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Home is Where the Heart Is: Corporate Community Involvement

Growth Hacking Community Outreach

Most businesses claim to be socially conscious, but what does it look like to really engage with your community? As stated by Felipe Millon, the GM and Regional of Amazon Prime Now, “Responding with speed [to the needs of your community] is something that will differentiate you in this market.” As the GM and Regional Leader of Amazon Prime Now, Millon explained the personal value of being involved in the greater Florida and local Miami community.

The impact and benefits of community involvement (CI) are often described in terms of the intangibles it yields: building relationships, establishing a positive reputation and assuming a sense of corporate responsibility. While these benefits alone demonstrate the value of a commitment to CI, studies have also indicated that it can also affect your bottom line. According to a study by Cone Communications and Echo Research, 82 percent of consumers consider corporate social responsibility when deciding which businesses they support and which products to buy.

With this being said developing a plan for CI is integral to attracting customers and creating a community invested in the success of your business. Ultimately, CI can be reduced to a few simple steps.

 

1. Defining who you consider being a part of your community. Is it specific to a city, region or state?

2. Observing the needs of your community

3. Utilizing your business to respond to those needs as quickly as possible

4. Measuring your impact and re-assessing community needs

 

Throughout his talk, Millon demonstrated how Amazon Prime Now serves as a prime example of this model in action. As a Regional Leader, Millon generally serves his native Miami area. Naturally, with hurricanes being a constant concern for Miami citizens Prime Now developed storm readiness packages. Prime Now even provided same-day delivery of bottled water, non-perishable foods and batteries at discounted rates to Amazon Prime Now members in preparation for Hurricane Matthew. As a result, Prime Now members sung their praises and recommended the service to others.

 

 

Similarly, in order to expand their community outreach to the greater Florida area.In conjunction with their mission to simply put people first, Prime Now provided a donation based system in which Prime Now members from all over the U.S.  could donate food items to blood banks and medical workers responding to the Pulse shooting in Orlando. So as you consider what corporate responsibility means to your business, consider how you can maximize your product or service to fill an existing need.

 

As always, we hope you continue to learn, act and build with the LAB Miami.