I’ve always felt Corporate Social Marketing was a key part of any marketing mix and should be included in the yearly marketing plan. Casa Latino has always promoted community involvement and participated heavily in many of the communities we are located. Here are a few tips on creating an effective Corporate Social Marketing campaign for your franchise.
Corporate Social Marketing is defined as “the application of commercial marketing technologies to the analysis, planning, execution, and evaluation of programs designed to influence the voluntary behavior of target audiences in order to improve their personal welfare and that of their society” (Andreasen, 1995). Social marketing influences behavior, not awareness or change of attitude. It makes the consumer the focus, not the product. Here’s an example: Early in my career, I was a member of company that became heavily involved with the local children’s hospital. This was probably due to the fact that the company was made up of young professionals with small children and it was a subject that concerned all of us. In an effort to create a social marketing campaign, we developed a plan to sponsor a “car seat safety inspection stand” at the local park. We created a direct mail piece and sent out postcards to all the homes within a two-mile radius of the park to announce the event. It was free of charge to the public and one could simply drive up and have a nurse or physician along with a safety professional standing by to personally check your child’s car seat and provide tips on how to keep your child safe while riding in the car. During the event we handed out goodie bags with coupons from a local children’s store and organic grocery. We also included a ”Car Seat Safety Tips” sheet with our company logo to remind parents of things they learned at the checkpoint. It was an enormous success! We had cars lined up and down the street and worked the event from 8:00am – 6:00pm on a Saturday. I couldn’t believe how successful it was and it felt really good to provide our community with such a valuable service.
We simply took a cause that was near and dear to our hearts and applied commercial marketing techniques to all aspects of the campaign in an effort to influence the voluntary behavior of our target audience. It improved not only their children’s welfare but their personal welfare as well.
Now that you have an example you can begin to work on your own campaign. I would recommend taking it in steps by choosing the social cause that is most important to you at this time. Create an opportunity to educate the community where you are located and be sure to get the word out by using flyers, direct mail, YouTube, email invites, etc.
Some of my suggestions would be a “healthy kids club” campaign or a “cycling safety” program. Casa Latino corporate offers you the capability to order through the online store (www.casalatinostore.com) Safety Reflector Patches (for bicycles, backpacks, shoes, etc.) that include the Casa Latino logo and can be customized with your phone and address. You can set up outside your local grocery or hardware store and hand out these wonderful items along with a special goodie bag containing coupons for the local store that so graciously allowed you to utilize their entrance.
Other great opportunities are, Stop Smoking campaigns, environmental campaigns that are geared towards educating the consumer on how to conserve energy in their homes or at school. Work with your local healthcare facility to set up a healthy kids check-up day or schedule a “nutrition day” and hand out healthy quick recipes for kids along with samples of healthy snack items. The sky’s the limit, the key is to have a passion for the message and be organized in the delivery to the consumer. Corporate Social Marketing is a valuable marketing tool that I hope you will begin to use in your own community.
If you have any questions regarding this information or need assistance with your next campaign, please feel free to contact us at hq@casalatino.com.
Good luck!
