By Mosh Matsena
For many companies, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities are seen as a “nice to have”, but not really something that fits into their business strategy. Particularly when resources are limited, it is understandable for a company to focus on priority business goals over perceived “feel good” activities.
However, CSR and business objectives are not on opposite sides of the spectrum – on the contrary, taking a strategic approach to corporate citizenship supports business goals. This is done by assessing certain short term and long term objectives, and developing CSR solutions that will help drive these goals while generating some manner of positive impact.
Consumer behaviour is influenced by factors related to brand reputation and perception at an ever-increasing rate. Such factors include positive sentiment, credibility, trust and inspirational leadership. Authentic corporate citizenship projects help brands embody these characteristics, which then helps grow their public profile and position them as a brand that cares.
From a business planning point of view, organisational decision-makers need to look at CSR as an opportunity to showcase what a brand stands for. For example, showing their commitment to be part of the solution when it comes to positive impact, and demonstrating their view that its everyone’s responsibility to get involved. Socio-economic areas of focus can take a number of forms, including community social impact, environmental impact, economic and developmental impact and educational growth goals – to name a view. As mentioned above, for CSR activities to be effective, both in terms of social and business impact, it much be approached strategically. Defining the cause or causes to align a brand with requires much research and internal discourse, but a vigorous and thoughtful assessment process will be worth the effort in the long run.
To understand the very real business benefits of a well-thought out corporate citizenship and reputation-building strategy, consider the following research statistics published by Forbes :
- 68% of millennials bought a product with a social or environmental benefit in the past 12 months
- 87% of consumers will have a more positive image of a company that supports social or environmental issues
- 88% will be more loyal to a company that supports social or environmental issues
- 87% would buy a product with a social and environmental benefit if given the opportunity
- 92% will be more likely to trust a company that supports social or environmental issues
And its not just customers that will appreciate a brand that is socially responsibility. Corporate citizenship is likely to have a positive effect on all brand stakeholders. Employees feel a sense of pride to be associated with a company that is seen to be doing positive impact work. Positive press generated as a resulted will be well received by company board-members and senior executives. Even public audiences that may have not purchased from the brand before are likely to take notice of and support businesses that support social and environmental issues (the stats certainly prove this). And as an organisation, authentic corporate citizenship activities will help you build a legacy that has the power to generate invaluable brand equity over time, and position your organisation as one that leads by example.
While all of the above sounds wonderful, developing and implementing an effective CSR strategy does take a lot of time and effort. Personally, I am a firm believer of companies focusing on their core competencies and outsourcing specialised needs such as CSR project management. Support can be gained through using a professional agency that offers CSR planning and execution, or even an independent consultant who can handle ongoing or project-based corporate citizenship needs. Either way, CSR strategies need to be an integrated component of overall business strategies in order to maximise impact and ensure that all brand activities are aligned.
2022 is definitely going to be the year that we see the role of CSR grow and become an increasingly prominent element of brand reputation building. I for one am very excited to see what’s to come this year, and look forward to more and more companies embracing corporate citizenship – for the good of all involved.
Mosh Matsena is a transformational leader with over 20 years of experience in the communications and media field, and extensive expertise in strategic management and building cross-functional teams. She is also the founder and CEO of 1Africa ConsultingConsulting, a full-service communications and strategic business solutions agency.