Companies must discover the good cause they carry within

There are trends in the marketing field that many brands try to apply and do so inefficiently. We refer to good causes, somehow encompassed in the concept of corporate social responsibility, covering fashion fields such as ecology or good practices. And what has been named as content marketing.

The mistake brands usually make consists in dealing superficially with these realities. Literal superficiality because, in most cases, companies point to the causes: they place their logo on an initiative, content, or good activity “per se”, but that has little or nothing to do with their DNA as a brand.

The job is to investigate and discover what is the good cause that underlies each of the corporate activities: from the product or service itself, to its production, marketing or distribution.

Not all companies can sponsor ecological activities. And those that do must specify this link to a specific aspect. It is evident that a paper mill can communicate about the preservation of the forest mass. As it is also evident that a company that manufactures its products in some Asian country, with low production costs, should be linked more to the so-called fair trade.

However, it is not always all that obvious. Its not easy. But the role of marketing managers and agencies must focus on that deep investigation of the brand’s social contribution to discover what good cause is relevant. And not just for the brand. Relevant also, and above all, for the audience.

This demands honesty. Costumes or masks like the “green washing” do not hold up over time and fall, dragging the public image of the brand and the company down in its collapse. Honesty consists in finding that truth that underlies all commercial activity. Truth that is usually, at the same time, good. There are very few bad businesses in themselves – no need to go into morbid details -.

At La Machi, we help our clients’ brands not to “point” to good causes. We discover the good intrinsic causes of the company. And from there we activate their creative communication. It is not only more honest. It is much more effective.