From sustainability to community support, there are so many ways that your business can give back. And it’s these ethical, social and environmentally friendly practices that will attract partners, investors and clients to work with you / buy from you. Executing best practice and CSR in your organisation is the best way of improving brand reputation and developing brand loyalty with customers. Here are the ways you can improve your Corporate Social Responsibility in the next financial year.
Consider the Environment
The bigger your business, the bigger your carbon footprint. But it doesn’t have to be that way. With more and more stories of big companies getting shot down with negative PR from bad practices (look at the Lego vs. Shell controversy for example), it’s important for everyone to pull together to do their bit.
A great way to show customers that your brand is in full support of a sustainable future is to work with charities and promote environmental causes. Through social media, campaigns have the best chance of gaining traction with a wider audience.
This campaign by Yoox is a fantastic example of sustainable marketing boosted by social media. It collaborates with Australian swimwear brand, We Are Handsome to create a special collection of swimwear designed to help save the Great Barrier Reef. Proceeds from the range will fund the work done by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, helping to support future conservation projects.
(Campaign: Yoox Loves the Reef)
This Yoox campaign not only brings attention to the problems of global warming and rising sea levels, but it also improves brand awareness for all three collaborators (Yoox, We Are Handsome and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation). And through working with influencers and social media stars, the story was able to reach hundreds of thousands of people in the fashion community.
Consider Social Challenges
The petitions in recent years have made it extremely clear that companies need to change the way they do things. Now. There should be no delay in trying to challenge some of the social problems we face. For instance, there has been a lot of discussion on gender inequality in many workplaces (look at the recent Google backlash for example). As well as a lot of negative PR surrounding big companies that don’t exercise fair trade (think about Oxfam’s ‘Behind the Brands campaign).
Fair working environments should come as standard; it’s a basic human right to be treated fairly in the workplace. Yet there are bad practices all over the world. Making it very important to look not only at our own practices, but also that of suppliers. Choosing who you do and don’t work with is an important factor in the reputation of your brand. And just like Lego ended its partnership with Shell over the oil drilling plans in the Arctic, it could be time to cut loose any partners or suppliers who are dragging you down for not being ethical or sustainable.