Introducing Social/Environmental Measures to benefit your brand by Owen Waters, FNQ Finance Guy.
As a business owner part of my strategy is to stand out from the crowd, offer something different, be a little unique. With so many other businesses competing for a limited customer base being able to stand out and be front of mind for prospective clients when they need my services is vital.
And it’s important to have a strong brand, something that is recognisable and something that will attract customers. And your brand can be whatever you want it to be but being generic might not have the impact you need to succeed.
One way to differentiate yourself and build a strong brand is to stand for something, be it social or environmental and then promote it, let people know. Of course, this needs to be genuine and mean something to you, nothing fakes more than a business portraying itself as something it is not. People buy from people they trust, and integrity sells.
What you do is of course up to you. Maybe your business produces or provides something that is socially responsible or environmentally friendly already and you just haven’t promoted it. Or you may be able to introduce something into your business that does. Can you reduce the amount of waste you produce or the amount of energy you use? If you’re a café or restaurant it might be offering straws or promoting the use of refillable cups rather than takeaway. If you’re in retail, it might be offering paper bags rather than plastic.
It also gives you something to promote rather than just pushing a product or service all the time. If you use social media to engage with your market then you’ll know that being regular and consistent with your posts means you’ll reach more people. Having enough good content and being able to consistently engage with your market can be difficult, so a social or environmental aspect gives you access to a whole range of new content.
It can also engage your staff. It might be that you involve your them in deciding on and implementing social or environmental measures at work or that you encourage and allow them to be involved in community actions and events. Your staff are a huge influencer of any businesses brand and nothing speaks more to me about a good business than a happy and engaged workforce.
Introducing a good social or environmental cause can be a game changer for your brand and in how your clients and potential clients see you and your business.
