Giving To Charity Is GOOD Marketing
By Mani Sivasubramanian
Posted Saturday, August 21, 2004
How much is a link from a website with Google Page Rank of 5 and an Alexa ranking of around 15,000 worth to you - for ONE FULL YEAR?
How about FIVE DOLLARS?
Incredible as it may sound, that's what some of these 86 special folks paid. They each contributed between $5 and $2,500 to the Heart Kids Blog Marathon (http://www.chdinfo.com/chdaware/blogathon.htm) through donations last year. And in return, they profited from the link popularity and inbound visitor traffic which comes from being listed on a high profile website.
Blogathon is a fundraising fun event where bloggers around the world stay awake all day and night, updating their blogs every 30 minutes for 24 hours straight - and raising money to help their favorite charity.
On my blog, *Dr.Mani's Remarkably Purple Spots...* (http://www.ezinemarketingcenter.com/blog/), I proudly feature sponsors prominently on the blog homepage, with links back to the donors' websites. And I leave them on for one full year!
What no one could have predicted is how Google developed a passionate love affair with blogs, listing content from them almost instantly on its index. All donors listed on my blog gained from this surge in interest and saw their sites rising through the ranks, many to the top 10 directory positions in their niche.
Yes, giving to charity can be good marketing!
When you contribute to a non-profit organization or worthy cause, you and your business benefit in several ways from your charity.
* 1. Links from the non-profit to your business website bring in new visitors. In effect you benefit from advertising or promotion run by the non-profit.
* 2. The link back to your website adds link popularity and enhances your search engine rankings.
* 3. Being seen as a sponsor of worthy causes makes you and your business appear in a better, more positive light to your prospective clients.
* 4. You get an extra hook to throw in your USP (Unique Selling Proposition) - *We support charity 'Xyz', and x% of our profits are donated to it.* You'll be surprised at how big a boost your sales or revenues will get!
Why don't more marketers do it?
Many do not know how to. Also it is not all good. There are risks.
A non-profit may not be comfortable associating with a business for various reasons - inappropriate product (e.g. Marlboro sponsoring an anti-smoking campaign!), wrong intentions or shady practices.
But these can be worked out if you are sincere in your intention to help, and the fringe benefits are not really why you are doing this.
Your genuine concern for the cause you support will reveal itself in the manner you approach a non-profit.
And when it clicks, the synergy will be explosively profitable - to both sides. As marketing legend Jay Abraham once said:
*The most selfish thing you can ever do is to be selfless!*
Yes, generosity really does pay!
About the Author
Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian is a heart surgeon and entrepreneur who combines his passion to help kids receive lifesaving treatment with outstanding marketing savvy, which got him named as one of Seth Godin's 99 Purple Cows*. (http://www.b--different.com) The result, predictably, is explosive. See his Heart Kids Blog Marathon here: (http://www.CHDinfo.com/chdaware/blogathon.htm)
