There are many components that are associated with a start-up. Getting your name out there is one of the most challenging.

I think a great way start-ups can help market themselves and, in turn, help their business grow, is to add a charitable component to their marketing plan or their company’s mission. It’s something that is pretty easy to do and the return can be both financially rewarding and beneficial to the charity/charities they select (which I hope is the main reason why a company will do this).

Marketing your company as having a charitable component can open up so many doors. You tap into a market of consumers you might not have ever reached without the charitable piece. You are more likely to increase your chances of editorial coverage, because you have that different angle on your brand than your competitors. The media might give you a break on your cost or throw in a few free runs because they know you are doing something for a good cause. Most importantly, it will cause people talk, and even though people think it might not be as effective as it once was, word-of-mouth advertising is huge.

Recently, I came across a bunch of start-up companies on Trend Watching’s 2010 Innovation Insanity list of the most promising new brands. On this list, there are a lot of start-ups that involve a charitable component to help market themselves, which is great. Here are a few of my favorites.

1) How many people, like myself, hate those $2 service fees for using a non-bank ATM? Choose Change ATM in the USA has come up with a solution. Every time you use one of their ATM’s, they will donate $1 to the cause or charity you choose, which you select during your transaction. Love, love and love! Even though technically, they are making $1 off my transaction, I think it’s great that another $1 is going to a charity I believe in. Who can’t spare a dollar? My only complaint is they don’t say anywhere on their website where these ATMs are located. Hard for me to use it, if I don’t know where it is.

2) Stop buying plastic water bottles. Give Me Tap in the UK has come up with a program where people buy a reusable aluminum water bottle, and then they can go to restaurants and cafes and refill them for free with clean tap water. You can find locations via your phone. They also donate 70% of the profits to fund water aid in Africa. Cool concept. I wonder how many people have these water bottles with them at all times, how clean the tap water really is (does Give Me Tap test their water prior to allowing them to be a certified partner?) and do the restaurants and cafes allow you to clean your water bottle prior to refilling?

3) Purchase wine, donate water. So many people are involved with wine clubs or purchase wine online. Well, Cellar Thief has created an idea that when someone buys a select wine off their site, they will donate 100 days of clean water to Charity Water, a company they have partnered with. This is so easy. You buy the wine, they donate the water. I do applaud them for being involved in the social space. As they have a good amount of Twitter followers, they should be more active, as their last tweet was in the middle of July.

4) School uniforms can be expensive, especially in underprivileged  countries. FIGS in California will donate a school uniform to an African child in need for each tie that is purchased on its website. The ties though, run around $100 and I have to purchase via PayPal. It makes me a little uneasy about buying a tie via PayPal and makes me question how I know if a uniform was actually sent to a child. They really need to allow people to purchase on the actual website.

All and all, great job you four! I am glad to see that you have used a charitable component to help market yourself.

What other start-ups do you think should add a charitable component to their strategy to help their business grow?