Cause Marketing Campaign & Elliott Bay Book Company

From the article, Social Media: How To Engage The New Consumer, a study indicated that 47% of respondents said that social purpose ranks higher than brand loyalty and design and innovation as a purchase motivator. People want to buy from responsible companies, responsible companies that have purpose-driven brands.

As for my personal project, my client is Elliott Bay Book Company. Elliott Bay Book Company is committed to the community, reading, and the power of stories. I believe Elliott Bay should consider associating themselves with the organization Room to Read. Room to Read is an international non-profit organization that is also committed to reading, gender equality in education, and giving children the opportunities to be curious and enthusiastic learners. More specifically, Room to Read’s belief: World Change Starts With Educated Children.

There are various campaign ideas Elliott Bay could participate in a few being:

1.Direct Donations: Elliott Bay could directly send funds to support Room to Read’s greatest need or recent project. Elliott Bay could also designate their donation to a specific program or country of their choice.

2.Customer Donations: Elliott Bay could allow their customers to add a contribution in addition to their purchases towards Room to Read.

3.Book Drive: The organization Room to Read also benefits from new and used book drives. Elliott Bay Book Company could host a monthly book drive and donate the books to Room to Read.

Social Media:

Social Media would be a great channel and opportunity to bring these cause-marketing campaign ideas to life. For starters, Elliott Bay Book Company is already on Facebook and Twitter. Elliott Bay could “like” the Room to Read cause page on Facebook. Elliott Bay could also tweet or facebook its fans and followers to which program or country they should designate their donation for Room to Read. This would set up a two-way conversational dialogue and also allow the consumer to voice their opinion on the cause.

In addition, Elliott Bay could advertise their annual monthly book drive on Twitter and Facebook. Elliott Bay could also entice its customers to donate old books by giving them incentives and rewards. For example, perhaps Elliott Bay could tweet to its followers that for every five books one donates, that lucky individual will receive a 10% discount off their next purchase or for every ten books you donate, you will receive a free coffee from Elliott Bay Café. The rewards could also change every month since it is a monthly book drive. Furthermore, Elliott Bay could do a contest to whomever donates the most books will receive any one free book of their choice courtesy of Elliott Bay.

Lastly, Elliott Bay Book Company is a family owned independent bookstore committed to the community. So another possibility of a cause-marketing campaign would be for Elliott Bay Book Company to choose a local organization to support such as the Boys & Girls Rotary Clubs Of King County or the Alliance For Education. The Boys & Girls Rotary Club is a safe, fun, and inspiring place for kids to hang out and the Alliance For Education is a non-profit organization to help every child in Seattle Public Schools achieve academic success.

Until Next Week,

Connie Rae