April the 22nd will mark the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. What began as a student protest movement in the United States is now the largest secular observance in the world. The annual event is a time to collectively contemplate the future of the planet and ask what we’re doing to help preserve it for future generations.
Going green is not a fad or a passing trend that will likely wane in relevance like Zumba or flared jeans. Changing how we live and do business is necessary for our survival as a species. The theme for this year’s Earth Day is Climate Action and the message couldn’t be clearer. The time for words and gestures is gone, it’s action and deeds we need now.
Being able to effectively demonstrate that your business has an environmental and social conscience is a vital way to remain competitive in today’s ruthless market. Only recently we saw school students in their thousands, taking to the streets around the world to demand action on climate change. Being able to successfully illustrate how you align with their values will help show that your business is more than just a ruthless profit seeking enterprise.
We’ve compiled a few strategies to help your business publicise its sustainability efforts to help gain you visibility and increase brand awareness.
Avoid “Greenwashing”
Make sure your business is truly making strides before you start singing your own praises.
For example, switching to reusable straws is a fabulous first step, but only a tokenistic gesture and not something to publicise. It is best not to make unsubstantiated claims and load your marketing material with buzzwords if you are not taking the right steps to reduce your company’s carbon footprint. In today’s politically and socially charged climate you’ll be called out faster than you can say Greta Thunberg.
Get into the nitty gritty
It’s important to set tangible targets that you can assess and measure. Patagonia, for example, long upheld as one of the most successful environmentally conscious brands, provides specific documentation on its practices to attest to their claims. Rather than making vague oblique statements like ‘we have invested in recyclable materials’ they devote a section of their website and numerous blog articles to addressing questions regarding their use of specific materials. They note that;
‘This fall, 69 percent of all Patagonia materials will be derived from recycled materials. Switching to recycled from virgin materials also means we’ve reduced our carbon footprint by 13,000 tons of CO2e.’
Having concrete data and the ability to validate your claims will be a huge boost to your credibility. If you plan to work with influencers or digital publications that niche in sustainability and ethical consumerism, they’re unlikely to take you seriously if you can’t prove you’ve made tangible strides.
Once you’ve collected data and can definitively showcase how much waste you’ve reduced, energy you’ve saved or plastic you’ve prevented from ending up in the ocean, you can create images, videos and infographics to clearly demonstrate these figures and publish these across your digital marketing material.
As time goes on you may want to consider, like Patagonia, devoting a whole page of your website to your sustainability efforts. Consider publishing annual or biannual sustainability reports and disseminate these to your email subscribers. If cost allows, you may even want to have an independent auditor verify your claims. This may seem like a lot of work for little gain but by positioning your business this way, a receptive audience can more easily identify you. Businesses that publicise their sustainability objectives are also more likely to gravitate towards suppliers that are aligned with their goals.
Innovative storytelling strategies
Writing impactfully, well researched and detailed blogs is a great way to get the word out about your sustainability efforts. Blogging is a great way to inform and educate your audience, improve your SEO and provide original content to share on social media. If you’ve installed solar panels, great! Now you have to tell your customers about it. Explain why you did so and how solar panels helped reduce your monthly utility bills. Explain how this aligns with your brand values and fits within the context of your overall sustainability plan and goals. If you’ve switched suppliers to one that better aligns with your own values, fabulous! Write a blog post introducing this new supplier and why you’ve chosen to work with them.
Reach out to influential blogging sites and offer to guest post for them, consider conducting interviews with leaders in the field and include a backlink to their site. This helps increase your SEO (i.e. how people find you on Google) and means your content is more likely to be shared, which means more eyeballs and more publicity for you, yay!
It’s important to check your domain metrics, make sure your website is easy to navigate and customers can locate content and share it with ease. Don’t be shy about sharing the same blog numerous times, although make sure there is at least a few days difference between your posts. And remember, blogging needs to be consistent and incorporated into your overall marketing strategy to be effective.
There are now loads of digital publications that work in promoting sustainable consumerism and lifestyle. Do your research and begin building a relationship with them. If you’ve made significant strides and have a list of contacts, pitch them a story or a press release about your latest green initiative and see if they bite.
Get Smart on Social Media
Identify your target audience and devise a way to reach them, whether this is through Facebook groups or podcasts, get creative and be open to alternative approaches.
Whether you choose to invest in paid advertising or want to keep to regular organic posts, it is vital that you keep track of your social metric performance to see what’s working and what isn’t, and be open to adjusting your social strategy accordingly.
Invest in the creation of strong Multimedia content. With new emerging digital platforms like TikTok, video is key. You may also want to consider hiring a videographer, photographer or creative agency to help produce high quality multimedia material.
Think about creating your own unique #hashtag about your sustainability efforts. Promote your hashtag by placing it in your printed collateral, post creative signs around your venue and use it consistently on your socials.
Social media marketing isn’t just about reaching as many eyeballs as possible; you want to identify and engage the right type of audience with your product and service. You may want to consider working with influencers, just make sure you do your research first. Creative agencies like us can put you in touch with reputable influencers that are aligned with your brand and values.
Don’t underestimate the power of word of mouth
A reference from a friend or someone you know and trust is still one of the most effective forms of marketing. To that end, it’s important to build an internal culture to show your genuine commitment to the planet.
Include your sustainability objectives as part of your culture when you’re onboarding and training staff. Practice what you preach and use eco-friendly office supplies and stationary, avoid single use plastic in the office or kitchen area and encourage the use of car pooling amongst staff. Talk to your suppliers about their own sustainability efforts and if they don’t align with your values it may be time to consider changing.
Use Print Promotional Material on site
Digital marketing is of course essential but one of the values of having a traditional brick and mortar establishment is the opportunity to make the most of your onsite advertising. If you choose not to use plastic straws or a single use items for that matter, create promotional materials to explain and draw attention to this fact like those featured below.
More resources available like the above here at https://operationstraw.org/
We here at CLS can create print and design assets to help promote your efforts. We also have printers who have recycled materials available for you to print on, and did you know if printing internally you can use vegetable ink?
The key take away is that if you’re going to do something in your business, go all in! Do your research, due diligence and don’t do something half arsed! Make smarter, better choices that will do more than just earn you brownie points or a little exposure, invest in innovative solutions and thoughtful responses. Caring about the ecological impact of your business activity is necessary to ensure the sustainability of our planet and that’s super fricking important!!
Know and love a business who are leading the way and doing great things in this space? Drop us a comment, so we can follow, share and love them too!
About Claire
Claire is one of the word wizards here at CLS and whips up content, copy, edits and is all across all things social media. She has a background in Journalism and Digital Marketing and is currently completing a Master’s Degree in International Relations with a Specialisation in Social Research. She loves puns, drinking wine and travel and is our “other” Claire here at CLS lol.
Edited by Erica Louise & Chrissy Symeonakis