How Can You Integrate Corporate Social Responsibility into Your Marketing Firm?

Recently, there has been a huge emphasis on corporate social responsibility (CSR), a business model meant to hold companies socially accountable by balancing their operations with activities that benefit others. This comes at a time where consumers are looking for companies to act against a variety of issues impacting the workforce, our communities, and the environment.

Joey Armstrong recognizes that marketers all over the world have already integrated corporate social responsibility into their processes. Still, some may be a bit unsure on how they can expand to help others while balancing the many moving parts of their own operations.

Here, Joey Armstrong explores a few methods companies are utilizing to expand the scope of their corporate responsibility initiatives.

Establish Clear Plans and Goals Early

For companies with no existing blueprint for CSR, it can be a daunting task to attack how it should be carried out effectively. Businesses will need to take the time to examine their goals early in the process to ensure that they are actionable as well as possible given their scope. A common mistake that businesses make is they try to put the cart before the horse with their CSR initiatives only to try to backpedal once they discover that it will not go as smoothly as they hoped. Remember that CSR is far from new- meaning there are many resources out there for businesses of all sizes looking to expand their efforts. Larger scale businesses may also benefit from consultants that specialize in drafting CSR initiatives.

Explore Ways to Support Employees

One of the best ways to start integrating corporate social responsibility is to first look within. Firms that preach CSR but do not take care of their employees at a base level are on the fast track to hypocritical sentiments in their marketing. Instead, firms should consider adopting practices and programs that are meant to benefit employees. The renewed interest in initiatives to better support employees comes at a time where consumers are looking at how brands treat their workers. Recently, consumers have shown a willingness to not support entities that have been proven to uphold negative practices.

Consider Charitable Donations

Money is far from the only way that firms can show a commitment to CSR, but it is certainly true that there are various causes that need funding. After outlining which causes are most important to your business, consider making donations that can help them with crucial processes. Joey Armstrong maintains that one of the most important parts about financial donation is that it makes CSR actionable and difficult to forget about. Even large, financially successful firms seem to take causes more seriously when they have an initiative for making donations.

Get Employees in on Charitable Events

Charitable events are a great way to show a commitment to CSR because they can prove that businesses are serious about their causes. Currently, a lot of firms and businesses are looking to inspire their own employees to participate in certain events that take place throughout the year- something that is expected to ramp up even more in a post-COVID age. Joey speaks to a variety of ways that firms can get their employees in on charitable events. One is to have your own at a scale that makes sense for the businesses. The most common route is to partner with other companies or assist with the planning and facilitation of charitable events that are already being set up.

Avoid Greenwashing or Wokewashing

Greenwashing is when companies mislead consumers with their claims about environmental social responsibility. Wokewashing is a similar practice but with an emphasis on social responsibility awareness. Joey notes that there are obvious ethical issues with overstating or outright lying about the goals of your business’s initiatives. In addition, these practices can be damaging to the business as well. Joey Armstrong maintains that one of the most damaging aspects of greenwashing or wokewashing is that both leave a company vulnerable to being (understandably) panned by consumers or critics that can see right through the messaging. Once a business has established that it is untrustworthy, it will lose clients- many of which would be impossible to get back.