Welcome to this edition of B2B Marketing at its Core, an industry newsletter with news, nuggets, and information on best practices in business-to-business marketing. With it, we hope to share information vital to any organization looking to generate revenue and accelerate growth through intelligent strategy, messaging, branding, public relations, and demand generation.


Recently we spoke with Brooks Robinson, CMO of Cbeyond, an Arketi client, about the importance of community relations and how Cbeyond launched its program, Cbeyond Community Connections™. Cbeyond, an IP-based managed services provider, developed a community relations program to help the company and its employees connect with and serve the community, while fostering personal growth. Brooks explained what it takes to create a great community relations program, how to keep it running successfully, and the benefits for both community and company. In recognition for its outstanding work, Cbeyond received a 2007 gold-level Presidential Volunteer Service Award. Below are a number of suggestions culled from our interview with Brooks.

It Starts at the Top… 
Giving back to the community needs to be a part of the corporate culture and championed top down. To make that happen, the core company leadership needs to dedicate itself to the program. It is their responsibility to create a culture of volunteerism and show employees and the community that corporate citizenship is a company priority. 

Company policies that make it easy for employees to give back to the community remove many restrictions stopping them from volunteering. For instance, consider providing employees with a specific amount of paid leave each year to volunteer, or partner with a volunteer organization to coordinate a company-wide day or half-day of volunteering. 

…And Relies on Employees… 
Make it a practice to hire employees who have a record of volunteering in their community. Their dedication to the community will likely carry over to the company. You may discover that their passion ignites the passion of others in the company, making them catalysts for successful company community initiatives. 

Likewise, a company that believes strongly in giving back to the community will attract people with similar beliefs. Often employees who are passionate about volunteering are attracted to an employer for these very reasons. 

In the end, the success of a program is based on employees who are passionate about giving back to the community. Without their time and willingness to help out the community, the program cannot work. 

…to Keep the Program Growing 
It is important to maintain the community relations program through business growth. Often as the number of employees continues growing, the time and energy diverted to the community relations program operations remains the same or dries up. The first step is to maintain that culture of giving. 

• Formalize the program so it is easier for larger numbers of employees to participate.
• Plan company-wide organized volunteer days or half-days in which the employees are paid for their time.
• Partner with a volunteering organization like the United Way or Hands On Network that can help organize events.
• Encourage employees to volunteer outside of work.
• Never lose the passion for giving back to the communities.

Sincerely,

Arketi Group
core@arketi.com  

PS. See what we have done for Advectis, now Xerox Mortgage Services.

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