As technology advances communication and makes it easier than ever to share and hear stories from around the world, we are becoming increasingly aware of our global community and our individual roles within it. This understanding has contributed to a movement of corporations implementing practices that will not only benefit their customers and their bottom line, but will also help the planet and humanity at large. Enacting socially aware and thoughtful policies has become the standard for businesses, and you can recognize these policies in the mainstream by the name “Corporate Social Responsibility” (CSR) or Corporate Impact Strategy.
What is Corporate Impact?
CSR or Corporate Impact Strategies are implemented to ensure that all aspects of a business’ operations – from their internal relationships with suppliers and their dynamic with their consumers to their external influence on their communities and the environment – have a positive social impact. Also called “Corporate Social Responsibility,” these efforts consider how a corporation is affecting the environment, the community, and the globe, and determine how a corporation can improve systemic issues rather than contribute to them while still fulfilling their mission.
Much of this impact can occur in non-financial ways, such as by restructuring policies and mission statements, while other efforts do require deprioritizing profit to replace practices with more sustainable, conscious methods.
People are more interested in working for and giving their business to companies that are doing good in the world, so there is an incentive to implement CSR strategies into your business beyond wanting to make the world a better place.
How to Share Your Corporate Impact
Determining how your business will make a positive impact and implementing those changes into your operations is an important part of executing your CSR Strategy – but communicating your Corporate Impact to your employees, customers, and community is just as essential.
Corporate Impact can’t always be measured in numbers, percentages, and data tables, and even when it can be, most people are not going to respond to emotional messages hidden in numbers and figures.
Communicating your Corporate Impact in a structured, authentic way without sacrificing the emotional, inspirational quality of your message calls for storytelling. Your business is creating serious positive change in the world, improving the lives of real people. Why not let these people tell your audience directly how your Corporate Impact Strategies have changed their lives?
Podcasting is a great way to let your Corporate Impact speak for itself, literally. Interviewing people who you have helped will convey the real and emotional impact your business is having, and letting someone else praise your company and share the positive changes your business is making in the world is much more compelling than any email blast or ad campaign.
A podcast can also create an intimate connection between your audience and your leadership by having executives host your podcast, acquainting your audience with the leadership in your business and thus giving them an intimate, human connection to your company. With an inherent structure created over the course of a season, podcasting also empowers you to control the over-arching narrative of your Corporate Impact. Because podcasts consist of many episodes and multiple seasons, you’re also showing your audience that your Corporate Impact is an ongoing effort, and not just a one-time thing for good PR.
In the modern business environment, corporations are expected to prioritize people and the collective in addition to profit, and podcasts are a uniquely effective way to communicate these strategies and updates regarding your Corporate Impact to your consumers and employees.
As a full-service podcast production suite in Austin, Texas, founding_media develops, produces, edits, and distributes corporate podcasts for businesses across the country. Reach out at [email protected] for more information, and learn how we can help you deliver your corporation’s most important messages.
