Brands with a conscience: why doing good matters.

It’s often argued that to succeed in business, you’ve got to be ruthless. But recent trends show us that these days, the opposite is true.

If the last year’s shown us anything, it’s that generally speaking, people are inherently good and want to help others where they can. People like Captain Tom raising funds for the NHS in the UK, or – despite the fact it was fairly tone deaf and misjudged – Gal Gadot’s attempt to bring people together by asking a group of A-List celebrities to sing John Lennon’s “Imagine”.

So, if most people are inherently good, then surely that means most organisations are too, right? Well…no, not really. Terms like corporate social responsibility, or “CSR” for short, have been used a lot in the past to indicate how important it is that brands behave ethically and fairly, and yet it can often seem like we’ve not really made much progress. There’s a steady stream of headlines revealing the latest corporate scandal, and movements like Black Lives Matter have shown us just how rife racism and other forms of discrimination still are, particularly within institutions and organisations.

A quick look at Google Trends shows that interest in the topic “corporate social responsibility” has fallen by about 25% over the last ten years (although it seems to have moved in waves rather than being a steady decline). So, are we just bored of being told that we need to do better, or have we decided that we’re doing the best we can?

In this article, we’ll explore why behaving responsibly and staying true to your fundamental values can have such a positive impact for your organisation and brand. Most importantly though, we’ll also explain how to do it the right way, why many organisations struggle to achieve meaningful change in the long-term, and how you can avoid making the same mistakes.

Now more than ever, people want brands to behave in a responsible and ethical way. It’s essential that brands recognise that now or they’ll get left behind (Photo: Guillaume de Germain)

A quick look at the basics

We don’t want to spend too much time going through the basics of what CSR is; there’s plenty of material on that already. But at a high-level, CSR is about behaving in a way that considers the impact an organisation is having on all aspects of society, whether it’s the environment, the economy, or even the political system. We tend to think of people as being within one of three main groups when we consider impact:

1. Those who actively choose to interact with you, for example your customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders

2. Those who might not interact with you directly, but who have a vested interest in your actions, for example a local community that you operate in

3. Everyone else, because your actions can still have an impact on them, particularly when it comes to things like the environment

We’re all in this together

At its heart, CSR recognises that we all have a shared future and that good business balances commercial considerations with social ones. It’s not about giving money to charity (although that can form part of it), and it’s definitely not something that you can fake for good PR.

Everyone benefits when brands behave in an ethical way, whether they’re your customers or not (Photo: D Valdemaras)

Here’s why it matters to everyone

Let’s get real here. We’ve only got one planet, and as the way things stand, we’re not doing a great job at looking after it. CO2 levels reached record highs last year, temperatures are rising, and as a result, we’re seeing a huge number of natural disasters like flooding and wildfires.

Apart from the environmental crisis, we’re also seeing a huge range of societal issues too. In addition to systemic racism and discrimination noted above, income inequality is rising and we’re seeing a rapid rise in extremism on both sides of the political spectrum.

With issues like these still present, we run a real risk of permanently damaging our planet and society, impacting future generations in ways that we can’t predict.

Now it’s not all bad, with a global fall in absolute poverty and more people talking about social issues like racism which will hopefully lead to meaningful change. But without brands being fully engaged and committed to socially responsible behaviour, there’s only so far we can go.

And here’s why it matters to your organisation

Apart from the fact that brands can only survive if society’s functioning properly and the planet’s still habitable, behaving responsibly and ethically offers real long-term value to organisations.

You’ll see a boost to your top and bottom line

Data from GWI shows that 57% of people will pay more for a product that’s eco-friendly, and it’s even higher for Millennials and Gen-Z. Consumers increasingly value good behaviour, and they reward brands that choose to do things responsibly. Longer-term, that translates into more loyal customers who spend more.

Any publicity is definitely not good publicity

You don’t want to be in the limelight for doing something that was morally questionable. Technology and social media have made it easier than ever before to share information, and that includes negative headlines. Bad news spreads fast, and if you’ve behaved irresponsibly, you’ll find that people leave you quickly, whether they’re customers, suppliers, or even employees.

When you behave responsibly, people naturally want to interact with you, and they associate you with positive feelings, which are huge benefits for your brand (Photo: Fred Kearney)

Values make it a lot easier for people to connect with you

People like to interact with others who share their values and beliefs, and that extends to brands. Consumers choose brands that mimic their behaviours, and so if they’re doing good and behaving ethically, then they’ll want you to as well.

Simply put, a good set of values helps you to seem more human, which makes it much easier for consumers to connect with you, then choose you, and stay loyal to you.

Honestly, we all just need some positivity at the moment

Let’s face it, 2020 wasn’t exactly a brilliant year, and people are feeling more anxious and depressed as a result. Consumers are desperate to have feel-good interactions, so it’s an ideal time to show them that you genuinely care. It not only means you’re more likely to win over more customers, but provided that you stick to your values and beliefs, it will be easier and cheaper to retain them in the long-term.

Getting it right doesn’t just happen

CSR isn’t just something that you can “bolt on” to your business and then hope for the best. It’s not enough for a brand to simply say that it’s going to behave ethically, or even develop a CSR policy (although that’s a start). It takes a real commitment from the organisation’s leaders to actively promote and champion the brand’s values and fully integrate them into its overall strategy.

Integrating your values into your brand and strategy is a bit like learning to walk; it takes time and a bit of hard work, but once you’ve mastered it, you’ll reap the rewards (Photo: Liana Mikah)

Develop meaningful values and use them

Too many organisations have vague and meaningless values and mission statements that aren’t ever used. For values to be effective, they need to be engrained into the organisation’s brand and strategy. Every decision made by management needs to be evaluated against your values, and ones that don’t align with them shouldn’t be allowed to happen.

The best brands and – in turn – brand identities are built on a set of values which are unique to the organisation. Sure, you might use words which are similar to other organisations’ values, but what they mean is unique to you. If you change your values significantly, you’ll probably need to change your brand. If you don’t, then you’ll either have a disconnect moving forwards, or your brand wasn’t aligned to them in the first place.

Start with your people

One of your key assets is your workforce, as they’re the ones who deliver on your strategy every day. They can give you a great insight into the way in which you’re perceived, not only by them but by the people in the outside world who they interact with. Use these insights to develop values which are not only meaningful but which resonate with your key audiences too.

It’s key to treat your people well and in-line with your values. There’s no point in telling the world that you care and want to do good if you don’t put that into practice with your own team. Not only will they be much less loyal, but it also makes it far less likely that they’ll deliver the best service to your customers and other stakeholders, which significantly damages your brand over time.

Measure progress

As we said, a lot of organisations have values but don’t really use them. The best way to avoid this is to integrate them into the way you assess performance. Most values can be translated into some form of critical success factor for teams and individuals, which can then be measured using an easily understood metric.

As with any other metric, never measure CSR performance for the sake of it, or because you want to be able to report the positives and glance over the negatives. Where you miss targets, make sure you understand the root cause and then develop a clear plan which explains how you intend to improve performance going forwards. Similarly, if you over-deliver, work out if it was just unforeseen circumstances that worked in your favour, or if your forecasts were off.

Commit to it

This isn’t an overnight exercise, and change takes time and commitment. You might not see results immediately, particularly if you’re having to change people’s perceptions, but in the longer-term, you’ll benefit hugely. And remember that commitment from management is needed to get the rest of your team to buy-in. After all, if management aren’t seen to be supportive of your values, then why would anyone else be?

People are unlikely to just take your word for it when you say you want to do good in the world. You’ve got to show them you mean it through your actions (Photo: Cailin Grant-Jansen)

It’s all about show not tell

So you’ve developed a set of values, you’ve translated them into a clear action plan, and you know how you’re going to measure success. One of the first things a lot of organisations are tempted to do is announce it to the world and behave as though everything’s changed. The trouble with that is that people often need to see things to believe them, and that’s particularly true where people are already doubtful or lack faith.

There have been so many corporate scandals over the years that people just don’t believe an organisation that says it cares and wants to do good (After all, Enron’s values were respect, integrity, communication, and excellence…). Unfortunately, the fact that there continue to be corporate scandals isn’t helping to change that.

Instead of using your values as a PR exercise, focus on adjusting your operations so that you truly live by them and deliver the benefits that you set out to. Once people start to see the results, they’re much more likely to believe you’re genuine and develop positive feelings towards your brand.

No one likes a faker

This one’s pretty obvious and it follows on from the previous point, but don’t go through this exercise with no intention of behaving in a socially responsible way. It’s disheartening for your staff and others involved, and most importantly, people quickly pick up on things that aren’t genuine, and they punish you for it. You’ve got to want to behave responsibly because you know that it’s the right thing to do, not because you think it’s a fad that will eventually be forgotten about.

Enjoy it

This shouldn’t be a boring or scary exercise! It sounds cheesy, but doing good genuinely does feel good, and there’s no harm in enjoying the process and feeling proud of the results. Those feelings are contagious and addictive, so the more enthusiastic you are in the early stages, the more likely it is that you’ll achieve lasting change which benefits you, your stakeholders, and wider society.

Want to know more?

Developing meaningful values and then integrating them effectively into your brand and strategy takes practice and time, but the benefits are always worth it. As the world’s focus shifts more towards doing good and behaving responsibly, it’s going to become increasingly important for organisations to have a brand which portrays them in the best possible way.

Our Foundations services help organisations to develop strategies which are based on the right information, and which make best use of their resources and unique characteristics. To find out more about how we help to create brands that do the right thing, contact us today.

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