How Grainger Put CSR into B2B Marketing
Since “We Are the World” rocked the 80′s with compassionate activism, businesses have infused brands with corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. Think of Target, Starbucks and Whole Foods.
Yet few CSR examples exist among brands that sell business-to-business, which is why Grainger earned a case study in the pages of the Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications: “This B-to-B company has developed a sophisticated CSR program that integrates its communication efforts to tell a compelling story about how it is helping society as well as its shareholders. How an industrial distributor took this journey, with all its complexity and rewards, is innovative.”
In the case study, Laura Coy, the senior corporate social responsibility manager at Grainger revealed how the savvy company tackled the complexities of CSR as part of global brand building.
Step One: Who?
“The first step in developing the CSR platform was to build an internal cross-functional working group to represent Grainger’s CSR focus areas and to begin pulling the story together,” Coy wrote. After forming, the working group identified five stakeholder audiences to engage in the CSR initiative: employees, investors, customers, suppliers and society.
Step Two: What?
Grainger supports two philanthropic focus areas: emergency preparedness and response and technical education. “Both areas are relevant to the core business, complementary of the capabilities and reflective in the local communities where employees and customers live and work,” Coy explained.
Step Three: Why?
The working group articulated the expectations of the company’s major stakeholders and scoped out the implications and opportunities of embracing CSR from their perspectives.
Step Four: How?
The working group then aligned Grainger’s CSR priorities with the business and determined four key areas: people, cost and profit, quality, and delivery. Each area aligned with the company’s larger priorities and plan.
“Combining all the components of CSR was a fascinating journey. One big rule of thumb in telling the CSR story is that it must be authentic,” Coy cautioned. “CSR is broad and exciting, but at the end of the day, it has to be realistic and reflect the brand and value system of the business.”
