Mindful Marketing
  • Home
  • About
    • Mission
    • Mindful Meter & Matrix
    • Leadership
  • Mindful Matters Blog
  • Engage Your Mind
    • Mindful Ads? Vote Your Mind!
  • Expand Your Mind
  • Contact

Marketing Kindness

12/27/2014

 
Picture
A great part of the Holidays is a renewed focus on values such as peace, love, and generosity.  We hope to see ourselves and others act more kindly, but is such an expectation realistic for marketing?  A unique news story recently provided an excellent answer to this question.

Like most contractors, Lacy Construction needs to make money in order to stay in business.  In a competitive and cost-driven industry, choosing to take-on profitable jobs is critical, which made owner Scott Lacy’s actions all-the-more surprising.

When Jonell Patterson, a senior citizen living in Crosby, TX experienced water leaking into her home, she first tried to correct the problem with tarps and then paid another contractor to fix her roof, but he made things worse, causing considerable damage to the home’s interior.

Enter Scott Lacy who, realizing Patterson’s desperate need and inability to pay, brought his crew to her home and spent the weekend before Christmas fixing the roof . . . for free.  In an interview with ABC TV 13/KTRK, Lacy said “I'm in business to make money, but you've got to give back sometimes."

To help a person in serious need is certainly a noble deed that exemplifies many values that are good for our society.  However, how does such benevolence with no measurable return on investment represent anything more than Simple-Minded Marketing?

The significant publicity that Lacy’s kind-hearted act garnered likely has created promotional value for his company, which may lead to future contracts.  But what if no such business materializes or brand-building occurs?  Does Lacy’s act represent a very kind gesture, but not very good marketing?  Not necessarily.

Business owners have the prerogative to determine what creates value for them as stakeholders.  Granted, giving away one’s products or services is not a long-term sustainable strategy for most for-profit companies, but if a measured amount of philanthropy brings owners satisfaction, as it should, it’s their choice to pursue it.

Scott Lacy performed a very gracious deed that certainly benefited another and will likely benefit him, even if that was not his intent.  As a result, he can be credited with committing a holiday-inspired act of Mindful Marketing.


Picture
Picture
Subscribe to Mindful Matters blog--it's free!
Learn more about the Mindful Matrix and Mindful Meter.
Check out Mindful Marketing Ads and Vote your Mind!
Sarah
1/11/2015 07:24:48 am

I think this good deed is wonderful, it's really nice to see businesses both big and small doing things like this. This good deed could be seen by some as free publicity or a way to show consumers what a good company they are through the good things they do, but when someone does it simply from the goodness of their hearts, that's when it's beneficial to everyone. The company receives the happiness of knowing that they've helped a good cause, the customer is able to have her roof fixed, and it even unintentionally helps his company's public image and name. This is mindful marketing not only because it helps his own business, but because he was mindful to other people's needs he used his company to give something back. This marketing method may not always work for every company, but when a business is socially responsible and works ethically with their employees, the business can flourish and benefit its customers more in the long run.

Eric Hannold
1/11/2015 08:52:36 am

I think this can go either way on the mindful marketing scale. I think what Lacy did is a very nice deed that can be considered simple-minded marketing but can also be considered mindful marketing. It can be considered simple-minded because people may see his deed as upholding societal values, however they might only contact his business for a handout, which would not be creating stakeholder value. I can also see his deed as mindful marketing. It could be mindful marketing because people may see his company as trustworthy and a company that is easy to work with. His deed could create great publicity for him and could eventually be very profitable for him. It is dependent on how the public responds to this sort of company action with the community.


Comments are closed.
    Subscribe to receive this blog by email

    Editor

    David Hagenbuch,
    founder of
    Mindful Marketing    & author of Honorable Influence

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    Categories

    All
    + Decency
    + Fairness
    Honesty7883a9b09e
    * Mindful
    Mindless33703c5669
    > Place
    Price5d70aa2269
    > Product
    Promotion37eb4ea826
    Respect170bbeec51
    Simple Minded
    Single Minded2c3169a786
    + Stewardship

    RSS Feed

    Share this blog:

    Subscribe to
    Mindful Matters
    blog by email


    Illuminating
    ​Marketing Ethics ​

    Encouraging
    ​Ethical Marketing  ​


    Copyright 2020
    David Hagenbuch

Proudly powered by Weebly