If the return of summer's sunshine has you daydreaming of days spent outdoors, trust us your customers are feeling the same way. Month-long celebrations bring crowds out for parades and seasonal holidays like Earth Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, and Independence Day draw out celebrants and volunteers alike. So as your customers trade in their screen time for sunscreen, how do you ensure your business is still front of mind?
Great marketing meets your customers where they are so get out into the community this summer. If your customers are at parades, bbqs, and community events, then that's where your business needs to be too. Better yet, your business can build buzz by creating some of these events yourself.
When you dive headfirst into community events and cause-related marketing, you improve your local area and showcase your social responsibility while generating real ROI. 55% of customers in one survey stated they would pay more if it meant going with a socially responsible company. So, let's explore community events marketing, a sample event marketing plan, and some community events examples to get your summer started right.
Community Events & Cause-Related Marketing Explained
At the heart of cause-related marketing and community event marketing is a partnership between your company and the cause, which may or may not be represented by a nonprofit or charitable organization. Your marketing efforts are directed towards promoting your support of the cause and the organizations you've partnered with.
In the case of community events marketing, you would use your marketing mix to promote the event itself and the cause underpinning it. Or, if it's not an event you're hosting, you would use your marketing efforts to alert your audience that you'll be attending. When the event arrives, your focus is on engaging with potential customers, demonstrating both your support and unique value proposition.
As you start to consider cause-related marketing and attending community events, know that they must be authentic. Customers can sniff out a blatant ploy for good press from a genuine concern for the community.
CMG Expert Tip: Before you continue reading, consider your business's mission and values. Having these top of mind will guide you towards events and causes that align with your business and lead to real community building.
Why Engage With Community Events?
If your business doesn't have a long track record of hosting or attending community events, it can feel like a heavy lift. That isn't necessarily the case, and even small steps can generate big results for your brand. Small businesses that attend local community events saw 11.2% return on their efforts, better than some social media channels.
Customers Support Responsible Brands
Tapping into and attending existing community events is an effective way to get started, especially during month-long celebrations like AAPI Month and Hispanic Heritage Month. There's bound to be an event or celebration near you during these months.
When members of the public see your business at these events, they know that your company is interested in more than just profits. That goodwill has tangible benefits—77% of Americans will buy from a company trying to make the world better. You don't have to try to save the planet, your business can make the world better just by showing up for your community.
Community Events Simplify Targeting
These events can also simplify some of the more challenging aspects of marketing like targeting. When you need to hone in on a highly specific customer segment, it can be hard to know where those customer segments will be.
Marketing channels like television or radio solve this problem because target audiences prefer specific stations and programs. Community events function the same way, your customer segments will choose to go to some events and stay away from others. Better yet, you can use your television and radio marketing to promote your attendance at the events and practically guarantee you meet your customers there.
Potential customers are also more likely to attend events that align with your company's mission and values. Prize innovation? Check out local music festivals. Data shows a fifth of music festival goers are early adopters. Family-owned company? Look for family-friendly events.
CMG Expert Tip: Ask event organizers ahead of time who they expect to show up and use that information to decide your attendance and what your pitch should be when you get there.
Sample Event Marketing Plan
If your business wants to make an impact at upcoming summer events, it helps to have a plan in place. There's less room for error with event marketing because, unlike digital marketing, you can't delete your attendance like you would a post. Once you've identified the events you'll be attending this summer, use CMG's event marketing plan as a template to ensure you and your community get the most from your attendance.
Map Out Your Space: Reach out to event organizers to get an idea of how much space you'll have at the event. What size tables will each attendee receive or bring? Knowing this allows you to ensure you'll have an organized, eye-catching display.
Giveaways: Depending on the attendees, your space, and your business, you may want to consider items to distribute at the event. Branded items can build brand awareness, free samples can build familiarity, and event-exclusive discounts could move people to purchase. A unique code could also become an easy way to track how productive your event marketing is.
Agenda: If you don't have a written agenda, make sure to contact the organizers. Get information on when you should arrive, be set-up by, and when breakdown is. Ensure this information is provided to any employees that will be attending in writing.
Preparation: Ensure you have the giveaway item or code in hand at least a week before the event. The same goes for any company-branded clothing employees will wear at the event. In the days before, ensure that team members have or know how to get and transport the materials to the event on time.
Collect Information: One of the most important items to bring to the event is a method of collecting emails or phone numbers from attendees. Whether you use a trusty clipboard and sheet or a tablet, make sure your team collects this vital information.
Follow Up: Send thank you's to the event organizers and encourage them to invite you to future events. Send follow up communication to attendees who visited your display, perhaps with an exclusive perk or more information about your offerings.
Community Events Examples
As you begin building a thorough event marketing plan for your business, it helps to have guideposts along the way. At CMG, we practice what we preach, so we're sharing two community event marketing examples from our past. We've also included a success story from one of our clients demonstrating the value of cause-related marketing.
CMG's Big Spring Clean
One of our core values at CMG is to elevate our communities. This core value led our Tulsa team into a partnership with the Metropolitan Environmental Trust to host Tulsa's 5th Annual Big Spring Clean. Set at the beginning of March, the one day event collected nearly 74.4 tons of material to be recycled. The event helped Tulsa remain a zero-landfill community while putting CMG's values into action for the community to see.
Back To School With CMG
We also pride ourselves on informing our public and amplifying diverse voices. We recognize that supporting back to school efforts gives the next generation of voices the boost they need to continue learning and growing. Teams across all our markets helped plan and execute donation drives for back-to-school materials. In Atlanta, our teams collected and filled 5,800 backpacks with supplies and gathered enough supplies to fill an additional 6,100. We also raised $5,415 to help schools purchase additional supplies. These supplies supported students living in foster care, group homes, or temporary homelessness. It's another way for CMG to demonstrate our deep commitment to the communities we serve.
Montlick's Cause-Related Marketing
Once you've established a strong community presence, you can go further with cause-related marketing like Montlick. Montlick is a leading personal injury law firm with over 40 years experience advocating for innocent victims. Their knowledge and experience with car accident victims drove them to create the iRideSafe™ program. iRideSafe™ is a website with information and resources that represent Montlick's commitment to safety, education, and injury prevention. It's successful because it embodies Montlick's values and priorities, in other words, it's a program they believe in.
From Community Events to Customers with CMG
A firm commitment to community is expected from any successful company, but finding ways to do that isn't always clear. For small businesses without teams or whole departments dedicated to giving back, this essential work can fall by the wayside. But you can take steps this summer to get this work off the ground. It starts with a call to CMG Local Solutions. We can be the team helping you carry out successful community events and cause-related marketing because we've been doing this work firsthand for decades.
Ready to drive traffic and boost conversions? Contact CMG Local Solutions today to become a customer
