Social Impact Marketing: Strategy or Survival?

How important is communicating your social impact to your business and its survival? Is it an often-misused concept ("greenwashing")? Or is it something you need to do to stay relevant?

The way businesses are conducted has an impact on the planet and its people. The state of the planet in turn affects the way we are doing business. Today, being in business is just not enough. Consumers, employees, investors, media, and society are holding businesses accountable. The pandemic has further heightened fragility and the need to address larger issues.

Consumers and employees want to be involved in a company which believes and has an intent for the greater good. According to Forrester, 70% of US consumers focus on a company’s social responsibility and their reputation influences their purchasing decision.?The writing on the wall is clear for business leaders: what you make and how you sell it needs deliver value to its stakeholders and contribute positively to the planet.

Much has been said about why social impact must be created, but in this piece, we will focus on how marketing can play a role in making and communicating the social impact. We have worked with several global nonprofits and businesses to communicate how they are making a difference. And figuring out how can their organization make a greater impact in alignment with their own purpose, has been the number agenda on the C-suite.?

Let’s look at various ways in which companies are stepping up to make a difference through social impact marketing.

The Gates/ Zuckerberg Model: Companies can support a portfolio of social causes that may or may not be linked to their “core” businesses. The intent to make a difference through business action has been traditionally done through the creation of foundations and philanthropic organizations. Technology moguls, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg and several others started some of the biggest foundations with their family members once their companies scaled massively. Home Depot, the largest home improvement center in the United States of America created it philanthropic arm in 2002. It has contributed over $200 million in time, labor, money, and supplies to several causes. The Home Depot has stated on their website that they convey their commitment to “continue to lead by example, demonstrating to the world that sustainability business practices are not only possible, but they are also good for business."

The Good Expenditure Approach: In this strategy a company makes a budgetary decision to forego expenditure on traditional marketing methods and diverts their funds to make a statement on social impact. A 30-second advertising slot in the Super Bowl costs 5.6 million USD. This expenditure comes with massive implications for these brands and society. What would happen if we used this money for social good? Coca-Cola did not advertise this year in the Super Bowl, opting instead to invest in "the right resources during these unprecedented times". Beer brand, Budweiser too plans to forgo advertising to donate to a vaccine-awareness ad campaign instead.

The Robinhood Approach: Here companies pledge to redistribute sales dollars towards social causes. Warby Parker started their glasses initiative, where the company donates a pair of glasses to someone in need for each pair sold. They also fund eye care training and awareness campaigns in developing countries.

Patagonia is known for being purpose propelled. It gives 1 percent to the planet. They donated 100 percent of Black Friday sales and the results were a cherished surprise. The outdoor retailer sold a record $10 million that day, all of which contributed to non-profit partners. (Source - Social Good Marketing Strategies)

The Amplify Approach: Brands can show support to do-gooders by standing up, aligning with them, and boosting their value driven-message. Technology major, Microsoft stepped in more than one way when the pandemic struck. They changed the way the communities around their headquarters lived. They reinforced the drive for cooperation between communities and businesses to combat the disruption on a massive scale. Not only did it help in providing schools and nonprofits organizations in providing technology for continuation of education, but it also worked hard in providing support to the Washington government in vaccination drive across the state.

In 2018, Nike collaborated with Colin Kaepernick for the Black Lives Matter campaign. The #1 sports brand aligned itself with a star whose stance on police brutality was famously politicized and ridiculed by his own league and then President, Trump. Nike made global headlines with their "Don't Do it" anti-racism campaign and struck a chord with its audience and expanded their reputation as a purpose-driven brand. The campaign succeeded in standing up for and bringing visibility to Black Lives Matter, protesting while promoting its own brand.

Hashtag Activism: The humble hashtag is innovated by Instagram and is now adopted widely by most social media channels. The # allows people to connect with the communities they align with. “#ShareYourEars” by Disney and Make-A-Wish is one of the most iconic hashtag campaigns of all time. Disney and Make-A-Wish Foundation collaborated to run one of the most heartfelt campaigns on Twitter. Disney invited its audience to share their pictures with Mickey Mouse Ears on. All they needed to do was post it on Twitter with #ShareYourEars. For every post, Disney would donate $5 to Make-A-Wish Foundation. Since the campaign had such a noble cause, it went viral instantly.

L’Oreal’s #WorthSaying campaign gave more power to women and encouraged them to talk about what matters the most to them. The campaign was supported by popular celebrities and influencers like Jennifer Lopez and Blake Lively.

Employee Volunteerism: Businesses support employee grant matching programs and giving campaigns. They also engage their employees in corporate social responsibility programs. Through these initiatives they encourage their employees to serve their community. Employees contribute their professional expertise, time or even dollar donations towards a broader social impact initiative. Corporate human resources and marketing departments are involved in employee volunteering initiatives because they unite employees around a certain cause to build camaraderie. The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) has found that 47% of U.S. companies offered volunteer opportunities in a 2018 & 2019 survey. This numbers have grown tremendously since then and are expected to go up.

Take the example of Intel Involved, an employee volunteering program, developed in 1995, it aims to donate more than 28 million volunteer hours by 2030.?Harnessing employees as a force for social change is a great way to connect businesses and communities for positive social change. It affects whether we exist or not...it directly affects our sustainability.

Why Social Marketing: Strategic Choice or Need of the Hour?

Social impact marketing promotes and realizes company or its founders’ social missions, shift positive thoughts and behaviors in their community. Often, they promote environmental, ethical and social stewardship. There are no one-size fits all approach but conveying your “reason to exist” and “reason to stay relevant” is vital.

?At its core, social Impact marketing is about developing strong relationships with your stakeholders. It is included in the larger relationship marketing strategy and focus on nurturing communities. This form of marketing promotes a company’s role in the community, more than just promoting its products or services.

No strategy is complete without planning for measurement of your true social impact. A measurement that is necessary for anyone seeking to amplify your impact. Social impact marketing cannot just be an isolated campaign conducted by your PR agency. It must be part of your business strategy and have a set of indicators for success tied in with your business.

Open for Business, Open for Change

In the coming years, social impact marketing will become more important than ever. Consumers today are more personally concerned with the beliefs and ethics that the brands they associate with follow. And are therefore now demanding companies to shift their factories, hearing news of questionable people practices in factories. Investors today look at ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) factors while allocating their capital. The impact of a well-implemented and comprehensive social impact marketing campaign will truly be multifold. Be Authentic. Take up social causes that are fundamental to your purpose to foster your business’ success and bring others up as you climb.

We at Impactika Consulting exist to help do-gooders do better. We are a digital marketing, strategy, and social change consulting firm. We help for-purpose organizations take on the world’s toughest challenges in digital rights, social and economic justice, education, and more. To know more about how we can make a difference together, visit us at www.impactikaconsulting.com