If you live in the village, you would know it’s a small world. Stories spread far and wide, it doesn’t matter if they’re false or facts. You would be surprised what people have heard or say about you. I would know, I am from a small village down in the coastal region, and despite not having spent most of my life there, the stories I have heard about me, let’s just say, I too would take a seat and enjoy the story session.

My grandfather used to say “make a name for yourself, for people shall remember you by it.’ Now I know he did not mean to be a celebrity, he meant that good deeds live on in people. I may not have done much for my fellow villagers but every once in a while, I meet someone appreciative of my small acts of kindness like giving their children study books after I graduate or helping their kids pick on a good career path after high school. I know, it seems like such a small thing to do but these parents or kids will remember me for it. Good deeds leverage humans’ need for emotional connections.

Sometimes you wonder why it’s so easy to remember things like the little dress your uncle bought you when you were 5 years old, yet you opt to forget the beating your mother gave you for stealing sugar. Good memories build into a good reputation that lingers longer. And just like one’s reputation, companies ought to build on their name, not through the products or services they offer but through the memories their customers bear of them. It’s easy to remember the attitude of a bank teller from a specific bank as opposed to the transaction I had gone to do.

The constant acts of positive social engagements with your customers’ appeal to their sense of community and subsequent behavioral loyalty. As Henry Ford said, you can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do. You have to do it, engage with your customers emotionally, and watch them build an attachment with your brand. Corporate Social Responsibility as a marketing concept has proved to be very successful.

Organizations engage in CSR to build on the story that they have similar community values with their customers. Brands are created in people’s minds, their perception of who you are as a company. Just like people, companies that leverage human emotions and actively try to bear a positive impact on the community gain attitudinal attachment and loyalty from their customers.