It’s becoming increasingly important for companies to demonstrate the CSR activity they are involved with. But where should B2B brands begin? Holly Alsop investigates
Social and environmental awareness is everywhere these days; from recycled take-away coffee cups to community-run kitchens. And while the climate change sceptics continue to debate its existence, the rest of us are playing our part to protect the environment. Although global environmental awareness and social good has a long way to go, the term ‘sustainability’ has made it effectively into business practice where it’s now not just a buzzword, but a necessity.
Nowadays, sustainable and energy efficient products earn you financial points; although there are greater upfront costs, the long-term benefits certainly outweigh the initial hit on your wallet. This has transcended into business practice and now corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a must-have for any business.
Many of you might be thinking by now: ‘I buy organic and I recycle, I do my bit’ but between the electric cars and fair-trade produce, where exactly does CSR sit? Thanks to the wonders of marketing, the terms ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ have morphed from being an ethical way of thinking and more into the ability to market a saleable product. More often than not, organic doesn’t mean 100 per cent organic and fair-trade may only be applicable to five per cent of a product. It is no wonder when some businesses come to defining a CSR strategy they have little idea of where to begin.
CSR can be defined as the balance of environmental, social and economic priorities over the long-term. These can cover volunteer projects, sustainable business initiatives and environmental practices. With the varying definitions of CSR and the addition of legislation, it can be difficult to begin planning a CSR strategy, let alone market the fact you have one. While there is no single approach to the management of CSR, there are a number of initiatives that can provide scope for your strategy. So what are the best ways to approach CSR? And once you have a strategy in place, how do you go about promoting it?
Define and refine your strategy
This is the key to getting started. Trends in the competitive environment mean B2B companies need to be even more aware of growing resource costs and increasing customer demand. Utilising standards and certifications like those from the International Organisation of Standardisation (ISO), encourage responsible and sustainable business practice while maintaining quality management systems. The best way to approach this is by working with experts, their wealth of knowledge will have you on the right track to defining and aligning your strategy. Tim Lindsay, chief executive of D&AD, reaffirms this approach: “Work with experts to evaluate and audit your operations in order to begin to understand the bigger picture. Armed with that knowledge, you can then set about changing things.”
Once you understand the basics of the legislation and guidelines, developing your CSR strategy must align with your company values. “Doing good for the community means integrating broader societal concerns into your business strategy and performance as part of the business model,” explains Srimathi Shivashankar, associate vice president of diversity and sustainability at HCL Technologies. She goes on to say: “For HCL, CSR is a comprehensive approach, which we cluster under the ‘four R’s’ – responsible business, redefine work place, renew eco system and repay society.”
Misaligning the focus of your business and CSR strategy could result in your ideas being misunderstood and devalued by investors, stakeholders and customers. This means your CSR strategy must be relevant to your business practices and align environmental and social priorities in order of importance for both you and your stakeholders. “What’s important is that a business’ social agenda is aligned properly with its products and commercial objectives. Finding ways in which societal and environmental concerns can intersect with the pursuit of profit, without compromise. If everybody benefits, that is a worthwhile investment,” says Lindsay.
In addition to these factors, B2B marketers can’t forget the supply chain. We’ve seen a steady rise in customers connecting their ethical beliefs to their buying behaviour, and while B2B companies may be more remote than consumer-facing brands, the pressure certainly has a knock-on effect. B2B marketers now have to be more aware of consumer preferences.
The key to having a successful strategy is to ensure beneficial outcomes from your sustainable practices. This means regularly assessing the revenue, costs, intangibles and knowing where the risks lie.
Providing the ‘get up and go’
These days, legislation governs us to minimise negative environmental impacts, reduce industrial accidents and improve ethical standards. Legislation now also means businesses risk their license to operate if they don’t comply with the industry standards and guidelines.
A good starting point across any sector is ISO 9001, which looks at quality management systems required for the business. In fact, for many, it is an essential component of their operating license to receive and retain their ISO accreditation, be it in quality management, environmental or social standards.
Most of us can relate to working in businesses that either don’t follow legislation or have the right company culture to find the time and motivation to implement it. Internal codes of conduct and enhanced cultural practices can provide a positive environment to help galvanise your strategy’s performance.
Coming in high on the ‘to-do’ list is to ensure your company leaders are behind the CSR strategy. Too often do we see businesses invest time and money into developing a CSR strategy, only to see it drop off managers’ priority lists. Leaders and managers play a crucial role in setting behaviour examples for company employees and if their attitudes towards CSR are minimal or non-existent, then it’s unlikely to spark much interest in the remainder of staff.
In terms of working pressure, it can be the middle managers that feel the effects of CSR management the most. More often than not, the middle managers have full-to-bursting to-do lists and it can be a delicate balancing act for them to achieve targets without contradicting sustainability initiatives. Lindsay suggests breaking business habits to get the maximum from your staff: “The industry is full of people willing to do good, but the urgent often gets in the way of the important with day-to-day pressures; bills to be paid and resources thin on the ground. This is where young talent comes in. Pressure to change is coming from the younger generations who aren’t burdened by convention and proactively want to find ways to bring the social and commercial together. Listen and work with them to find new approaches and processes.”
One of the main challenges in CSR strategies is employee engagement and enhancing participation can often be an exercise in itself. Shivashankar supports leaders as a key to driving success within their business: “It’s important to enhance employee participation in all of our initiatives on a continuous basis and not as a one-time activity. We have a number of focused internal advocacy programmes through which we educate employees and win their trust and support. This bridges any gaps in implementation. It is not enough if only the top management believes in community development.”
You win some, you lose some
It is hardly surprising that numerous CSR strategies have gone catastrophically wrong. And it’s even less surprising that the majority of marketing backfires come from oil companies. Shell’s ‘Let’s go’ campaign spectacularly backfired when Greenpeace launched a parody blog that allowed people to upload their own adverts and slogans such as ‘Why go solar when you can drill polar: let’s go’.
Matthew Phillips, co-founder of Beautiful Corporations, suggests CSR activity should fit in with a brand’s digital perception: “In order to tackle the plethora of environmental and social issues worldwide, brands must cease being faceless entities and develop a conscience. It is clear the best way to develop social consciousness is to allow the customers themselves to evolve brand identities. Customers have the power to humanise brands and, what’s more, brands can benefit as a result. Brands need to realise that digital channels, such
as Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Twitter, aren’t just hotbeds of criticism, they also allow peer-to-peer marketing to blossom unimpeded.”
There are of course numerous CSR strategies that have proven to be an ongoing success for businesses around the world. The Salesforce Foundation is based on a 1-1-1 model, which donates one per cent of employee time, resources and technology to charities and not-for-profits around the world. Dan Rogers, VP of EMEA marketing at Salesforce says its success has stemmed from employee passion for the programme: “A philanthropic spirit can’t be faked, it needs to come from the company’s own values.”
And for Salesforce, it’s working. Since 1999, Salesforce employees have given more than 620,000 hours of their time, more than 22,000 organisations around the world are using donated and discounted licences and it has donated more than $65 million to social good organisations.
However, as good as your CSR strategy may be, promoting the fact you have one is often a company’s downfall. Using your CSR activities in your marketing strategy can undermine your work and ultimately be detrimental to your business practices. Lindsay says: “Accusations of greenwashing will exist, because there’s still a lot of corporate speak and customers increasingly do not want to buy from unethical businesses. It doesn’t mean these businesses are not genuine in their desire to do good, and even cynical greenwash is a step in the right direction.”
A simple approach is to enhance customer engagement with your CSR activities. As Shivashankar explains, engagement with customers opens up a dialogue that would otherwise not have occurred: “When customers express interest, our foundation identifies projects and specific causes for contribution. They can contribute by visiting project sites, providing monetary support and by donating learning materials such as books, computers, stationery and food.” This approach has a simple cyclical effect; it creates a motivation for employees to contribute their time for outreach programmes via customer engagement.
Ongoing success
Designing and implementing a strategy requires commitment, financial resources and a motivated team of people, but the social outcomes will ultimately be beneficial for your business in a wonderfully aligned win-win situation. Once you’ve got all your ducks lined up and your CSR strategy is in place, measuring and monitoring its success is imperative. Lindsay summarises: “Benchmarking is an important step towards breaking out of the old way of doing things and forging towards a better way that benefits everybody.”
