Corporate Eye

...compare, compete, excel

Archives for February 2008

Spin, Fads and Taxes: CSR in the 21st Century

Is corporate social responsibility really just spin, an expensive corporate fad and a tax on shareholders’ profits?

Sonia at Remarkable Communication recently wrote a helpful article about corporate social responsibility (CSR) for small business – how small businesses should set up and use a CSR programme. As she says, what works for giant companies will work for small lean businesses too.

But she raises some interesting questions:

1. Sonia refers to CSR as 90% spin, and as a corporate fad.

CSR has been around for a long time, just under a different name. Probably ‘philanthropy’ would have covered it back in the 18th/19th centuries …
[Read more…] about Spin, Fads and Taxes: CSR in the 21st Century

5 ways to market your company on YouTube

Have you visited YouTube recently?

No, I don’t usually have time either, but I have identified five different examples of using YouTube as a marketing tool for you. Each of these is a slightly different approach to marketing the company to potential recruits.

1. Classic talking heads: executives and experts

The first example are the videos placed by companies to discuss issues related to their industries.

For example, BDO Stoy Hayward have added a series of videos discussing retail issues such as the ethical agenda, and the resurgence of the High Street. These are a way of conveying the expertise of the organisation, and are a long way from the singing guinea-pigs or roller skaters racing against cars for which YouTube is well-known. But is YouTube the right place for this kind of video?
[Read more…] about 5 ways to market your company on YouTube

2 share price trackers – and more

Reckitt Benckiser Share Tracker

Unicredit Desktop Intraday

Unicredit Desktop Press Releases

Unicredit Desktop Events

What tool could you offer your visitors that is of benefit to both of you?

I’ve known about the Reckitt Benckiser share price tracker for a while … it opens in a tiny new window from the Reckitt Benckiser site, and it monitors the Reckitt Benckiser share price for you until you close the window.

Unicredit have gone one better. Yes, their Desktop will track the share price for you. It will do this in real time, providing you with an intraday chart. Iit will also act as a feed reader for whichever Unicredit feeds you’ve signed up to, show you the company’s event calendar, and provide you with their latest press releases. It is completely independent of the website, so you don’t need to open your browser to get the information – definitely a timesaver.

And more: you can add up to 10 external feeds to the reader, which makes it even more useful. After all, you don’t want a desktop widget for each company in which you have an interest. My only quibble is that 10 external feeds aren’t very many, and probably wouldn’t be enough to replace the average feed reader (I have over 100 in my feed reader, which is way too many) but it is certainly better than nothing.

Unicredit definitely merit a round of applause for this little tool.

Signing the web

Is your site truly accessible? Are you providing the best possible service to all your visitors?

I expect you’ve taken the first step, and perhaps your site is accessible to level A (or even AA). But have you considered taking the extra step, and providing accessible charting in your investor section, transcripts for all your video or audio sections on site, or providing a sign language translation for your webcasts and videos?

There are up to 70,000 users of British Sign Language (BSL) in the UK, and up to 500,000 users of American Sign Language (ASL) in the US. This is a big constituency which you should perhaps be considering.
[Read more…] about Signing the web