Do Well by Doing
Good
“It’s better to look good than to feel good!”
said Billy Crystal’s self-absorbed talk-show host on television’s
“Saturday Night Live.” For a business, looking good—that
is, working to develop an image as a generous, caring, conscientious enterprise—and
feeling good go hand in hand.
 Moreover,
evidence suggests that businesses that spend time, effort and money on
a cause or on their community tend to see a payoff as their businesses
become more successful. Those who do good also do well.
As the retail market becomes ever more competitive, specialty
and small retailers need ways to differentiate themselves and drive business
to their stores. Cause marketing—loosely defined as combining good
works with the power of advertising and public relations—is a powerful
way for retailers to do just that.
And “good works” means more than checks written
out to worthwhile charities; it’s the donation of time, resources
and energy—in whatever form a retailer can offer.
For Laura Porter McMurry, former owner of Naked Plates
in Grand Rapids, it meant donating her time, energy and kiln space during
a busy holiday season to fire over 2,000 soup bowls painted by customers.
The bowls were auctioned off or given as gifts to donors as part of “Soup’s
On For All,” a fundraiser for God’s Kitchen, a soup kitchen
and food pantry in Grand Rapids.
McMurry’s efforts helped God’s Kitchen raise
more than a half-million dollars over the past five years and led to a
Retailer of the Year award for Naked Plates in 2002.
For Pat Heller, owner of Liberty Coin Service in Lansing
and member of the Michigan State Quarter Committee, it meant tying the
hoopla surrounding the release of the Michigan State Quarter to his “Cans
For Quarters” campaign.
This issue’s cover photo shows Pat Heller’s
son, Daniel (left), daughter, Amy, and Stephen Beegle, son of Liberty
Coin Service’s chief numismatist, Allan Beegle, helping with “Cans
for Quarters.”
By giving away more than 20,000 newly minted Michigan
quarters, the event raised almost 6,000 pounds of food and more than $6,500
in cash donations for the Greater Lansing Food Bank. The event garnered
great press for his store, and the idea has spread as far as Texas.
“I talked with major coin dealers in Dallas and Houston
who were planning a Cans For Quarters food drive to celebrate the release
of the Texas Quarter,” said Heller.
For Debra Ventimiglia, owner of Heirloom Pottery in White
Lake, it meant creating and selling one-of-a-kind, handmade ceramic angels
to raise money for two foundations associated with Rett Syndrome.
Kalamazoo-based Gazelle Sports, co-owned by MRA board
member Bruce Johnson and Chris Crowell, keeps a high profile by organizing
or sponsoring all kinds of fitness-based events in its store’s three
locations, Kalamazoo, Grand Rapids and Holland.
One of the most successful has been Gazelle Sports’
partnership with an international organization called Girls On The Run,
a non-profit program that encourages preteen girls to develop self-respect
and healthy lifestyles through running. Kalamazoo’s program boasts
the largest number of participants for Girls On The Run in the nation,
with more than 1,000 third-, fourth- and fifth-grade girls completing
a 5K run on May 25.
Swift Printing in Grand Rapids has been involved in countless
charitable causes, from the YMCA and Grand Rapids Youth Commonwealth to
Senior Meals on Wheels. An innovative renovation project taken on by owner
Walt Gutowski, Jr. and his father, business founder Walt Gutowski, Sr.,
earned Swift Printing the Retailer of the Year award in 2001.
 The
Gutowskis partnered with Genesis Nonprofit Housing Corp. to turn the upper
floors of their building and the one next door into 27 apartments for
low-income individuals with physical and mental disabilities, people with
AIDS and victims of domestic violence.
As simple as selling a ceramic angel or as major as renovating
buildings—all these actions can be described as cause marketing,
a trend that has caught on big with corporations and small businesses
alike.
Image building
What’s the return on investment? The benefits of community involvement
may be hard to quantify or measure, but they are very real. A well-run
cause-marketing project provides positive media coverage, which enhances
the store’s image and serves as a powerful kind of advertising.
Cause marketing is also likely to increase customer loyalty,
develop new customers and target specific customers. In addition, it helps
develop loyalty and high morale among employees.
Research and anecdotal evidence support these claims.
Cone, a Boston-based firm that links companies and social
issues, has done research on the effectiveness of cause-related marketing
and corporate citizenship since the mid-1990s. According to a Cone/Roper
survey conducted in 1998, 78 percent of adults said they would be more
likely to buy a product associated with a cause they care about—and
54 percent would be willing to pay more if it benefits their cause. This
trend has only grown stronger since that poll, especially since 9/11.
“In the seven years that we have been tracking this
trend, we have seen an increasing number of companies providing their
consumers with opportunities to impact causes. In return, these companies
are rewarded with consumer-purchasing dollars and loyalty,” says
Mark A. Feldman, executive vice president of Cone.
Highly involved Michigan retailers say their experience
confirms this view. At MRA’s recent “Beat The Odds” retail
education conference, retailers McMurry, Johnson and Gutowski shared their
experiences with community involvement.
McMurry explained that she agreed to collaborate with
God’s Kitchen on its fundraiser because she was “hungry for
attention” and saw it as a way to generate good publicity for her
small business.
“I always prefer giving a donation or sponsoring
an event to spending money on traditional advertising. But I also always
ask to see the program—I make sure my store’s name is in it,”
said McMurry.
Johnson noted the employee loyalty and morale created
by his store’s numerous and regular community events.
“Our staff takes pride in working at Gazelle Sports,
in part because of our community involvement. We get and retain a great
staff because people want to work for us,” said Johnson. Great staff
with high morale means better customer service, which further differentiates
a store.
“You may never know exactly what goodwill your efforts
bring you, or how it translates into sales,” said Nancy Barker, vice
president of University Relations and Marketing at Northwood University
and a member of the Retailer of the Year selection committee. “But
we do see that businesses that are most involved also tend to be very
successful. I doubt it’s a coincidence.”
Good ideas, advice
Sometimes a retailer gets involved in a cause because of a personal experience.
Ventimiglia was inspired to raise money for Rett Syndrome foundations
when her friend’s granddaughter, McKenna, was diagnosed with the
condition.
But often customers and community organizations will solicit
donations from retailers. The conference panelists agreed that giving
a gift certificate is a painless way to help any cause or group seeking
a donation.
“A gift certificate is a really inexpensive way to
contribute, because you’re likely to find a new customer,” said
Johnson. “Along with the gift certificate, give them a store T-shirt,
so you are getting your name out there,” he added.
Howard and Steve Tapper took the gift certificate idea
in a creative new direction at their store, Tapper’s Diamonds and
Fine Jewelry in West Bloomfield. Tying their project into their 25th anniversary,
they came up with a “Give $25…Get $25” promotion to encourage
customers to contribute to one of 26 local charities.
 Customers
received a $25 Tapper’s gift certificate in return for donating a
minimum of $25 to charities selected by Tapper’s, such as Midwest
AIDS Prevention Program and Children’s Leukemia Foundation of Michigan.
Their efforts received favorable press when Tapper’s, too, was named
a Michigan Retailer of the Year in 2002.
But when groups come asking for support, how does a retailer
make tough choices?
“Develop a giving policy, perhaps one that reflects
your target customer or your retail category,” suggested McMurry.
“You might decide to focus your involvement on youth charities, or
hunger or whatever, in a given year.
“That way, you can feel good about the organizations
you support and make your reasoning clearer to the ones you have to turn
down,” she added.
“Explain that you’re a relationship-driven business,”
offered Johnson—that is, you become involved with those who have
a relationship with your business.
Gutowski agreed. “Community involvement helps foster
relationships that bring in more business. When I work with a group, or
perhaps we co-sponsor an event, I make it clear that we’ll patronize
that other business and we would like a similar courtesy shown to us,”
he explained.
Here to stay
Cause marketing isn’t a new idea, and retailers have long been involved
in their communities. But in the past few years, it has developed into
an industry itself—a billion-dollar industry, according to Brian
Connelly, an Ann Arbor marketing consultant and vice president of Resource
One, a firm dedicated to cause marketing.
Despite the fact that marketing firms now offer to help
bring retailers together with causes, “the most successful cause-marketing
efforts are those that arise from a heartfelt passion for an organization
or a cause,” said Barker. “These retailers aren’t devising
marketing ploys—they have a genuine desire to make a difference.”
Connelly, who just returned from the Cause Marketing Forum
Conference in New York City, believes cause marketing is here to stay
because it works. “It takes people’s natural interest in being
good citizens and ties it to the routine of shopping,” said Connelly.
And it allows small and large businesses to do good, look
good, feel good—and do well as a result.
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