Mark J Herlan says counting on CSR to build your business could have huge drawbacks to your bottom line

Recent news changes the mind of Mark J Herlan, Owner of The Examiner. The main role of corporations, as outlined in this article from Ehow.com on CSR, is to create financial gain. Fine tuning your corporate ethos to focus anything other than this can be a risky venture.

CSR is a noble concept on where the company would take responsibility for its effects not only on the environment but also on social welfare. It is a sort of citizenship for corporations in where the corporations do things that would not provide an immediate financial benefit but promote change that is positive within society and the environment.

The main disadvantage to CSR is that everyone needs to be doing it in order for any sort of equality to exist. If Company A is investing resources into CSR activities while Company B is not then Company B will have an unfair advantage over Company A as it will be able to put more resources towards its core business.

Often, people will confuse CSR with “Paying it Forward” which is more of someone does a favor for someone else and later on down the line they have an opportunity to do a favor for another person and so on and so forth. CSR is an ethical position taken by a company in where they recognize the impact they have and take steps to address this.

In the next 5 years, experts say that almost 20% of marketing budgets will be dedicated to social media

Recent studies have made Mark J. Herlan, CEO of ENPOL, change how he thinks about social media. One such survey from Duke University, The CMO Survey, cmosurvey.org, shows that currently about 6% of marketing dollars are spent on social media but that number will triple over the next five years. At one time, having a strong reputation was enough to guarantee steady revenue but it is no longer that simple. A successful business can not afford to seem aloof or unreachable; it must have a public face. It needs someone that the clients feel that they can connect with and trust, which is why so many companies are embracing social media sites like Twitter and Facebook.
These sites can act as:

•     A forum for customers to ask question and voice concerns
•     An easy way to get quick feedback about new services and products
•     A low cost way to learn about the needs of your target audience
•     A way to build trust with your clients

“Social media can help your clients to see behind the curtain and into the inner workings of your company," said Mark J. Herlan, “The more comfortable that they become with you and your business, the more they feel that they can trust your product and services.”
Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social networking sites have proved to be valuable business tools because they promote interaction between a business and its customer base. One of the biggest benefits to this type of marketing is its low startup cost. While setting up an account for most of these sites is free it may pay to have a professional manage this time consuming side of your online presence. Pure Web, an Atlanta based web services company, is a capable partner for this type of work. Visit their website: purewd.com.
About Mark Herlan:
Mark is the CEO of ENPOL, which is a well known supplier of engineering grade resins. ENPOL may be based in Atlanta, GA but they do business across the globe. Mark has always been involved in various charitable organizations and he has recently made an endowment to the University at Buffalo that will help financially challenged students with their tuition. If you would like to learn more about Mark Herlan, you can visit his website at markjherlan.com.

Social Media Matters!

Just some brief statistics from Facebook. 

• More than 750 million active users
• 50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day
• Average user has 130 friends
• People spend over 700 billion minutes per month on Facebook

Basically what it all means is that Facebook, like other social networks, have extremely active users.  Getting a profile on one of these sites for yourself or your business can be an important step in building connections with the public.

Getting started is easy, and best of all most social networks are free to use.  It does take a significant time investment to keep your profile or profiles up to date and some companies actually hire this segment of their image out to pros.

In today's market I would say it is vital that you have a profile on at least one social network.

In the news

University at Buffalo Students are about to Receive a Helping Hand from Mark J. Herlan, CEO of ENPOL

Mark J. Herlan, CEO of ENPOL, recently created the Enpol Student Assistance Fund to give financial assistance to students in the Buffalo area

“We know that many students are suffering from financial hardships”

Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) August 12, 2011 

The Enpol Student Assistance Fund was created specifically for students of the University at Buffalo that are from the Buffalo/ New York area. Mr. Herlan has made a commitment to endow the fund with fourteen thousand dollars every year for three years. These funds will be available fall quarter of 2011, for use by the College of Arts & Sciences but the assistance does not stop there. If possible, Mr. Herlan and others from Enpol want to take an active role in the selection process for the candidates. They hope that by having a personal connection with the students, a mentoring relationship may form and in the future the student would remember the help that they were given and pass it down to future generations.
“We know that many students are suffering from financial hardships” said Mark Herlan, “So we do not want to base our selection on that alone. We want to find students that are working their way through school as we did and just need a little extra help to get over the hump.”
It is difficult to base the selection of a candidate on financial need, especially in our economy. Because there are so many people that need assistance, other criteria must be found to identify the most deserving recipients. Mr. Herlan feels that students who are working their way through school have a better chance of success in the business world because they possess the dedication and perseverance to push through the tough times and achieve their goals.


About ENPOL:
ENPOL is an Atlanta, Georgia based company but over the years their steadfast commitment to precision and quality has made them known throughout the world as a supplier of engineering grade resins. All engineering grade resins produced by ENPOL must pass an in depth ISO and ASTM resin property certification and assessment before they are allowed to ship to clients either overseas or domestically. ENPOL is one of the few companies offering complete extrusion capabilities with color, glass and mineral fills. The experts at ENPOL pride themselves on customer service and they make themselves available for technical support twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. To learn more about their products and services, visit the website at http://www.enpol.com.

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/8/prweb8710778.htm