Drive traffic, revenue and good will to your property on a year-round basis? You can start today...

I recently formed Cause Marketing Partners (CMP) to help businesses increase traffic, revenue, and good will by establishing event marketing partnerships with nonprofit organizations.

We match businesses with a nonprofit organization whose mission and/or base correlates with their target audience(s), and then we help each partnership plan and promote their event(s.)

Each businesses’ main responsibility is to put their best foot forward as a brand and a host - make the best impression possible - and bounce the event guests, volunteers and participants back again for future sales.

Events are hosted at the businesses’ location – often on weekday nights when overall traffic may be slower. Event partnerships are specifically designed so that the nonprofit organization and the host business can share internal resources and collaborate on promotional efforts to drive traffic and revenue.

Events are also designed such that both parties share in the admission revenues (to ensure donations and to help mitigate minimum donation costs of food, beverage and labor.)

The host business retains all additional revenues for the duration of the event. The business will also retain all contact information collected from the event guests.

Depending on the genre, size and goals of a prospective nonprofit partner organization, viable business types to host cause marketing events include restaurants, bars, hotels, spas, salons, shopping malls, gold courses, and more. Other businesses that may be able to accommodate events and catering – such as luxury car dealerships, museums, cooking schools, and art galleries – are also of interest to some nonprofits.

Additional CMP benefits to businesses include:

• Exposure to proprietary resources of dozens of local and national nonprofits
• Assessment and recommendations regarding all marketing platforms
• Creation of a "playbook" for future event and promotional efforts
• Collection of new customer contact information for future event and promotional efforts
  

Unlike any other form of advertising and marketing, events are the only time-dependent strategy fundamentally designed to result in live traffic and relationship building.

CMP helps plan and expedite cause marketing events so businesses can continue focusing on other existing, time-sensitive priorities.

We would enjoy the opportunity to talk with you about how CMP can increase traffic and revenues for your business while expanding good will for your brand. Please e-mail me at marc@causemp.com to discuss how we can help.

Marc Portugal
Cause Marketing Partners

NEW WEB SITE COMING SOON!

Healthy Kids: Forming Early Eating Decisions!

Today's entry is a gratuitous but very important promotion of a friend's new private practice. She is a pediatric dietician - an area of focus I feel is extremely critical for both the physical and mental health and wellness of kids today. Check it out and pass it on: http://www.feedkids.com/

Marc Portugal

Market ahead so you don't end up behind

Looks can be deceiving.

For some companies, "short-term" successes can lull them into a false sense of security. Let's look at some easy examples using a restaurant business model:

• A restaurant may be busy because it's summer and their outdoor patio is open (aka season and weather dependent circumstances)
• A restaurant may be busy because they are new (aka the 90-day "honeymoon" syndrome)
• A restaurant may be busy because they received some sort of traditional publicity (aka local media mentions, reviews, etc.)
• A restaurant may be busy because businesses around them are busy (aka a hotel is full for a convention, they are near a dining/entertainment "district", etc.)
• A restaurant may be busy because a marketing campaign worked well (aka a food discount, an after-dinner "lounge" program, etc.)

All good things...until....

• What happens if it rains?
• What happens when summer ends?
• What about all the other patios?
• What happens when the "honeymoon" ends?
• What happens after the buzz from the press article wears off?
• What happens when the surrounding businesses stop marketing effectively?
• What happens after the successful marketing campaign runs its course?

More often then I care to know, businesses revel in a "moment" of success, and stop thinking ahead to ensure they (A) prepare new ideas and strategies and (B) adjust/react to those that expire. If this seems like I'm pointing out the obvious - it's because I am.

Before you completely scoff at the obvious - think about some other critical, less obvious factors that can be happening simultaneous to the expiration of temporary successes:

• What if your e-mail list starts to see more bounces because it hasn't been cleaned?
• What if your e-mail list starts to get blocked by certain ISPs?
• What if your feedback loop is incomplete and you start getting SPAM complaints that never actually reach you?
• What if someone forgets to update your web site, and potential/current customers (A) log on to see outdated information and/or (B) log on and do NOT see recent coverage of their own experiences?
• What if your Facebook page is outdated, misused, or under-utilized?
• What if your next round of conventional ad spends (print, online, radio, etc.) don't generate reasonable ROI because they aren't integrated into your other marketing vehicles?
• What happens when the "next great ____" (insert your business type) opens up?

Bottom line: marketing is more important than ever, and timing is still everything. Prepare to connect with customers further in advance via multiple strategies and you won't miss out. If you believe yesterday's "checkout" indicates all is well - you may end up behind.

Marc Portugal