According to the recent “2007 Cause Survey”, 70% of consumers have purchased an item from a company because the company supports a cause they believe in.

The figure comes from a PR Week survey excerpt published on Emarketer. Also from the report; over a quarter of businesses with a cause marketing strategy said their sales and traffic had increased, and over 50% stated they achieved better relationships with their target groups through making the effort.

Cause marketing doesn’t have to be lavish, complicated or expensive - just about every online business owner can implement a cause marketing strategy. It could be donating a small percentage of each sale to a charity, or providing goods or services connected with your business to a non-profit group; even just lending support to a cause with a dedicated page and mentions in your newsletter.

Cause marketing is not only a great way to attract more customers, but to help keep them. It lends an added aspect of credibility to your business. There’s also the warm and fuzzy feeling of doing good for, well, the sake of doing good - it just adds greater purpose to your business and something to be proud of.

If you’d like to learn a little more about the topic, I published an article on this earlier this year geared towards small business - Cause marketing and social conscience in online business