Small is the new big – CSR is the new age of Digital Marketing

There’s a growing trend amongst large corporate enterprises, that with size you can lose the personal touch. I’m joining a growing revolution of business leaders that disagree with the status quo. Not only do we have a moral obligation to fulfil the needs of our customers but from a marketing stand point there’s no better strategy than to engage at the grass roots level with the customer.

I recently had an automated apologetic email sent to me from my telecoms provider regarding a fault. Along with the impersonal apology was a survey to fill out to see how they could do better.  The fact that the product was faulty was unfortunate, but the way it was handled via email and pre-recorded messages was little less than belittling.

This article is not a rant but more to highlight where many marketers can trip up and go wrong. Having all the mechanised systems may be futuristic, but we’re losing the value of our product and more importantly the face of good customer service. We need to be empowering our customers and actually allow them to enjoy their experience. Not take all the shortcuts to save money just because we can.

I came across a video the other day that shows the new marketing campaign from Triodos bank. Small is the new big – See how they give power to their customers to change their whole life making one deposit at a time. Not only is this encouraging customers to save rather than take loans, it encourages hope for a brighter future.  They are focusing on longevity and happiness of their customers not the short term gains. Corporate Social Responsibility is set to change the way companies market their services. CSR is however full of mind fields. We’ll discuss some of these over the coming months to help firms who are looking to have fun whilst doing good.

We could all take a lesson from the Triodos marketing book and put on our thinking caps. We have ability and a right to make a positive impact in our customer’s lives. Let’s use that ability to do some good, whilst creating a positive and valuable brand image for ourselves.

Corporate Social Responsibility may sound like a headache but it’s truly rewarding and a valuable marketing input for your business.