I’ve been working with a few clients recently to develop cause marketing programs and find it interesting the way that the field has changed. A number of years ago, I was working as a product manager for a personal care company. We were one of the early entries into the natural hair and body care industry and looked at it as a marketing opportunity, a chance to capture a small but growing market segment.

Our focus on natural ingredients was, in retrospect rather laughable as we included all sorts of what we now call, toxic ingredients, but promoted the “natural” additives. We looked for opportunities to tie into events and with charities that focused on green initiatives with an eye toward increasing sales.

In many ways that hasn’t changed.

Brands across categories, but particularly in the natural products industry are choosing charities with which to align themselves. In most cases this is an exercise in determining what the brand will stand for. The bigger the brand, the larger the charity and the more thought is given to this exercise as seen in the almost perfect launch last year of Clorox Greenworks brand.

But many brands have turned this reasoning on it’s head now and are looking at their social responsibility as the primary raisn d’etre for being. Is this a viable strategy?

I would compare this to the woman seeking a career that allows her to stay home with her children. The profit motive is not primary, the lifestyle motive is.

And so it is with many socially responsible brands. Making large amounts of money and growing to become a big company may not be the primary objective of a purely responsible brand.

What are your goals for your socially responsible brand? Can you grow big And remain focused on your socially responsible goal?

Photo Credit merfam at Flickr Under Creative Commons License

Reprinted with permission from Ecopreneurist.com