Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Cause Marketing with Maslow

When considering a partnership for your next Cause Marketing campaign take a look at it from the consumer's perspective.  Buyer behavior takes Maslow's Hierarchy of needs and applies it to the purchase process.  Certain products are purchased to meet specific needs for each individual.  Clearly, toothpaste plays into the equation at a different level than the purchase of an 80' yacht.  While not everyone is walking out to buy their next boat, you get the idea that different purchases bring different things to the buyer.
Now consider the needs organizations can provide for relative to this scale.  Certainly, the largest portion of organizations focus on the physiological needs since they are the foundation to life, but there are plenty out there that can go beyond this category.  As an example, America's Second Harvest = Physiological, Boys and Girls Clubs of America = Belongingness, Museum of Modern Art = Self-Actualization.
Understanding the need the buyer is meeting in the purchase of the product will allow the matching of a corresponding organization.  The end result will create a more intuitively consistent transaction from the buyer's perspective that will increase the returns to the organization.  The consumer can relate to the need in a more intimate manner creating empathy and appreciation for the need as it is presented.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Unique look at CRM and determining the right cause to support. We talk a lot at Cone (www.coneinc.com/whatdoyoustandfor)about attracting consumers to cause through dual-benefits (sometimes tangible like saving money or time; sometimes intangible like the "do-good halo") and this seems a translation of that. It also speaks to Dove's success with self esteem as a non-traditional issue. Hope you don't mind, but I retweeted it on Twitter (@sarahkerkian).

Thanks for an interesting perspective!