# Marketing for a good cause



## WhiteeBer (Sep 24, 2007)

Hi my marketing campaign involves giving up a portion of my profits to help those in need. What is the best way to implement this so that my customer is well aware that his or her purchase is indeed going towards a worthy cause. I have thought about bannering but is this really an optimal tool or is it just a bunch of white noise added to my website? Any feedback would be much appreciated. Our stuff is a little risque so I am trying to offset the bad with the good. You know balance out the karma in this world
http://www.cafepress.com/flagrant_tees


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## dmm26 (Mar 21, 2007)

I would get into contact with the charity that you plan on donating to and maybe get a contract or something stating that you are in fact donating a portion of all your proceeds to that particular charity.


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## WhiteeBer (Sep 24, 2007)

I kinda wanted to spread it out dealing mostly with the homeless. Isn't me putting it on my website binding by law?


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## tcrowder (Apr 27, 2006)

First things first. People could care less you are "donating" a portion of sales to anything. If you really feel that strongly about whomever you might or might not be donating to, just do it without the self patting on the back. You will not gain any extra sales by stating you are "donating" to a good cause. 

Secondly, do you really thing the market you are targeting really caresabout anything?

Thats just the way I see it though, and everyone knows I'm just a grumpy old fart.


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## WhiteeBer (Sep 24, 2007)

How is it patting me on the back when it's their money they are donating? I agree with your points on some level..however, I am an optimist and we all know that good will as well as any publicity good or bad seems to benefit a company. Who knows maybe the risque offensive tee wearing hooligans actually give a hoot about charitable causes


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## Comin'OutSwingin (Oct 28, 2005)

Some would consider it you "patting yourself on the back" because you don't have to do it, and you're proclaiming for all the world to see that you are giving your profits to someone else.

You say it's their money that you're donating, but it's actually YOUR money when they give it to you.

I see what your point is, but you have to ask yourself what your motive is. Is your motive to gain more sales? If that's the case, you may make fewer sales because a particular customer doesn't agree with you giving money to a certain cause.

Is your motive just to give to a charity? If so, that could be done without the "chest thumping".


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

ok I wasnt going to comment but I will, I think the first thing you would need to do is find a charity that is ok with you representing them. It may be hard to do with the content of your products. If you can, maybe instead of donating a portion of the proceeds you can donate t-shirts for the homeless. I have a grand baby that was premature and march of dimes makes the medications that saved her life. Instead of donating funds, I donated childrens clothing printed for the walk of america they did that was personalized to every infant walking that contacted me. I did about 150 garments for the children to wear on their walk. So if you really want to help the homeless maybe do it that way instead of trying to get people to buy to donate. Just take a portion of your sales once you have made them and invest it in garments to donate as I am sure they would really like to have a nice shirt to wear. but that is just my two cents and the way I went about it to help a worthy cause.

Bobbie


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## howrdstern (May 7, 2007)

sunnydayz said:


> ok I wasnt going to comment but I will, I think the first thing you would need to do is find a charity that is ok with you representing them. It may be hard to do with the content of your products. If you can, maybe instead of donating a portion of the proceeds you can donate t-shirts for the homeless. I have a grand baby that was premature and march of dimes makes the medications that saved her life. Instead of donating funds, I donated childrens clothing printed for the walk of america they did that was personalized to every infant walking that contacted me. I did about 150 garments for the children to wear on their walk. So if you really want to help the homeless maybe do it that way instead of trying to get people to buy to donate. Just take a portion of your sales once you have made them and invest it in garments to donate as I am sure they would really like to have a nice shirt to wear. but that is just my two cents and the way I went about it to help a worthy cause.
> 
> Bobbie


 i very much respect what your contribution was and or is - light years beyond and more meaningful - then just stating giving to a charity for the sake of just giving to balance out some bad crud i'm peddling off and making it somewhat justifiable.


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## WhiteeBer (Sep 24, 2007)

Comin'OutSwingin said:


> Is your motive just to give to a charity? If so, that could be done without the "chest thumping".


Aww but thumping on my chest feels so good.
Actually our goal is to donate special t shirts for the homeless not only giving us goodwill but also as a sort of marketing campaign I do not want to get into the details but from a business perspective I get to write off charitable contributions, I get good will associated with my compay...which is a lot better than no will, and I get free advertisement. Charities in themselves can be incentives to buy. I didn't buy a breast cancer ribbon just for the simple fact that it was designed nicely and I like the pretty color pink. Thank you all for your input I did not really come here to battle whether or not I was going to do it but to ask advice on HOW I should do it. Thank you all so much for the time you took to respond


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## Comin'OutSwingin (Oct 28, 2005)

WhiteeBer said:


> Aww but thumping on my chest feels so good.


I know. I enjoy a good chest-thumping myself, from time-to-time! 

Just to give you a little perspective, I plan to do exactly as you are doing: give a portion of my profits to charity. So, I'm not here to battle you, just give you some things to think about. 




WhiteeBer said:


> Thank you all for your input I did not really come here to battle whether or not I was going to do it but to ask advice on HOW I should do it.


You asked for help, and even said "*any* feedback would be appreciated" 

If someone doesn't think it's a good idea for you to do what you are planning to do, it's kind of hard to give you advice on how to carry out what they believe is a bad idea to begin with. 

It seems that your motive for announcing the charity giving is marketing, which involves making more money for your company. You are specifically doing something that you hope will shed a positive light on your company in order to generate more revenue. That's what you hope to accomplish by telling your customers that you are giving to a charity. Nothing wrong with this, in and of itself.

So you need to assess what kind of effect it will have on your sales. Will giving to the homeless have a negative impact on your customers? Right now it seems as though you don't know. Especially since your stuff is more "risque" as you put it, it's really hard to tell.

But you need to be aware that the possibilty of a backlash is there.

It's much less a gamble when the charity you are giving to falls in line with what you are selling. It's easier for a company that sells doggie t-shirts to give to the Humane Society. It's a pretty safe bet that the majority of their customers will not have a problem with this.

Like I said, I plan to do the same as you. I'm going to be giving to a local charity that supports inner-city youth. But my clothing line falls in line with that kind of thing.

So, just some food for thought. Consider your motives, and assess whether what you have already determined you're going to do, accomplishes what you think it will...


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## WhiteeBer (Sep 24, 2007)

woah long impressive reply. Thank you kindly sir. I am in this business for mere enjoyment. I think it would be cool to hand out free stuff to homeless people because they are awesome and people liked my ideas and I have a lot of them albeit risque and I have backers so why not. Like I say who knows right? I am a business major and this will give me a good taste of what the real world is like Thanks man that was an awesome reply


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

WhiteeBer said:


> Actually our goal is to donate special t shirts for the homeless not only giving us goodwill but also as a sort of marketing campaign


You might find this mildly interesting:
Designer label for the homeless - Fashion - Entertainment - smh.com.au


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## mk162 (Sep 24, 2007)

Since were on the topic, I think you need a better charity. No offense, but I have known several homeless people and while you are correct, they are great people, they did it to themselves. Their own actions caused them to be in that position.

I have no problem supporting cancer research, or lupus, or whatever. I have a problem try to cure laziness or stupidity, which are generally the 2 causes of homelessness. First, pick a more noble charity and get taken a little more seriously. Homelessness is such a broad spectrum. Is there a local charity that does more than feed, clothe and house the homeless? Like maybe help them get back on their feet by teaching them a trade or help them find work? This is why simply stating, "I support the Homeless" does nothing for me.

We have a place here called the Tommy Nobis Center. It helps mentally and physically handicapped people become productive members of society through job training. That my friend is a charity. Although to be honest, I wouldn't want profits from those shirts coming to my organization. Not to mention, with paying CafePress so much, how can you have any profits left?


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## Solmu (Aug 15, 2005)

mk162 said:


> Since were on the topic, I think you need a better charity.


I think this is a good example of what Greg is talking about above (the danger of picking a charity to align your company to).



mk162 said:


> I have a problem try to cure laziness or stupidity, which are generally the 2 causes of homelessness.


The number one cause of homelessness is mental illness and substance addiction. Ignorance is part of the problem.


As a thread note, this is pretty much entirely off-topic. Let's not get sidetracked in whether or not the chosen charity is worthy; the topic is how to incorporate charitable giving into a business, and the possible pitfalls.


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## mk162 (Sep 24, 2007)

I wasn't really, but if you are trying to market your business as giving to charity, then pick a charity that at least packs a good wallop. Take LiveStrong for example. There is a charity that is a great marketing tool. I won't go into the reasons why, mostly because Lance Armstrong is a celebrity that overcame cancer. What more of a sob story would you like?

I, and others here, were trying to say that some marketing is better than others. Homelessness doesn't carry as much sympathy as say, cute little helpless animals in a shelter. You need to appeal to their feelings.


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## sunnydayz (Jun 22, 2007)

WhiteeBer said:


> woah long impressive reply. Thank you kindly sir. I am in this business for mere enjoyment. I think it would be cool to hand out free stuff to homeless people because they are awesome and people liked my ideas and I have a lot of them albeit risque and I have backers so why not. Like I say who knows right? I am a business major and this will give me a good taste of what the real world is like Thanks man that was an awesome reply


I want to clarify something, when I said I would not purchase your shirts and that you should check to see if a charity wants that type of content backing them. The content I was talking about that was way to offensive in my mind was the designs that were making fun of certain diseases such as aids and anorexia, it was not the sexual or as you put it risque ones. I think any charity would have a hard time saying you represent them when you poke fun at very serious illnesses. For instance how many homeless people do you think have aids and it becomes one of the reasons they are homeless. This is the point I guess I was trying to get across is that if you want to support a charity make sure the charity can be proud of you as a sponser otherwise they may not want to be associated with you. hope this helps. In no way am I trying to be negative or anything, this is just something I would look at. 

Bobbie


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