The power of sustainable branding
What is sustainable branding?
Looking beyond making a profit, a sustainable brand, and in turn sustainable branding itself, views values such as environmental impact and ethical supply chains as equally important in business. It taps into the environmental and social activism of the 21st century to help improve brand perception and increase brand value. In the pursuit of a broader, corporate social responsibility goal, many companies turn towards sustainable branding and strategies to help them attract customers and uphold ethical core values. From creating vehicles that run on renewable energy to developing a clothing brand that offers wardrobe staples made from recycled, fairly traded, environmentally conscious materials, the possibilities are endless.
Why is it important to have a sustainable brand?
A brand helps you to connect your business to your customers. It’s how they view your company, your values and importantly, it’s how you differentiate your business from your competitors. From your company name and logo to your mission statement and ethos, your brand is what people buy into rather than the product or service you offer. With sustainability issues such as climate change and economic justice at the forefront of the minds of many consumers, especially millennials and Gen Z, it’s no surprise that sustainable branding is growing in importance.
In today’s digitally enhanced world, consumers are much more aware (thanks to the likes of social media) of what brands are doing and they are happy to punish those that do not align with their own values. As a result, many brands are driven to become more sustainable in everything that they do, from sourcing eco-friendly materials and paying fair wages to recycling materials and reducing waste.
The benefits of sustainable branding
Sustainable branding brings a whole host of benefits to both companies and consumers. While the benefits to the environment and social causes are significant, from reducing waste to lowering carbon emissions, there are also more immediate, tangible benefits that a green approach to branding can bring to your business.
1. Brand desirability →
What makes you different from your competitors? With so many similar competitors within a marketplace or an industry, you need to do something truly unique to enrich you brand and make your products and services more desirable. What’s going to really make you stand out in your market? Sustainable brand and marketing (as well as green initiatives) are a fantastic way to attract more customers – especially millennials – to your brand and business.
2. Brand visibility →
On the high street and online, many industries are cluttered with hundreds of brands all trying to compete together for the same market share. With everyone constantly pushing their own marketing messages, it can be hard to stand and truly grab someone’s attention. Sustainable branding is the best way to show potential customers what your values are. You can successfully reinforce this over time to your prospects and customers through typical channels such as newsletters, email, social media and through your own specific green initiatives and sustainable projects.
3. Brand loyalty →
Focusing on sustainability means that you will naturally have a greater chance of building a loyal and loving customer base. However, that doesn’t meant that you should pick any old cause to support – you must show to your customers that you are genuinely committed (you could even run customer poll for them to decide which cause matters to them the most). Only you can decide what cause makes sense for your brand. Sit down and think about what you stand for and how your business can contribute to building a more sustainable world.
Sustainability goals need to be specific and tangible. You need to be able to connect the dots for your customers and show how your products and services relate to your wider goals – why champion renewable energy if you don’t use it yourself? Thinking in this way means that you will be able to create a more authentic story in the minds of your customers.
How to build sustainability into your brand
Once you’ve outlined what you stand for, you can work on building a brand narrative that makes sense, from this you can build your brand image. This will help to reinforce your sustainable identity throughout every interaction that you have with your customers. If you claim to be a sustainable business, but you use non-recyclable materials in your packaging – your ‘pledge’ to save the environment will fall on deaf ears. To really be successful, you need to think about every single process and supply chain within your business to make sure they align to your specific sustainability goals. Once this is complete, you can incorporate your green credentials into your branding strategy including a variety of avenues such as online, in store and even on the products themselves.
Be transparent with your sustainable branding and brand strategy. The best policy is honesty and so be open with your customers about where you source your sustainable materials and how you’re matching up you sustainable marketing with tangible business practices. As an example, a clothing brand could list online where they get all their materials to prove that they are offering a truly sustainable fashion option.
Remember to keep your advertising honest as well. Your brand image should correlate to your real brand identity – false sustainable advertising (also termed greenwashing) is dishonest and can really damage a business’ reputation. Choose materials that are sustainable, compostable and produce low emissions. Find ways to verify you’re pursuing the right sort of materials for sustainable marketing. For example, an activewear company could seek to abide by the Global Organic Textiles Standard (GOTS) or a computer manufacturer could aim for the environmentally conscious B Corp Certification (a designation of high standards). Even if your company uses only organic materials and reaches zero waste, you need to remember sustainable practices also extend to your workforce. Increase your brand equity by paying your employees and raw material suppliers a living wage. Provide them with ideal working conditions and benefits. This not only shows your commitment to brand equity but also to economic justice and sustainable living on a wider scale.
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