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- media@commsroom.co
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Having a corporate social responsibility can significantly boost a company’s public standing and internal operations. It shows that your company isn’t only centred on profit, but also on creating a better environment for your community and supporters.
But how does a corporate brand show this without looking canned or contrived? Here are 5 tips to showcase your company’s social and environmental impact and improve your image.
To effectively showcase your brand’s impact, start by clearly defining your purpose. This foundational step involves identifying the core reason for your brand’s existence and the positive change it aims to create. It’s hard to move forward without having a clear definition for it, so before moving forward with anything, start with this.
Align your purpose with your values, vision, and mission. Ensure that it is concise, compelling, and relevant to your target audience, setting you apart from competitors. Why does your brand pursue what it pursues? And how will it affect the community? Answering these questions will also help define your brand’s purpose.
Once your purpose is established, strategically choose causes that align with it. Select causes that resonate with your audience, reflect your industry, and match your available resources. If your company is in the printing industry, a cause aiming to support less-privileged students could be a good option, for example.
Research to ensure the credibility, transparency, and impact of the causes you chose. It’s good to want to be a helping hand, but your company can only do so much! Be strategic and selective in supporting causes– this enhances the authenticity of your brand’s commitment.
Humanize your brand by telling stories that showcase your impact. You can use different storytelling formats and channels such as blogs, videos, podcasts, social media, newsletters, and reports. This way, you inject personality into your brand and attract customer loyalty.
Use stories to highlight achievements, challenges, learnings, and goals. Feature partners, beneficiaries, customers, and employees to establish emotional connections. Engage your audience with humor, empathy, inspiration, and curiosity to strengthen their connection with your brand. Remember: You don’t have to always be selling something–your company can simply market to engage.
Track and evaluate your brand’s impact on society and the environment. Utilize various metrics, including outputs, outcomes, and impacts, to measure results. Doing so will help show you if your plans are on track, if your team has had to divert somewhere down the line, and which aspects of your strategies are working.
Employ tools such as surveys, interviews, case studies, and data analysis to collect and analyze data. Regularly report results transparently and use them for continuous improvement and accountability to your colleagues as well as your loyal following.
Invite your audience to be an integral part of your brand’s impact journey. Encourage involvement by inviting them to join causes, share stories, provide feedback, take action, and celebrate successes. Adding a CTA (call to action) at the end of posts can be effective.
Foster a sense of community by creating opportunities and incentives for interaction. At our core, we humans like to feel like we are part of something good. Collaborate, innovate, and co-create with your audience to build a loyal and engaged community around your brand.
Businesses have gotten the bad rap of being “money-focused”, so it’s up to company owners and teams to combat that image and provide a human side to the industry. At the end of the day, we’re all part of one large community, and our businesses, no matter which industry they fall into, must reflect that.
