TML examines the role and importance of corporate social responsibility in today’s marketing environment.

Recently we were at a meeting and the host was a little embarrassed. “Sorry we have a temp in this week and I sent her out to get some biscuits and coffee, I don’t know where she’s got to”. On her return she explained that the local store didn’t sell fair trade products and she had to walk almost a mile to another store. This may seem unimportant to some but it’s a reflection of how many staff are driven by values.

Consumers - Making a point

Consumers are not longer just making a purchase but a point. They have realised that the pound in their pocket is not just for buying products and services, but for influencing change. They have become empowered, blending buying with beliefs. These people are also extending their influence into the workplace and as a consequence the corporate pound is no different.

Customers are asking how ethical are the businesses they deal with, while businesses are having to ask how ethical they are themselves. It’s a complicated area, not helped by the vast variety of ethics, health, environment, sustainability, working practices, and recycling. The list goes on.

So what effect does this have upon B2B marketing?

A lot. Traditional marketing propositions, even the clichéd ones like “make your business work harder” or “more efficiency”, are not enough. Businesses are having to consider the ethical propositions because of accountability to their staff, stakeholders and customers, not to forget the media and the public. A cheaper copier may look good to the company accountant but if its carbon footprint is bad, is energy wasting or bad for recycling, others will be questioning the decision.

One of my clients, Ricoh, the world’s 7th largest IT company and producer of copiers is one company committed to the environment. They are not jumping on the bandwagon but have been in this space for many years and the first to produce a green guide to the office. Their investment in this area has paid off and now their environmental values have become their brand differentiation.

Interface Carpets in the States were the first to move towards sustainability. At the time people thought it’s CEO Ray Anderson mad but now it’s the biggest supplier of carpet tiles to offices, making 40% of all carpet tiles used across the globe.

Investors: another pressure point

There’s another pressure point on companies to be more ethical. Investors, especially City groups want ethical cleanliness, they don’t want dirty ethical laundry being hung up in their faces. Narrative Reporting is making companies more transparent and it’s hard to hide behind good financial performance any more. The phrase from the City is “it’s not just how much you make but HOW you make it.”

It’s easy in B2B to think big companies but let’s not forget that SMEs make up 92% of the 4 million businesses in the UK (with over half the employment and turnover). Their overall spending power is sizable and they don’t have procurement departments or even lengthy purchasing review periods. Choice is often personal and can be impulsive.

A new breed of ‘influencer’, ethically driven, is now coming more powerful. Whereas the decision makers have been more concerned with cost, reliability and relevance, they are now made well aware that a growing number of staff feel passionately about ethics. A secretary not the finance director probably started most recycling schemes. Who buys the tea, coffee and biscuits? In most companies it’ll be a PA or office manager and they are buying fair trade not bulk packs of Nescafe.

WEF: Growing sustainability

The growing concern over sustainability (the World Economic Forum dedicated most of this year’s agenda to it) and ethical working practices (exploitation of third world workers) within the supply chain is becoming another area of focus.

We all like a bargain – especially procurement - and price has always been a selling proposition. But if it’s cheap it’s usually because someone’s paying the price further down the line. It’s easy to think you can ignore this; after all you are just buying the product at the end of the line so how can you be responsible? Not any more, the R in CSR is for responsibility and others will hold you to account. Exploitation of workers is going to be the next area that the media will be focusing on and as NIKE discovered, it’s not something you want to be associated with.

So how does this effect B2B strategies?

Ethical propositions cannot be ignored or just used as bolt-ons – forget green wash, consumers are smarter than that. There are over 50 ethical values we start with for any client that are then reduced to 2 or 3 key ethical values (KEVs). Discovering the right ones is not easy and then you need to balance them with those traditional values are still as relevant as ever.

Equally as challenging is identifying the target audience and their values. The PA may be more interested in championing a photocopier that is eco friendly, while the manager is impressed by it’s speed and the finance director by it’s low lifetime cost. While the last two are fairly rational reasons to buy, the first is emotional (though many may argue that saving our planet is a rational need). And emotional purchasing is far more powerful because when you win hearts you win minds, whereas winning minds doesn’t necessarily win hearts.

New ways needed to reach them

Given the growing importance of the ethical influencer means we need to look at new ways to reach them. They are hiding in lots of different places, not just the young PA but across all ages and types. Up until now they haven’t been noticeable but in a changing world they feel empowered. They don’t sit in easy to identify categories on databases either. Like moths you need a light bulb (preferable low voltage) to find them.

Ricoh, with their Green To Do list, has gone outside the traditional target audience for copies and identified audiences that are also key to the purchasing decision.

As an empowered consumer, they don’t want to be sold to with any high pressure selling. They are searchers; they are looking for brands that share their values. They are the first to check if your mailer is on recycled paper (only 5% of direct mail is). They are looking for honesty not spin. These consumers are smart and well connected. Word of mouth is powerful in B2B now. Win them over and the word is good. Cheat and you are dead.

Graduates aspire to work with ethical firms

In a recent survey, over 80% of graduates wanted to work for socially responsible companies. I doubt you’d get a very different result across most ages these days. The days of corporate abuse are over and now all companies are accountable to both their staff and the greater society. CSR, once a spin has come a way of business.

What separates people from machines, and I have worked for many clients who see customers as just that, is their ability to feel, to have passion and idealism. To care more about the world than the pay cheque or following the corporate line. There will always be those that live in ivory towers of assumptions, rejecting change and are unwilling to embrace the ethical line. But there were those that said the telephone, computer, Internet and mobile phones were just fads.

If I was to sum up the effect that ethics will have upon B2B marketing is that it will become more like B2C because it will need to appeal on a more emotional level. It has to win over a new group of ethically influenced consumers whose influence extends beyond their position. In many ways the challenge is not new - finding the right message and delivering it to the right person, at the right time in the right frame of mind.

By Chris Arnold.
Creative Partner of the ethical marketing agency FEEL.
Chairman of the DMA Agency Council
and Chair of The Entrepreneurs Media & Marketing Forum.

Chris welcomes your views and stories – email him at chris@feelagency.com or call him on +44 (0)7778 05 66 86.