Archive | Trends RSS feed for this section

3 Tactics To Use Sustainability to Screw Your Competition

If you’re challenged by a boss, board or business partner who thinks sustainability is a luxury or a trend to revisit in three years, make the business case that doing environmental and social good means beating competitors. “It’s an imperative that your business start creating good, not just less harm,” says Seventh Generation co-founder Jeffrey […]

This Is What Customers Want to Know About Your Cause Marketing Partnership

It turns out customers are paying a lot of attention to the tizzy of cause marketing campaigns surrounding them. In fact, they are underwhelmed with information. Cone’s 2010 Nonprofit Marketing Trend Tracker shows yet another reason to report on your campaign or program results–because customers care.  Astoundingly, not even half of consumers think companies and nonprofits […]

Air Miles for Volunteering: Oxymoronic? Cause-washing? Genius!

In my view American Express should get a handshake for its new initiative, but many think a slap on the wrist is more deserving.  American Express is offering 500 points to members of its rewards program for every hour they volunteer. The program is capped at 10,000 points or 20 hours per year and volunteers must choose […]

Altruism May Be a Company’s Best Bet to Keep Customers Coming

If you give me an easy opportunity to do something good when I’m buying your product or even after I’ve taken it home, I’ll think better of you and I’ll likely share my positive feeling with the next person I come in contact with.  I like to do good things. If your store gives me the […]

The Mission is Greater than the Business: How to Tap the Power of the Gort Cloud–with Richard Seireeni

If your company doesn’t have the money (or inclination) for traditional marketing you can join the ranks of companies like Seventh Generation, Tesla Motors and Stonyfield Farm in the Gort Cloud. ‘The Gort Cloud’ is Richard Seireeni’s term for the invisible force powering today’s most visible green brands, as well as the title of his book, […]

How Trust Can Boost Profits, Particularly For Social Enterprises

We know that transparency is a strong indicator of a company’s social mission. Turns out, it’s also good for business. Recently, transparency has been shown to be a significant driver of ultimate financial performance. The thread between transparency and profit is trust. By opening up internal operations, successes and failures to the public and to employees, we demonstrate transparency […]

Why 84 Corporations Want More Rules to Follow

Last week 84 CEOs came together to write a letter pressing for more regulation in their own sector and sent it off to President Obama and the 535 members of Congress.  They asked for extensive climate and energy legislation to increase energy independence, decrease carbon emissions, create a new sector of jobs and encourage innovation. […]

13 Benefits You Can Count on if You’re a Company with a Social Mission

Most people think that a social mission* is a money drain on a business.  Conversely, I’ve found that it helps a company grow. Here are 13 ways that your business can profit from integrating a social mission. People will talk: consumers, competitors, investors, suppliers and the press. Employee morale goes up.  People like to work for […]

You’re Shopping Anyway–How to Make Your Purchase Count 3 Times

What a difference 10% makes when it’s extracted from $460 billion.  The latter figure is what Americans spent on holiday shopping last year despite a rapidly eroding economy and forewarned doldrums ahead.  It’s been said before, but it’s worth another step to the soapbox:  What if we choose to buy only merchandise that has a social […]

How a Social Mission Helps Your Company (Part 1): Creating a Brand that Consumers Take Personally

This is part of an ongoing series dissecting the benefits of adopting a social mission in business and highlighting companies who are doing it well. One of the immediate benefits of leading a company with a strong social mission is that if you can communicate your product message clearly, your customers will become evangelists for […]