CMOs Guide to Brand Positioning on Social Justice Issues

CMOs 3-Step Guide to Brand Positioning on Social
Justice Issues

Articulate Your Brand's Position on Social Justice Issues

Social justice issues are gaining attention from both the C-suite and consumers.

In fact, around half of consumers expect businesses to take a stand on social justice issues, according to Gartner consumer sentiment data. It often falls to the CMO to articulate their brand’s position.

There are 3 steps CMOs can take to identify the social issues for which their brand has a genuine and articulate affinity and establish a coherent brand position around them that avoids damaging reputation or customer loyalty including:

Evaluate the organization’s actions on relevant issues
Decide on the brand’s social justice identity
Research consumer opinions and expectations on key issues

Uncover the 3 Steps to Brand Positioning

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FAQs on Brand Positioning

What is Social Justice Marketing?

In response to expectations from consumers and stakeholders, CMOs are now considering their role and the impact of corporate social justice initiatives. While not universally defined, corporate social justice encompasses the organizational values, attitudes and behaviors that contribute to the fair and equitable treatment of all stakeholders within and outside the organization. Knowing your social justice identity can help determine how much to integrate social justice issues into your marketing and branding.

Why is Brand Positioning Important?

CMOs are well-accustomed to defining and discussing brand mission, vision and values, and, increasingly, are spending more time wrestling with how their organization will engage and communicate brand purpose and culture. On sensitive issues of social justice, CMOs must start by clearly defining or recognizing where the company stands so they can protect their brand and guide employees’ actions. Beginning with crystal clarity of the brand’s position on contentious issues is the foundational step toward development of your marketing social justice strategy.

What can CMOs do to ensure near- and long-term relevance of their brand positioning and identity?

As part of their evaluation of where the brand stands, CMOs should partner with the rest of the C-suite to answer three main questions: What do we stand for? What do we plan to do? How do we plan to achieve our social justice goals? The answers will help define an organization’s commitment, internal strategy and methods to ensure accountability on contentious social and political issues.

CMOs 3-Step Guide to Brand Positioning on SocialJustice Issues