Social enterprises face unique challenges, not only in the work you do every day to push your cause forward, but also in how to educate the public about your cause via a compelling message that ignites their support. This is where marketing comes in. Aligning your values and with efforts that boost brand awareness and recognition, engagement, and ultimately loyalty to your cause is what can make your social enterprise visible, supported and successful. 

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Effective marketing strategies allow you to tell your story and connect with your audience on a deeper level. Impact evaluation is crucial to building strong relationships, making adjustments when benchmarks aren’t being met, and determining the short-term and long-term success of your mission. Here are some tips on how social enterprises can use marketing to make a difference.

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How Marketing Can Drive Social Impact

It is important to deploy a marketing strategy that helps you make a difference and grow your business at the same time. Relevant, effective, and purposeful marketing initiatives can help your business achieve critical goals while meaningfully contributing to your social cause. Successful marketing campaigns can also help you build brand awareness and generate leads.

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Set Baselines & Expectations

Impact assessment is crucial to making adjustments when benchmarks aren’t being met, determining short-term and long-term goals, and receiving funding. Create an environment for success by getting clarity upfront on the expected outcomes of your efforts and how you will track the performance over time. Though the individual key performance indicators (KPIs) and tactics may change as you learn and iterate upon past projects, products, or programs, preparing the landscape at the outset will provide you fertile ground in which to grow and consistently generate clear learnings that translate into actionable next steps.

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Click here to download our white paper about impact assessment and KPIs for social enterprises.

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Establish Credibility

Showcasing your industry expertise and experience as well as your passion for the social cause you support will establish credibility and build trust with your target audience. This helps you attract more customers and retain existing ones. Sharing results of your business’s social impact can be an engaging way to establish trustworthiness that can lead to long-term, fruitful relationships.
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Engage with Customers and Stakeholders

Effective and well-planned marketing campaigns can help your business engage with your customers and stakeholders to build and strengthen relationships with them. Remember that your audience extends beyond your customers and includes potential employees, business partners, grantmakers, and anyone who is affected by your business’s sphere of influence. Whatever you do, it should be done with your social vision in mind.

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Tell Your Story

Marketing provides channels to share your unique story and the reason why you do what you do. It’s your opportunity to be the brand that builds connections, motivates customers to buy from you, and galvanizes partners to work with you because it’s you. Because social enterprises effect positive change, the opportunities to tell a compelling story are bountiful and meaningful. Highlighting your social impact can help you connect with your audience on a deeper level and drive them to support your cause. 

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Let’s Talk

At Mustard & Moxie we share the passion for marketing with a social purpose. This is why we partner with our clients and work closely with them to provide the leadership and support they need to face the very important initiative of getting their companies known and loved, while making a difference. For more information on how we have successfully helped social enterprises with their marketing initiatives, please reach out and let’s start a conversation.

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