The ever-changing Landscape

It has become widely accepted that investing in corporate social responsibility (CSR) makes good business sense. A study by Accenture found that 78 percent of executives see social responsibility as vital to the future growth of their business, and corroborating statistics abound. Whether companies view CSR as risk mitigation or value creation, it is easy to argue that doing more good is better for business, or at the very least does no harm. However, a study published by Michael Barnett (Rutgers) and Robert Salomon (NYU) debunks this logic with data that show that doing more good can actually do harm for some companies.

With the buzz around social media and the opportunities it provides to reach and interact with customers, it’s easy to lose sight of seemingly old-fashioned marketing tactics. However, those tried and true practices can still provide unique benefit, particularly for reaching business customers. Take direct mail, for instance. You’ve probably noticed that you get less mail than you used to. This is no different for your business customers. One estimate is that the average businessperson receives personal mail only once every seven weeks, while they receive in excess of one hundred emails a day.

Having a clearly defined target customer is critical to making your business successful. It can inform all aspects of your marketing, including product and packaging innovation, communications, channel management, pricing, and promotions, and ensure that your marketing is effective and efficient. But, many businesses (small and large) approach customer targeting as an afterthought. They wrongly assume they can (or should) appeal to everyone or think about targeting only in terms of basic attributes like demographics. Defining a customer target does not have to be a complicated nor expensive process.