The new Company Super-Power

As some of you might know, me and my team are responsible for Communication, Investor Relations, Social Media and Sponsoring at Gigaset. And therefore the topic I am writing about today crosses my road several times a day an in various ways. It is a new superpower for companies. And guess what, it is actually quite easy to do: you just have to be “good”.

 When thinking about how to further develop Gigaset in a communicative way, I came across that many companies find that societal value ranks close to shareholder value. For some firms, doing good has become “the new cool.” Customers appreciate charitable work, education programs and so on. So the big question...no sorry I have to correct myself, the big answer to any company out there is that being good as a company makes you cool at the same time. I will show you some proof points on my thesis and also try to predict some trend for the future of commerce, philanthropy, and a kinder and more charitable world. Sounds good to me, so I started digging a little deeper…

Why good is the new cool

I think it is quite obvious that there is a trend of companies to combine profitable business with an aware, charitable corporate culture. This is most likely related to the seismic shift in popular culture where doing good has become its own form of cool. I could identify three major drivers related to this increasingly popular dynamic. First, younger customers prefer to support firms that contribute to social well-being. Second, contemporary marketing and advertising suffer from a glaring lack of meaningful messaging, and, third, technology now enables innovative new avenues for social service.

The advantage of being a purpose-driven company

Let’s take the position of the company for some time. At the end of the day every business wants to generate profits. And what could work better for your profits than making customers feel good about themselves when purchasing your goods. But you need to be true to a certain extend. “Brandwashing” will not work out in a hyperconnected world. So any company should at least try to be good to whatever extend this might be.

 To exemplify this, lets imagine a company called “Soap”. Soap sells high quality and high price soaps. But imagine that this company would give away one of their soaps to people in need (and trust me, there are billions of people with limited or no access to soap). Simple mechanism, isn’t it? You could bet that – even if the prices of “Soap” are high, they will have massive sales, because customers are proud to be associated with the firm’s benevolence. True purpose is always in service to something bigger than yourself.

Young people are responsible for the radicalization of business

Market research proofs that millennials and members of generation Z have an outsized influence on what sells in today’s market. If you consider these young people’s additional influence on their parents’ spending you know where you have to go. Millennial and genZ buyers seek quality products, but they like quality experiences even more. They support entrepreneurship with a purpose and believe in social activism and cause marketing. As a result, they’re changing the world.

 You all know the four Ps: product, price, place and promotion. Now you can add a fifth P: purpose. And purpose is cool. People are hungry to get involved in something that is meaningful, something that is bigger than themselves.

Enlightened marketing doesn’t merely promote products and services it optimizes life

But it isn’t young people alone bringing about noble transformations. They’re getting plenty of valuable assistance from older generations in creating something like a conscious capitalism. This remarkable evolution in business depends on – first of all – conscious marketing which has moved beyond profits and shareholder value to embrace a larger mission: optimizing life.

 Meeting that goal inspires a new generation of capable, professional promoters. New Age marketers understand and value the hard business realities of finance, R&D, sales and marketing. But they also champion consumers who want to support socially responsible businesses.

The seven basic principles of the good-is-the-new-cool strategy maximize the good that marketing can do and show how powerful it can be

For your organization to get the most benefit from what it does to make life better for others:

1. “Know your purpose” – Every company needs a purpose. What’s yours? For example, Disney’s purpose is to “create happiness by providing the finest in entertainment for people of all ages, everywhere.” Nike’s purpose is “to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.”
2. “Find your allies” – If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Line up allies to help you, including nonprofits that know how to fix problems and partners who can foster societal change.
3. “Think citizens, not consumers” – If you treat your customers only as consumers, your relationship will be one-dimensional. If you treat your customers as citizens, you can share rich, multidimensional relationships.
4. “Lead with the cool” – Developing a product or service that does good is only part of the puzzle; Aziz and Jones contend that you also need a cool, worthwhile product or service with great design and a compelling story.
5. “Don’t advertise; solve problems” – Some problems are mundane, like saving people time. Some problems are epic, like cleaning up the environment.
6. “People are the new media” – Find your audience for your advertising. Word-of-mouth is the most effective way. Nielsen research recently reports that 92% of people believe what their friends recommend more than any paid marketing.
7. “Back up the promise with the proof” – People expect to be on the receiving end of marketing. Most consumers have learned to differentiate between credible and illegitimate messages. If you claim your brand helps the world, Aziz and Jones remind you to be sure you can prove it.

To become a better marketing professional and citizen of the world, take nine important steps.

To improve your marketing and your impact on the world, the authors specify nine steps you can take:

1. Seek supporters – You’re not the only person in your organization who wants to do good. Find the others and form alliances.
2. Begin where you are – You don’t need a big budget to help other people. One of the authors’ main and oft-repeated themes is: all you need is a big heart, energy and people who could use a hand.
3. Take action and learn – Initially, you may not be sure where to put your efforts. Experiment. Try something purposeful, and if it doesn’t work, try something else. Doing good is often an iterative process.
4. Ignore the critics – Cynics abound. Don’t worry about people who accuse you of brandwashing – that is, doing good only for commercial purposes. You know when you’re acting for the right reasons and that’s what counts. Make sure you can demonstrate how and where you help the world.
5. Have a sense of proportion – Companies that really do brandwash are the ones, for example, that spend a few thousand dollars on a charitable project and then millions bragging about it in their marketing.
6. Heed the Golden Rule – Determine what you should do by determining how you would feel if someone else did the same thing to you.
7. Talk about your efforts to inspire others – When you speak about your charitable work online, your messages inspire other people to follow your helpful example.
8. “Add some good to the brief” – The creative brief is an essential marketing document. There is a great documentary out there of Bassett & Partners called Briefly. It shows you how to make sure your brief leads to exceptional creative results for your brand. You can turn your marketing brief into something greater if you include the greater good in it.
9. “Share the good news” – Share what you’ve learned with other marketing professionals and businesspeople online. They may follow your worthwhile path and refocus their marketing to serve an elevated mission.

In today’s enlightened business circles, courage, empathy and hope have replacedconformity, apathy and cynicism.

Corporate leaders must go beyond business as usual and reach for transformation rather than transactions by pursuing new ideas, solutions and models. Every time you spend money, you’re casting a vote for the type of world you want to live in. Good will remain cool only if enough people in business and every other sphere commit their time, money and drive to helping others. Everyone shares this responsibility and only you know how much you can accomplish when it comes to doing good.