Win More Business

Marc Joseph, CEO and president of online wholesale distributor DollarDays International, is big on giving back.

Here’s proof: the Scottsdale, Arizona-based company has a popular, socially responsible “5% Give Back Program” in which DollarDays gives 5 percent of customers’ purchases to their favorite schools, nonprofits, charities and other organizations. It’s a big win-win: customers who want to make a difference have a greater incentive to buy.

Through DollarDays’ Facebook page, which has more than 247,000 followers, the company also shares news about donations it makes to organizations that need help.

Joseph believes the company’s culture helps it stand out from the competition, and has helped DollarDays become one of the three finalists for the Internet Retailer Excellence Award: B2B E-Commerce Marketer of the Year.

“We are a small business and the other two companies are huge,” Joseph says. “You have little DollarDays in the same sentence as these giants.”

A company’s culture can be a powerful marketing tool. People want to work for and do business with like-minded folks.

“When your culture is well-defined, it is a competitive advantage for your company, and if properly promoted, can be enticing to customers,” says Brian Gatti, partner and chief marketing officer at Inspire Business Concepts, a digital marketing company based in Phoenix.

The right vibe sets the tone for creativity and productivity. Happy employees are engaged, and that shines through to customers and potential customers. If you’re ready to let your company’s culture be your business’s greatest champion, consider taking the following steps.

Create an environment employees will buy into. Kyle Willis is the founder of N2Q Consulting, a creative marketing agency in Seattle. He competes with the likes of Amazon and Microsoft for graphic designers, Web developers and other talent. “I try to make our culture the key to attract applicants,” he says. “We don’t have a 9-to-5 schedule, or make you drive to the office every day. I believe our staff is more productive when they work in an environment they want to be in.” Willis shares photos of employees working from home, coffee shops and even at the airport on N2Q’s social media pages. He uses the company’s careers page to describe the perks of working at the agency. Willis also has monthly events outside the office for pleasure and collaboration. N2Q’s team recently played mini golf and went to a brewery.

When he’s ready to hire staff, the candidate’s first interview is at the office, the second at a coffee shop near the applicant’s house to get them comfortable with the idea of having freedom to work where they choose. The last step is an invite to one of the company’s monthly events to meet the team.

Let your employees be your ambassadors. Willis looks to his staff to spread the word about the company culture. “We ask our team to take photos of the events and share them through their own Instagram, Snapchat, and Facebook pages,” he explains. “We also post on our channels, photos and captions of these events. When we’re hiring, we tag these photos #whyworkatN2Q so prospective hires can see that we both work hard and play hard.”

Get comfortable sharing achievements. Deborah Sweeney, CEO of MyCorporation, a Calabasas, California-based provider of online document filing services, doesn’t mind bragging. Partners, customers, and potential employees see their successes touted on the company’s blog, Twitter feeds and Facebook pages. “People enjoy working with companies that are thriving and successful,” Sweeney says. “They know we are doing something right and this is a great way to market our company.”

Every company has a culture. By highlighting the most appealing parts of your business’s environment, you give employees — and customers — something bigger to be a part of.