Selling Causes Online
Selling may seem an odd way to describe promotion of a cause! But we do sell causes, whether we work online or not. Over the years I’ve handed out leaflets for many causes, such as the peace movement, the environment and a political party.
Standing on the high street handing out leaflets, is participation in the marketplace. It always has been. Political and religious views have always been expressed in the marketplace, just as much as it is a place for buying and selling products and services. All three depend upon conversation to make a sale.
Selling a Cause
The purpose of selling a cause is to get a response from the customer. This might be a financial response although sometimes finance can be illegal, eg buying votes, requesting donations without a license. Aside from finance, you may be seeking responses such as:
- Votes
- Signing a petition
- Writing to MPs or other influential people
- Attend meetings, including worship services
- Other forms of education through giving away pamphlets, etc.
However, finance within whatever legal framework applies, is possible. So:
- Donations may be requested or made
- Invitations to join organisations or take out subscriptions
- Sale of products to generate income for a cause
- Sell or give away products that directly support the cause, eg information to include in letters to MPs
- Some causes may seek beneficiaries and ask them to sign up for a service which may be free or paid for
Why Causes are Different
So, the boundaries between causes and products or services, are not always watertight. Even if there is no financial exchange, there is little difference between a cause and a commercial exchange. Given that some businesses give a lot of stuff away and see themselves as educational, some may be hardly distinguished from a cause. The distinction is income destination from the marketplace; goes into private hands or to finance the cause or its beneficiaries.
If we imagine a spectrum from those who are out solely to make money through to those who have a cause and no intention to make a penny, experience shows both ends tend to move towards the centre. The money-maker, if successful may find they need a cause to build relationships with their customers, whilst the cause may find it needs finance to meet its aims. An entrepreneur with integrity and an efficient cause may find they meet somewhere along the spectrum.
The term “social entrepreneur” was in vogue a few years ago. Really, any successful entrepreneur has to be social because they must build relationships with their customers. The term aims to show commerce can have social roots. The present argument about accumulation of wealth in the hands of a few, rather than distribution of wealth among small entrepreneurs who make sure finance circulates in the economy, perhaps shows the tension between business and social causes is still current.
To what extent do you find the distinction between a cause and a business helpful? Do you have examples of business people and causes working together for mutual benefit in the marketplace?