Sales and Marketing - Jen Jordan

Sales and Marketing - Jen Jordan
Jen Jordan brings a wealth of life and leadership experiences to her writing. After 10 years creating a variety of content for a nonprofit, Jen decided to establish her own writing business. She specializes in creating high quality blog and website content for small businesses. When she's not writing, Jen is a competitive triathlete with a goal of completing a triathlon in all 50 states.

The Importance of A CSR for Your Small Business

The Importance of A CSR for Your Small Business

You’ve spent time telling the world your small business story, devising a marketing plan, and establishing a brand. Your small business is building solid relationships with your customers. Now, you want to focus on customer loyalty, new customers, and boosting sales. The answer is finding a CSR.

A CSR, or Corporate Social Responsibility, isn’t just for corporations. Any business can be socially accountable and contribute to change, and people have grown to expect it.

Fifty-five percent of customers are willing to pay more if a company is socially responsible. It’s time to take a step beyond basic volunteering and bring a socially responsible mission into your marketing plan. Let’s look at CSR benefits, how to get started, marketing strategies, and some unique ideas.

Benefits

Having a CSR can carry several benefits for your small business. Corporate Social Responsibility has a positive effect on employee loyalty. Studies found these initiatives increase staff productivity and engagement, especially for Millennials.

Not only do employees feel strongly about causes, but it also increases customer perception and loyalty. Statistically speaking, having a CSR can reduce employee turnover by 50% and boost your revenue by as much as 20%.

How to Get Started

Incorporating CSR into your small business can be daunting, with many things to choose from. If you aren’t sure which direction to take, include your staff and even your customers in submitting ideas.

  1. Identify clear objectives. Establish what you want to do for your CSR and what you want it to do for you.
  2. Choose a subject area. Whether it is people, animals, or the environment, pick something you, your employees, and your customers value.
  3. Examine business opportunities, options, and where you can make the most impact. Consider what your business is and your available resources to determine these areas.
  4. Embrace team communication. Survey your employees, gather ideas, and incorporate staff feedback for extra buy-in.
  5. Pick one cause and stay focused. This will become part of your brand and identity, so don’t spread your resources too thin.
  6. Design a plan. Decide how you will get involved, how to implement your plan, your marketing communication, your staff resources for this project, and your budget.
  7. Consider putting someone or a department in charge of your CSR.
  8. Start small and build as you are able.
  9. Communicate with your customers. Let them know what you are doing and chart your progress.
  10. Invite others to be a part of your cause. People love being part of something bigger and connecting in a way that makes them feel good.

Marketing ideas

While having a CSR is about doing good, it doesn’t hurt to let people know. Marketing your cause can raise awareness and generate more support, making it more than marketing.

  • Build a specific amount into the purchase price that will go to your cause and allow customers to track the progress so they can witness their dollars at work.
  • Crowdsource after starting your fund and allow people to add and track the progress.
  • Give employees a set number of days off to volunteer at a charity and even post to your social media during that day. You can also take the whole team to volunteer for the day and video it. Want to really have fun? Invite your customers to join you for a day of volunteering for something like a beach or park cleanup. It’s a wonderful way to build relationships with customers, and it generates excellent social media content, too.
  • Advertise the ways you’ve gone green and what your business is doing. This would make great material for a newsletter or customer email.
  • Offer instant feedback on what someone’s donation will achieve.
  • Donate something each time someone shares one of your specified videos or posts.

CSR Ideas

  • Join companies like McDonald’s, Microsoft, Cocoa-Cola, Google, and others in committing to hiring people with past criminal convictions. Even consider partnering with a program to offer second chances.
  • Partner with a local cause that complements your small business. For instance, a surf shop might work with a sea turtle rescue or beach cleanup, while a grocery store or restaurant might take on a food pantry or soup kitchen.
  • Pick a school or schools to partner with and help with their needs.
  • Host a back-to-school drive where people can pay for services and school supplies (up to a certain amount) and donate to a school of your choice. You can use this approach with food drives, pet supplies for shelters, items for shelters, etc.

References

https://www.sba.gov/blog/corporate-social-responsibility-what-your-small-business-needs-know

https://smallmightycsr.com/6-steps-to-csr/

https://www.charities.org/news/5-reasons-small-businesses-should-adopt-csr-strategy-how-do-it

https://goodworldnow.com/articles/a-guide-to-csr-for-small-mid-sized-enterprises

https://thepostworkspaces.com/5-cheap-csr-ideas/

https://brandminds.com/the-best-10-csr-campaigns-of-the-last-years/