Your Next Cause Marketing Program: Working the Circle of Influence

The powerful opportunity you have after a cause marketing program is successfully completed is to tap the circle of power of your new friend and partner. Here’s how:

• Ask them who they know. Businesses don’t operate in a bubble. They know and work with many other businesses. Who can they introduce you to? Your relationship you’re your current partner can lead to another partnership. The potential connection? The two owners might know each other.

  
  



• Don’t forget their vendors. Businesses buy their supplies and goods from other businesses. Because many of these companies are business-to-business (B-to-B), they’re not appropriate for the point-of-sale and purchase-triggered programs that work well for business-to-consumer companies (B-to-C).

  
  

  However, your vendors may have connections with businesses that may be appropriate for this type of a program. Ask your partner whether he can introduce you to some of his vendors. It’s an easy ask, vendors will be motivated to help you because of who asked them, and it could open some very important doors for you.

  
  



• Identify companies that respect and admire your company partners. For example, a successful cause marketing group had a cause marketing partnership with Staples. Recruiting Staples was a big win in two ways. First, they planned to do a program in 150 stores, and with good foot traffic, that would potentially raise lots of money. Second, having Staples aboard gave them an edge in recruiting new partners.

  
  

  The reason was simple: Companies either wanted to be involved in a program that Staples was part of (and why not with all those stores and customers at their back?) or join the marketing group for another program because working with Staples was all the proof they needed that they were a great cause to partner with.

  
  

  Every company that you work with has other companies that respect and admire what they do and would love to work with them. Your goal is to find them!

  
  

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Source:http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/your-next-cause-marketing-program-working-the-circ.html