How to use CSR for brands’ equity, improvement

All over the world, one of the central issues for brand owners in business is improving on the equity of their brands, and this can be achieved through a greater understanding of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).

What to consider by firms in this respect, are, the aims and objectives, visibility, reporting, among others.
Analysts believe that for companies to make bold statement in their commitment to CSR, they must understand and follow the trend.

Report has shown that some of the companies operating in Nigeria and Africa, are either completely unaware of the importance of CSR when it comes to their operations in Africa, compared with what is obtainable in other parts of the world. The implementation international human rights norms were almost not on the agenda of both the public and private sectors operating in Africa.

To this end, analysts says that consumers are fast becoming braced with activities of companies operating in Nigeria and Africa. Therefore, any brand that wants to appeal to consumers must do the needful as we enter the second half of 2017.

Reacting to this issue, a brand management consultant, Bernard Okhakume told Daily Times that, “corporate social responsibility is more competitive that it were. Few years back, it was enough for public companies to have a fairly comprehensive CSR section on their website, with a simple PDF presentation and a few images of how they took into consideration the environment, communities, and their social impact.

“A vague understanding of social impact is no longer enough to stand out amongst the top public companies with the best CSR reputations. Taking action against climate change, contributing to social justice movements, and standing firm in founding principles are trends in themselves for big companies, and have become not just acceptable, but expected.”

He said, “With more companies understanding the value CSR can bring to both their public image and their stakeholders, it’s getting harder to make a message stand out in a sea of ‘doing good.”

According to him, “CSR content will become even more personalized, therefore, handlers of brands should focus on CSR goals that make sense for their company; and they will garner the most trust from their primary stakeholders. As we talk about A trap that many companies fall into, is to think that CSR is only about giving back to the environment.”

He said that, “CSR can also focus on efforts with local communities and interactions with your own consumers and what matters to them. Building investor trust means tailoring content to their main concerns, while also ensuring you’re staying true to your company’s story and goals. If you’ve published multiple CSR success stories to a company newsletter, one focusing on community impact and one focusing on social change, you can serve different content to different investors based on what they most care about.”

Highlighting further on what brands must do to stand out in terms of CSR, he said that, “perhaps, the biggest trend we see each year in the digital marketing world is that the online attention span of consumers is shrinking astronomically. We are so used to getting the information we want online right away, in bite-sized pieces.

“The same concept applies with investors. Your investors won’t have the time to read a 15-page PDF report on how your latest CSR measure impacted a community and benefited your company. Break down the CSR successes of the past year with videos, data visualizations, or animations on your website. Even more important: make your reporting shareable. Short videos illustrating your impact as a company are the perfect way to get some brand differentiation and easily circulate your message.”

On his part, the Managing Director of Maksrite Communication, Gbenga Olawole said that company owners must learn to align their CSR goals with those at the top.
He said, “Ethical Corporation’s report states that only 25 per cent of CSR executives (surveyed) stated their chief financial officer (CFO) is absolutely convinced of the value of the CSR report.”
For him, this is a problem, as he said that, “If company’s chief executive officer (CEO), chief financial officer (CFO), and more, aren’t aware of the CSR goals for the coming year, or don’t see value in spending more time, energy, and money on CSR initiatives or CSR reporting, your company will come across as disjointed and not united in your social message.”
He said, “Ensure that environmental impact, social justice, and community service goals aren’t simply dreamt and executed within one department. The whole company, from the top to the bottom, should understand the importance of what you’re doing and how it relates to your vision and end goals.”

According to him, “Handlers of brand should make CSR presentations available on every platform translating their CSR initiatives to video and animation, but it’s equally important to make sure what they are putting out there can be accessed by anyone who wants to see what their company is up to. 2017 will see even more people disregard their desktops for a mobile phone, so make sure every downloadable CSR presentation, testimonial video, customer story, and website link are available by a smartphone or tablet browser.”

He further disclosed that brands should not only report CSR, but relate it. He said investors want to see how CSR initiatives affected the numbers, but that doesn’t mean you can pull a ‘number dump’ and be done with it. Make sure you’re not just reporting the numbers or you’ll create a disconnect between your company and the lives you actually impacted. So this year, think about other ways to illustrate the impact you’ve made.
“Include more employee testimonials, customer success stories, environmental impact studies, or ‘message from the CEO’ videos. Mixing up how you deliver CSR good news makes sure investors, as well as your target audiences, don’t get number fatigue.”