4 Ways to Build Up Your Brand While Doing Good
“Consumers appreciate and support socially conscious businesses because it causes them to become emotionally invested. In fact, customers are 85 percent more likely to buy a product that is associated with a charity,” says Molly St. Louis from Inc. Magazine.
Here are 4 ways doing good can help build your brand:
Defines Corporate Identity
You know TOMS? One for one? With every product purchased from TOMS, it being shoes, sunglasses or apparel, they help those in need; “Every purchase has a purpose.” Corporate responsibility, social impact, or a philanthropic model should be a cornerstone of any organization to create trust, provide a way to differentiate you from the competition, and recruit like-minded, socially conscious employees.
Boosts Employee Morale and Attracts Talent
As someone who only asked for legos for my birthday and Christmas – for an embarrassingly large chunk of my life – it only made sense to look at their career opportunities when I was starting the job hunt after college.
I loved their product. I didn’t need much more convincing, but as I was perusing their website I found their LCE program.
Lego Group was ranked number one on the 2017 Global CSR RepTrak®100 survey specifically measuring companies’ reputation on corporate responsibility. Through their Local Community Engagement program (LCE), supported financially by the LEGO Group and the LEGO Foundation, employees and LCE consultants carefully select impactful child focused organisations in the communities where they live and work to “leverage the transformative power of learning through play.”
I love my job, but, like, where can I apply?
Increases Networking Opportunities
Through Lego Group’s LCE program, volunteers are given opportunities to mingle with their community and other people also interested in the transformative power of learning.
We all know the value of cultivating productive relationships, aka networking, but it can be awkward. Volunteering gives us an avenue to form these relationships naturally through common ground, similar interests, and time regularly shared.
Doubles as Marketing
Sponsoring charitable events (and events that target a similar demographic as your target market) is a crucial form of building and maintaining branding messages.
According to Sarah Landrum at Forbes, millennials are running the market and “on average are more risk-averse and are less likely to spend money unnecessarily than previous generations. But when millennials do decide to part with their money, key patterns are beginning to emerge. Millennials prefer to do business with corporations and brands with pro-social messages, sustainable manufacturing methods and ethical business standards.”
Moral of the story: Helping your community helps your brand.
Get started now! Here are 5 questions to help you start a social impact program for your company.
