Recently, sustainability has emerged as an important discussion topic in the business world. There has been a growing awareness amongst consumers regarding environmental issues and their preference is to support brands that tread towards sustainability. Due to this, companies are now seeking ways to include sustainability metrics in their marketing strategies. This not only contributes towards developing a positive brand image but also brings in environmentally conscious consumers.
Understanding Sustainability Metrics
Sustainability metrics refer to measures-a company’s quantified footprint on its environment, society, and economy. Some of the common metrics are carbon emissions, usage of water, waste generated, and social responsibility measures. Measured on these sustainability metrics, brands can thus evaluate the sustainable performance achieved and communicate their efforts to consumers.
According to the Nielsen survey, 66% of world’s consumers are ready to pay for the sustainability of brands. This point underlines the fact that sustainability has to be incorporated into all the marketing strategies. Brands that do not talk about sustainability will be left behind by the core business of the market.
Setting Sustainability Goals
Clearly, brands must develop SMART sustainability goals to ensure it becomes practicable to incorporate sustainability metrics into their strategies. The following should be considered while developing the above-posted goals: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. For instance, a company may choose to reduce its carbon footprint by 30% within five years or zero waste generated from its processes by 2030.
With clear targets, brands can monitor their progress and relay it to consumers as a headline of successes. Information is power; the consumer appreciates knowing the way towards sustainability, the successes and failures involved.
Engaging Customers Through Storytelling
This is how storytelling comes into marketing. A brand can tell its sustainability efforts in a much more interesting way through storytelling. From telling stories about how products were made, where materials for their products came from, or how sustainable practices benefit communities, this will create that emotional bond between brands and consumers.
For example, a clothing company can use narrative to talk about how recyclable materials go into the garment created. It would not just educate the consumer about what extent of commitment such a brand had towards sustainability but it would also incite the consumer to buy more responsibly. A research study showed that through storytelling, consumer engagement can be increased up to 300%. Hence, it has also emerged that it forms an integral strategy for the successful conveyance of sustainability messages.
Social Media Awareness
Social media offers many opportunities for brands to share their sustainability story. Such content that tells your sustainability metrics related to carbon savings or the impact on communities being benefited by the brand with whom the brand works, raises more awareness with your audience through stakeholder engagement. Complex sustainability data can also be easily understood in the form of infographics or video content.
To that end, brands can stimulate user-created content by urging clients to write experiences concerning their sustainable products. It promotes community engagement, aside from establishing trust between the organization and potential customers who may seek to purchase the product .
Collaborations with other Sustainable Organizations
Brands can take their sustainability credentials to the next level by association with more like-minded partners. A brand can, for instance, work with NGOs or other companies that support sustainability and share the same kind of values. A food company could partner with an organic farm operating within the local environment.
Such joint ventures may lead to mutual promotional activities that highlight the efforts of sustainability by each party. As the Harvard Business Review reports, socially active businesses via partnerships also see a strong increase in loyalty and credibility with the customer.
Measuring Impact and Reporting Progress
Measuring and reporting on the impact is crucial for including sustainability metrics in a company’s marketing strategies. Branded companies gather data on all the different sustainability indicators and track trends over time. Branded companies should issue yearly sustainability reports that depict their performance in the implementation of targets and the improvement of weaknesses.
In addition to holding a company accountable to its actions, these reports inform the consumer and therefore allow them to make informed decisions. Cone Communications conducted a study that reported that 87 percent of consumers would buy a product based on a brand’s advocacy for an issue they care about. Brands can establish trust and loyalty with their audience if consistent progress is made known through transparent reporting.
Designing Sustainable Products
Another way to add sustainability in the marketing process is through providing sustainable products. Companies can develop their products so that minimum negative environmental impacts emanate from sourcing raw materials, production and waste disposal.
Examples include companies using eco-friendly materials and energy-efficient manufacturing processes. How the company marketer markets these sustainable products also becomes crucial, especially in communication of benefits and how it meets its ultimate goal of fulfilling overall environmental goals.
Engaging Employees in Sustainability Programs
Employees are the backbone of any brand’s sustainability work. Involve employees in the sustainability work; let them feel like owners of the sustainability effort also. Encourage employees to participate in volunteer programs or sustainable workplace practices.
This leads to a situation in which the employees are able to become inherent brand ambassadors who will spread this outside. Such inner alignment, therefore, makes the brand message stronger and also gives the consumers a reason to believe in the credibility of the brand.
Conclusion
Sustainability metrics are no longer a choice but the need of brands to survive in this marketplace. By creating clear goals, reaching consumers through the mode of storytelling, social media, partnership with like-minded partners, frequent measuring of impact, sustainable production of a product, and employees with initiatives, the brand will surely be able to develop strong bonds with environmentally aware consumers.
Over time, the concern for sustainable practice has made many people non-stop demand brands that uphold it. These brands, therefore, would not only better their reputation but benefit the earth positively. Sustainability is not only good business; it is also necessary for the betterment of a future world for everybody.
