In 2023, sustainable toilet paper brand, Who Gives a Crap, struck the CSR jackpot when launching its first global brand campaign.

With a mission to ‘uncrap the world’, Who Gives a Crap set out to raise awareness about their bottom line of providing eco-friendly loo roll made from 100% recycled bamboo fibres. The brand played on their whimsical branding and rolled out puns that grabbed consumer attention: ‘Our Future Rests Upon Your Cheeks.’

Environmental sustainability is not the only brand’s social responsibility. Who Gives a Crap also promises to donate 50% of profits to help build toilets and improve sanitation in developing countries. Since their first product launch in 2013, they have raised AUD $13,378,250 (£7,049,999) to help those in need. Furthermore, when founded in 2012, the company saw that 2.4 billion people don’t have access to a toilet. Now, that figure has reduced to 2 billion. It is without a doubt, then, that Who Gives a Crap has helped ‘the bums of the world stand (or rather sit down) for what they believe in’.

The campaign hit the sweet spot in combining social responsibility and punny digital advertising. As a result, the brand quickly garnered consumer attention and bolstered its eco-centric reputation.

In today’s saturated digital world, building and managing brand reputation can be approached with lots of different strategies. But the one that is most effective and currently rising to prominence is investment in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities.

What is CSR and Why is it Important for Building Brand Reputation?

CSR refers to a company’s effort to improve society in some way, which goes beyond making a profit. This may include efforts to become more green, initiatives that benefit employees or things that bring together the local community. Engaging in CSR activities demonstrates a brand’s commitment to making a positive impact.

It’s important that companies, whether small or global giants, understand and pro-actively use their social power. However, this isn’t solely about meeting your company’s ethos but is also about building employee support and customer trust. Infact:

• 76% of companies believe CSR reduces brand reputation risk
• 83% of employees would consider leaving their jobs if CSR practices aren’t upheld
• 54% of global consumers consider a company’s CSR activities when making a purchase

With growing awareness of climate change and socio-political concerns, consumers today are more socially conscious and prefer to support companies that align with their values.

Our Millennial and Gen Z consumers now expect brands to:

• Be positive contributors to society (72%)
• Use resources and power to help people (64%)
• Raise other people’s morale (48%)
• Bring people together for a common goal (49%)

So, it’s fair to say that CSR activity and investing in an ethical brand reputation is rising in demand. But, when you aren’t a global giant that can make whopping donations to charitable causes, how can you begin building an impactful CSR campaign?

How to Build a Strong CSR Campaign as an SME

Outline Your Company Values

Start by clearly defining the core values your company stands for. That way, you can choose what type of CSR you’d like to focus on, whether that’s environmental sustainability, offering skills development, making charitable donations or investing in the local community.

Get Insight from Stakeholders

Engage with your customers, employees and community to find out what they care about. Conduct polls and surveys asking what social issues matter to them the most. You should also ask what associations they have made with your brand and what they know about your current initiatives. That way, you can highlight what areas of your CSR strategy need working on.

Look at the Local Community

Focusing on the local community can build up a pool of loyal customers who feel personable with your brand. Research what your community needs, what your local area is known for or whether there are current ongoing projects.

Use Rinse and Repeat Strategies

You don’t always have to reinvent the wheel. Look at CSR strategies that have worked for businesses like yours. Learn from what has worked well for them. Adopting proven strategies can save time and resources whilst ensuring your CSR efforts are effective.

Be Authentic

Lean into what makes your brand unique and play it up. As seen with the Who Gives a Crap campaign, great CSR campaigns don’t need to be super serious, they can be honest and authentic to your brand’s image.

Be Clear and Transparent

Develop a clear communications plan, keep everyone on the same page and ensure your goals are laser focused. Decide what information you’d like to make public and what should still be kept in the works. Clarity will reflect positively on your brand’s commitment to CSR.

Protect Your Reputation

CSR is a very public-facing campaign and, if anything were to go wrong, your brand’s reputation is at stake. Don’t leave crisis communication as an afterthought. Make sure to have a clear plan in place should something go wrong. Crisis communications can quickly take up a lot of time, consider outsourcing your crisis comms to a PR agency.

Read more:
How Your SME Can Build an Impactful CSR Campaign

Developing brand awareness in the market is one of the most challenging barriers that small businesses face. SMEs can easily miss out on potential sales opportunities if they don’t market themselves effectively as customers, buyers and suppliers won’t know where to find them or what’s on offer.

It doesn’t take a Lord Sugar to know that to generate sales, you need a consistent flow of leads, a returning customer base and strong brand awareness. But what’s now complicating the traditional business formula is the rapidly expanding world of social media. Social media platforms have now heated up the competition and added more complexity to an already busy marketing landscape.

It’s no wonder, then, that 1 in 3 small businesses outsource at least one business process. As polled by Clutch, 24% of small businesses said that increased efficiency was their top reason for outsourcing whilst other reasons included available expertise (18%), flexibility (16%) and allowing time for employees to prioritise other tasks (15%).

Can Your SME Manage its Own Marketing?

Every business is unique and comes with its own set of resources, talent and finances. Knowing whether your small business can manage its own marketing strategy takes some honest self-assessment:

• How much do you understand about marketing? Are you familiar with what strategies exist and how to measure the success of a strategy?
• Do you enjoy marketing?
• Is anyone on your team skilled in a particular area? Do they have an eye for design, a way with words or are they a whizz on the computer?
• How much time do you have on your hands?
• How well do you know your marketing needs? Who is your demographic and what platforms do they hang out on?
• Do you have the funds to employ an in-house marketer, or should you think about outsourcing your marketing to a full service marketing and comms agency?

Tell-tale Signs That Your Small Business Desperately Needs to Outsource its Marketing Strategy

It’s Been a While Since You Last Reviewed Your Marketing Strategy

As a minimum to keeping your marketing efforts strong, your social media, email and advertising engagement should be monitored once a day. Reviewing your marketing strategy is essential for keeping up with trends, shifts in demographics, sudden opportunities that arise and making sure your campaign is an all-round success. If it looks like your marketing strategy has cobwebs (and your website was last updated in 2020), then it’s probably time to look at outsourcing.

You Aren’t Seeing Results

Monitoring your return on investment is a great way of measuring the success of your marketing strategy. If phones aren’t ringing with leads, customers aren’t placing orders and those that are, aren’t the type of customer you’re aiming for, then that’s another sign to call in for some professional expertise – especially if you feel you’ve been making all the right marketing moves.

You Don’t Know Where to Start

Between Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest and TikTok, social media can be a bit of a minefield. It can be easy to go guns blazing and sign-up to all (which would only deplete your resources) or, for some, it may even feel a little risky to put yourself out there on an unfamiliar platform. Marketing is a complex subject that requires the right expertise and trying to DIY it all can hoover time and lead to disappointing results.

Your Efforts are Sporadic

Disruptions and distractions can come up at any time when manning a small business. Steadying financials, monitoring stock flow and upkeeping staff retention are all core priorities which sometimes mean that marketing is one that falls by the wayside. However, the one secret to a successful marketing campaign is consistency. Consistency and time are what build brand credibility, awareness and a loyal customer base. If you lack resources and your efforts are sporadic, then you aren’t going to be see the healthy trajectory you need.

Your Schedule is Already Jam-packed

There are only so many hours in the day. Drafting and proofreading something that may seem as little as a mail-chimp email can take a lot more time than you think – even a single spelling mistake can make a potential customer overlook your brand. If you are going to implement a marketing plan, it’s important to allocate proper time and set realistic expectations as to how much time goes into an effective strategy.

Your Competitors are Outperforming You

Keeping an eye on your competitions’ marketing strategy or even stalking their socials is a good way to see how well your strategy could be performing. However, if your competitors are severely outperforming you, then it’s time to either review your current strategy or bring in experts who can offer advice and even take ownership of your strategy for you.

So, You’ve Chosen to Outsource

Outsourcing your marketing is an effective way to leverage talent and expertise within the industry whilst securing a consistent and successful strategy. Not only is outsourcing a cost-effective choice, but it can also help your small business focus on core activity and free up time to remain flexible in changing market conditions.

If you believe outsourcing is the right step for your small business, then check out some of our Top Tips for Selecting a Marketing Agency.

Read more:
When is it the Right Time to Ask for Help with your marketing?

Business process outsourcing has skyrocketed since covid, with 48% of companies now outsourcing their work.

Whilst saving time and resources, outsourcing your marketing is an effective way to pool real expertise, gain access to advanced marketing tools, minimise overhead and improve return on investment (ROI). With outsourcing, businesses can focus on core activity and provide services they could not before, far faster and more cost-effectively.

A recent survey conducted by Deloitte demonstrated that 65% of businesses said outsourcing helps them to prioritise key business functions whilst 63% mentioned that cost-cutting is a major benefit of outsourcing.

So, when is it the right time to outsource your marketing?

Successful marketing is about the long game of building credibility, strong relationships and brand profile. Whether producing consistent and engaging content, building user-friendly websites or raising your business’ awareness amongst target audiences, time, consideration and expertise are needed. If you have the time and capabilities yourself, that’s great but consider outsourcing your marketing if:

• Your current strategy isn’t producing results.
• You lack the right expertise and resources to deliver campaigns.
• You are looking to minimise overhead costs.
• You simply don’t have the time to keep up with the workload.
• Your brand has grown, and you need experts to implement a strategy that will keep the momentum of your business going.

Know Your Objectives

What are you looking to achieve? Are you looking to be at the top of google search? Is there a particular product you’d like to see more sales of? Or are you looking to build your reputation and raise awareness of your business or a particular service?

There is an assortment of marketing agencies out there. Some offer a 360, all-inclusive marketing approach whereas others are skill-specific and specialise in a marketing sector such as social media, advertising, copy writing, public relations, etc. Similarly, agencies may also be sector specific and offer core expertise in the likes of construction PR or social media for the hospitality sector.

Outlining your business needs and targets in this way is important when choosing an agency to help develop and implement the right strategy for you.

Be Clear on Budget

By knowing your budget and keeping a defined brief of your targets, marketing agencies can then propose how to allocate your investment and provide you with a strategy and tactics that suit. Be realistic with your budget and invest in a long-term strategy as rarely does a ‘short and sweet’ campaign achieve longer term goals.

Whilst you shouldn’t underestimate the cost of a successful campaign, keeping a defined brief will help keep your strategy focused on your core business targets without walking away with an over-ambitious campaign.

Who Will Be Doing the Work?

Your campaign will only be as good as the team delivering it. So, even though your agency may have worked with big-named clients, don’t just buy on agency reputation. Make sure your account manager is involved in the pitching process so you can better evaluate their experience and expertise. Don’t be afraid to ask them challenging questions to see whether they know their material or to check their LinkedIn profile to see their industry background.

Client-Agency Chemistry

The first question you should ask when selecting a marketing agency is can you see yourself working with these people?

Ultimately, people buy people and it’s important to make sure their values align with yours. Client-Agency chemistry is vital for ensuring effective communication and a well-executed marketing strategy.

When running a Request for Proposal (RFP) meeting, check whether the team are engaging with you rather than just pitching to you. This is also your time to prepare questions that will test the team’s relationship. How much do they know about your industry? Why have they chosen a particular approach? How well have they planned and considered the meeting?

Reviews and References

Once you’ve had an initial meeting with your selected marketing agency, it’s then a good idea to run background checks to substantiate their claims.

Using case studies available on their website is a useful primary tool, but make sure to ask for customer referrals and client testimonials too. Look into your agency’s portfolio and head onto social channels and websites they manage to see how well they are performing. Be sure to look at clients who work in a similar industry to yours. If their results are similar to your targets, then chances are, you are good to go.

Read more:
Top Tips for Selecting a Marketing Agency

The media landscape has undergone enormous and complex change over the last thirty years, with social media platforms rising in prominence often at the expense of more traditional media outlets.

As the platforms we use to communicate change, so should marketing activities and business priorities. There has been a shift away from traditional media with the circulation of paid for news in the UK dropping below 3 million for the first time, while UK consumer magazines also saw an 11% decline according to the latest ABC data.

Figures from Ofcom also show the growth of digital news consumption, with more than two thirds (68%) of UK adults consuming news via online sources. Social media is an important driver for this, with just under half (47%) of UK adults using these sources for news and opinion.

As audiences increasingly engage online, effective brand building exercises can be more complex as businesses need to plan campaigns across more channels and platforms than ever before.

Managing a multimedia presence

Between the emergence of LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, X and TikTok, social media has grown exponentially over the last two decades, making it challenging for SMEs to invest the right levels of time or resource into keeping current.

Research from SocialSprout suggests that social media is now the number one channel for businesses to connect and communicate with consumers. The medium provides the perfect opportunity to allow brands to invest in relationships with consumers and build customer loyalty. When customers feel connected to brands, more than half (57%) will increase their spending with that brand and 76% will buy from them over a competitor.

However, getting your content and messaging right is all important. Consumers want to learn more about the people behind their favourite brands and businesses. Seventy percent of consumers, for example, report feeling more connected when a brand’s CEO is active on social. Additionally, 72% of consumers report feeling similarly when employees share information about a brand online.

Don’t be too salesy

Social media is about relating to, and having relationships with customers regardless of whether your business is selling to a consumer or another business.  Messaging needs to be subtle, engaging and relevant to audiences when boosting brand visibility.

Social media users respond best to a balance of promotional and non-promotional content, the balance being 20% promotional and 80% non-promotional. Sharing articles that provide insight into your brand’s industry, leveraging relevant cultural moments and sharing experiences are all ways in which you can add value whilst avoiding being too product pushy.

Unlike conventional advertising, social media communication is a two-way street; consumers want to see brands that they can really engage with. Whether liking comments, responding to private messages, or starting polls will help customers feel seen and heard, enabling them to connect with your SME’s brand.

However, it is also essential to understand the role each platform plays in order to put your SME in front of the correct potential customer. Whilst it may be fun and fresh to maintain a presence on TikTok, consider who you are targeting and looking to engage with.

Influencers & third-party endorsements

Look to utilise your network, whether media, social or influencers (people who your customers relate to and who they would turn to for advice or suggestions). When a product or service is promoted by somebody else, the promotion no longer becomes a sales pitch but rather a credible recommendation that consumers find trustworthy.

Utilising influencers, customers, partners, and suppliers to promote your business will help customers justify the purchase whether in the form of case studies, reviews, endorsements, or social posts.

Declining attention spans

Attention spans have also scarily decreased. According to a study conducted by Microsoft, the average attention span of Gen Z individuals was only about eight seconds, four seconds less than that of millennials. With attention spans diminishing, information must be kept at the forefront of any article, post or video.

Similarly, TikTok, Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, have boosted the rise of bite-sized video content as an essential tool in disseminating information. In today’s advancing time equals money economy, it’s no surprise that video tutorials are trumping lengthy manuals.

Videos, as well as being a great source of entertainment are incredibly useful for spreading brand awareness and providing in-depth information. They provide an excellent opportunity to engage directly with customers, show your authority and share advice.  Consider a YouTube channel when promoting a good or service as ‘How to” ranks as the most common search term on YouTube.

Websites and winning the SEO algorithm

Websites remain an ideal opportunity to showcase a comprehensive view of your SME’s products or services. However, information such as when your SME was established or how many people work for you may not be what customers are searching for? Put key information up front, answer customers questions and solve their problems by showing authority and expertise in an area through quality, considered content.

Whilst the media can open the door to millions of potential customers and third-party endorsements, adding social media management to an already busy SME schedule can be daunting. Managing the media only works when done consistently and done well, so knowing when to outsource your marketing and communications to experts is essential for both optimising your time and making the most of your efforts.

Read more:
What the changing media landscape means for SMEs