis. Motivosity's mascot is a yeti.  

2. Identify causes that make sense for the business 

Businesses should choose nonprofits and causes to support that make sense based on their mission and values, Conway said. 

"Wearing your values" is Bario Neal's mission. The company supports causes dedicated to the ethical sourcing of materials for the jewelry industry, women's empowerment, and LGBTQIA+ rights. Neal said the brand also supports arts and educational organizations in Philadelphia, where it's headquartered. 

For this year's upcoming Earth Day, Bario Neal launched a collection made from ethically-sourced Fairmined gold, and 15% of the sales of these items will go to Mercury Free Mining, an organization working to eradicate mercury use in gold mining.  

Neal said her company researches the organizations it works with to ensure that most of their donations go toward the cause, rather than a nonprofit's administrative expenses.  

Motivosity often supports causes that are important to its employees, Mallory said. For instance, a fundraising drive for Ronald McDonald House was inspired by an employee's personal experience with the organization. 

3. Structure an action-oriented campaign

Cause marketing can take many forms, and it can be an inexpensive way to boost brands while helping others, Conway said. 

Action-oriented campaigns — like devoting a percentage of sales to a charity, holding fundraising drives, sponsoring events, encouraging employees to volunteer, or raising awareness about a cause on social media — tend to resonate with consumers according to a 2021 psychology study by the School of Management at Jinan University. 

Social media plays a central role in Motivosity's cause marketing. The company previously ran a campaign, where it donated $1 to Ronald McDonald House and SisterGoods (an organization helping fight period poverty) every time someone used its hashtag #ThanksMatters on social media. 

Motivosity created social media posts and tagged the nonprofits, and encouraged their employees to post about the campaigns, too. Mallory said the campaign raised about $1,000 each for Ronald McDonald House and SisterGoods. 

"There's a corporate side, and then there's a personal side where our team members will say, 'Here's why this matters to me,' and they'll tag the organization to celebrate them," he said. 

Bario Neal has marketed its "Bans Off Our Bodies" charm online, in its newsletter, on social media, and gifted it to influencers to spread the word, Neal said. 

Conway recommends small businesses be prepared for any potential backlash that could accompany their cause marketing efforts, and create a process for handling complaints or negative comments on social media. But, ultimately, she said businesses should stick to their missions. 

"You have to remain focused and not get distracted by the outside influences that may not love what you're doing," Conway said. "You can't make all the people happy all the time." 

Bario Neal has received some negative reactions from supporting reproductive rights and LGBTQIA+ rights, Neal said. But, the company hasn't wavered from its values. 

"Our position is we're not for everybody," she said. "We're not willing to take back our stance on reproductive rights to make someone feel good about their opinion on it." 

5. Don't forget to focus on the business 

Cause marketing is as much about supporting an important issue or organization, as it is growing brand awareness, Mallory said. "When businesses decide to be overly service-oriented or overly cause-oriented and the business suffers, then it limits your ability to give back later."

Sometimes less is more with cause marketing, Mallory added. "Being intentional and choosing a few groups at appropriate times would be more impactful than trying to be everything to everyone." 

Successful cause marketing also often takes trial and error — and, thinking outside the box, Conway said. 

"Most marketing starts out as an experiment," she said. "Start small, and then if it works, you can scale up, or you can pivot and try something new."