The Do's and Don'ts of Green Marketing

The number one rule of green marketing: avoid greenwashing at all costs. But how do you do that? How do you navigate green branding without falling into the traps of greenwashing and clichéd narratives? More so, how do you turn your sustainability communication into a business-driving advantage? Here's a comprehensive guide for the do's and don'ts of Green marketing.

1. Don't Start without a Sustainability Strategy

You can't talk about something that doesn't exist... If your company doesn't have a sustainability strategy yet, it might be too early to talk about sustainability to the public. This is a good time to bring CSR managers and the marketing department together to see where things are.

Instead, Translate the sustainability strategy into a green marketing strategy

Basing your green marketing strategy on your company's sustainability strategy is a solid foundation for compliant and credible communication. Most sustainability strategies are based on Double Materiality or other ESG assessments. These assessments show the most significant impacts of the company on people, planet, and profit. As a marketing manager, translate the various stakeholders of your company into target groups and identify the most important sustainability issues for each group. Define communication goals for each target group: What do they need to know about your company's sustainable efforts? How do your company's sustainable efforts matter to your target groups?

Below you see various aspects of sustainability. Your company's sustainability strategies might include some of these aspects and more. In marketing, however, throwing more than one message at your audience is like throwing more than one ball at a time - probably they won't catch any. Create topic clusters for each target group to break down sustainability into easy-to-catch content.

2. Don't Forget Your Employer Brand

Up to 50 % of people in the United States and Europe would not take a job at a company that doesn't align with their environmental values. If your company has a solid sustainability strategy, don't keep this topic away from the HR department. Just as sustainability can give a competitive edge in the product market, it can also give your company an advantage in the labor market.

Instead, Talk to potential candidates about sustainability

A well-rounded green marketing strategy considers both customers and potential employees. Future candidates will care about their own role in your company's sustainable change, the social responsibility your company shows towards its personnel, and the governance and organizational structure of the sustainability management. Most importantly, they want to see how they will make a difference by working for your company.

3. Don't Rely on Complex Jargon

What do Net-Zero, Circular Economy, and carbon offset have in common? They are all complicated terms that the average person probably won't understand. Sustainability is a complex topic and it is our job as communication experts to make information accessible.

Instead, Keep It Simple And Engaging

Try to avoid jargon - especially in short-form content like Social Media posts. If the medium allows it, explain any terminology in a down-to-earth language. Marketing and branding are all about conveying a message, engaging the audience, and evoking emotions. Green Marketing is not an exception. After all, the sustainable transformation will get a lot more supporters if we lower the threshold to participate.

4. Don't Neglect Internal Communication

Your employees are the backbone of your sustainability efforts. What makes your company more sustainable are the employees who now purchase more sustainable materials, who make the ESG certificate happen, or who buy eco-friendly decorations for the yearly party. As a marketing or communication manager, don't overlook all these hands who make sustainable change happen on a daily basis.

Instead, make sustainability part of your internal communication

Truth is, we need a long breath for sustainable change. And adding another thing to everyone's workload can reduce motivation. Keeping employees in the loop and celebrating achievements is a great contribution to the overall morale. Plus, you can test green content on the intranet and get feedback before posting on social media.

5. Don't Overemphasize Minor Initiatives

While it is great that the accounting department has adopted bee hives or planted wildflowers these stories don't show how your company is changing at the core. A sustainable future relies on big changes in our economy and society. While individual activities can make for a great story, minor initiatives shouldn't get more space than the transformations in the core of your business.

Instead, Focus on the Big Picture

Systemic sustainable change will not happen because some of your employees discovered their passion for beekeeping. Sustainable transformation is about changing the materials, the manufacturing process, the suppliers, the skill sets, and mindsets. Talk about that!

6. Don't Lose Your Brand's Unique Personality

If I had a Dollar for every time I read the sentence sustainability is a journey... Having a sustainable product used to be enough to set your brand apart. With more and more companies going green, many brands are losing their unique personality. Your marketing department has worked so hard to create a unique brand, please don't paint it all green now!

Instead, Integrate Sustainability Into Your Brand

Find your company's unique narrative regarding sustainability. This toolkit for climate storytelling by the change agency Futerra gives great inspiration for sustainable storylines we haven't heard yet. Yes, sustainability is a journey but maybe your marketing department finds a more original way to tell your brand's story.

And instead of switching your color palette to leaf-green and eco-brown, stay true to your brand colors. Just because packaging is recyclable, doesn't mean it needs to look like it. You can also add new colors to your existing color palette to incorporate sustainability into your brand messages - but make sure the new colors work well with the old ones.

Do you work with archetypes? The green archetypes will help you craft an engaging sustainability story that fits your brand's personality. Click through my slideshow about green archetypes here.

Bonus Tip: Optimize for SEO

Looking into my crystal ball, I can see that more and more people will type in your brand's name + sustainability in various search engines. Maybe you are already getting traffic through these keywords? It is never too early to optimize for SEO if you know there will be an interest in the future. Create a dedicated landing page for your sustainability efforts so people can easily find your reports, press releases, and social media posts.

Would you like to talk about your Green Marketing strategy? Or maybe you need help creating engaging content that is unique to your brand while also driving business results? Contact me and let's have a chat!

Note: This blog post was first published on my website greenmarketing.space