Global warming. Cancer. Heart Health. Darfur. Environmental Disasters. Humane Societies. The list is endless. Each cause is worth our attention and support.

Some people will/may find it offensive to use a companie’s support for one of these causes as a marketing tool. I do not. And here’s why.

As long as the support is legitimate and not over exaggerated, then I see no harm in using it to promote your brand. It’s a win-win situation.

Organizations win two-fold when businesses use their donation/support for marketing tools. Besides the initial donation or support, organizations get “free” advertising when businesses promote their support via ads and commercials. It’s a great way to get the word out about an organization and increase their support base! And it costs nothing!

For businesses the pay-off is even bigger.

1. They get to feel good about themselves by giving back to the community AND improve their image by incorporating it in their marketing plan.
2. It’s a great opportunity for team-building and sharing when employees join in and participate.
3. And who wouldn’t want to work, and work hard, for a business that cares for others and not just themselves and their profits?

Compassion and business can go hand-in-hand and be mutually beneficial. It’s a nice way to do, and grow, your business. And a worthwhile organization will benefit from the gift and the exposure. Where’s the wrong in that?

The other day at work I was reminded how effective the “whisper” marketing technique works.

Two employees within my hearing range were having a conversation…via whispering. Even though I was buried alive with tons of work that I needed to focus on, my curiosity was totally aroused. I found my self straining to hear what they whispering about and even though I tried, I couldn’t stop my self from eavesdropping.

I was wondering what was so important and why they were keeping it a secret. Oie! I had to know!

After a few minutes, I realized it was regular a work conversation and the reason for the whispering was that one of the people in the conversation had a bad case of laryngitis.

I had just experienced the “whisper” marketing effect. I have read about it in several books and seen it action before. I had one experience as a teacher’s aide in a 5th grade class.

The students had returned after recess and were still in recess-mind. They were loud. Very loud. The teacher walked to the front of the room and started talking in a very soft voice. I was sitting in the back of the room thinking to myself, she’s crazy and no one would hear her. To my surprise, within seconds the room full of loud 5th graders went silent and started to actively listen. The only noise came from me when my jaw hit the ground.

Years later I read about using this technique in advertising and marketing. With so many ads screaming for the customers attention it makes sense to use this “whisper” approach instead of competing, and eventually just blending in, with all the noise all the other advertisers making.

You can see this approach in the advertising in your daily newspaper. They are the ads with short verbiage in a smaller font, and lots of white space. This style attracts the scanning eye of the reader because the ads jump off the page from all the others, and in doing so, they arouse our curiosity.

It’s human nature to be aware of potential rewards and risks. It began when our primal ancestors needed to know what dangers lurked in the world and/or where to find secret abundant food supplies. And so our ears were trained to listen to whispers and soft voices.

So if you’re looking to differentiate your advertising from your competition, try using a softer voice to get your potential customer’s attention.

Of course that’s just the beginning of an effective ad. The ad has to be well designed and the copy well written to keep that attention. And those are topics for future blogs.