THINKing

Holiday For Charity Is Back

Americans spent more in two months on holiday items than they did all year on charitable giving in 2007. Holiday retail sales for November and December 2007 in the general merchandise category were up about 1.7 percent, totaling roughly $469.9 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. Charitable giving for 2007 set a record, topping $306 billion.

Links 11/6/2008

A lot of brands are jumping onto Twitter, the latest being Dunkin Donuts. Here’s the Dunkin Donuts Twitter page. Where’s Krispy Kreme?

While we are on the subject of Twitter, Darren Rowse of Problogger has launched a new blog, TwiTip, that’s all about Twitter. If you are into Twitter you’ll want to read this. If you are into blogging, read Problogger. It’s on my must read list.

Join My Cause

Today, I distributed a news release through PitchEngine about a new cause marketing program. Next week I’ll be announcing the details via the My Creative Team enewsletter, Think. I am making a $500 donation to Crisis Assistance Ministry, a non-profit that provides assistance and advocacy for people in financial crisis, helping them move toward self-sufficiency.

More Cause

We talked about cause marketing recently, and I wanted to delve deeper into some of the findings of the Cone study we discussed.

Cone’s study not only shows that people say they will do more business with companies involved in a cause, but that they actually do more business with cause marketers.

Marketing For Just Cause – Part 2

As we discussed in part one, cause marketing – done correctly – can boost a company’s performance. Now, let’s take a look at the five steps you need to take in developing a successful cause marketing program.

Marketing For Just Cause

Cause marketing is a relationship between a for-profit and a nonprofit that brings in money and resources for the nonprofit, while providing credibility and goodwill for the business. According to the IEG Sponsorship Report, this category will grow to $1.5 billion in the US in 2008.

StumbleUpon Two-Step

StumbleUpon can be an enormous traffic generator for bloggers and marketers. I use it all the time. And I just tested what I call the StumbleUpon Two-Step technique of driving traffic, and it also worked well to drive traffic. Let’s review how I did it.

Feeling Charitable?

It’s the time of year when my thoughts turn to charity. Being involved with charitable pursuits is good for you. Additionally, it is something you can merchandise to your customers, particularly if they are in the 18 – 25 age group. Surveys show that 69% of them consider a company’s social consciousness when determining where to shop.

Holiday For Charity Gains Traction

Our Holiday for Charity effort is gaining traction. Last week we mentioned it in our enewsletter, and we distributed a news release via PRWEB. If you visit our release, please feel free to share it through StumbleUpon or your other social networks.Additionally, I posted an article on social site, Gather.

Cause Related Marketing

Tis the season and we’re wanting to give gifts with soul. According to a new Cone poll,