Corporate Social Responsibility

Posted by Nicole Rivera on August 25, 2009 under Small Biz and Entrepreneurship | Be the First to Comment

Yesterday’s practice of companies simply giving money away to good causes has been superseded by today’s strategic philanthropy, which ties donations of time, money, and in-kind gifts to defined business goals and desired benefits. Companies that have created corporate foundations or corporate giving programs have discovered that partnerships between private enterprise and public interest can produce profitable outcomes for all.

The charitable donations of old are now being managed as investments, subject to the same rigors of analysis as other business practices. The numbers indicate clearly: companies large and small do well by doing good.

 83% of Americans have a more positive image of companies 
    that support a cause they care about

 65% of Americans would switch to a brand associated with a
    good cause, price and quality being equal

 87% of employees at companies with cause marketing programs
   feel a stronger sense of loyalty to their employers

 Source: 1999 Cone/Roper Cause Trends Report

Tax Relief
Donating money to charity via your company’s corporate giving program or foundation can be a very tax efficient way of supporting your chosen cause. When a company makes a donation, it gets tax relief by deducting the amount given from profits and pays less corporate income tax.  Generally, a corporation may take a deduction of up to 10% of its taxable income for the year.

Size doesn’t matter: Large and small companies benefit.
Businesses of all sizes have reaped the benefits of market share, human resource, and public relations advantages that philanthropy offers, through programs that align community responsibility with business need. Addressing the problems of the people in your community can-and does-stimulate business development. Better education today means a more skilled workforce tomorrow; lower inner-city unemployment means higher consumption in the inner city. Companies can share a wide range of resources with their communities, including time, money, talent, and products, plus enjoy tax relief.

Top Reasons for Business to use Social Networking

Posted by Nicole Rivera on August 10, 2009 under Small Biz Marketing | Be the First to Comment

On average, 63% of businesses use social networking to build
relationships and awareness of their brand.

Customer Relationship Development and Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is at an all-time low, possibly as a result of reduced business focus on actual relationships, and an increased focus on “customer relationship management” systems. Online social networks allow a prospective customer or prospective member to easily create a real connection with individuals in a given organization.  This allows for the customer to put a face with an interaction, rather than just a computer screen.  This in turn creates a real human perception of the company that is welcoming to business relationships.

Extremely Low-Cost Marketing Tool
Small business owners should engage in social networking because it is an easy and inexpensive way to connect to your consumers, and potentially form business partnerships.  Additionally, it provide an opportunity to network with people who have similiar interests, problems which you can solve and business goals you can help them achieve.    

Easily Share knowledge with Consumers
By combining social networking with other technologies (such as RSS, Blogs, Bookmarking etc.) your company will make it easy for current and future consumers to “subscribe” to updates from your organization. This is a way to share your company’s important information (Promotions, Articles, News etc.) without any additional effort.

Differentiate your service with “brand you”
Social networking provides another outlet for building your brand; Evenmore, it helps you promote “brand you” and not just the services that you offer.  You will have a variety of interactions with potential consumers, future partners and other people of interest.  Express your company as one that has real people working for it, people that love their company and believe in the products or services it offers.  This genuineness will come through in the conversations that you engage in.   This is your company’s brand; it is what make your company special.