Learning how to effectively market your sustainability goals has never been more important. If you’re struggling to refine your business goals, placing sustainability at the very core of your business is a great place to start.

Whether you’re a BCorp looking to make small changes and enhance existing practices, or simply starting out on your sustainable journey, it is important to be transparent, authentic and strategic in your approach.

Here are Disruptor Media’s five top tips to effectively market your sustainability goals.

Perfect Your Sustainability Goals Internally First

To prevent issues, it’s important to plan your sustainability goals before you announce them.

Designing a strong long-term sustainable marketing plan can pay dividends in the future, especially when it comes to reporting the results of your ethical changes.

A sustainability plan can also provide you with data to use in your marketing (such as the amount of non-renewable electricity you currently use), helping you provide a percentage decrease figure when you announce the results of your ethical endeavors.

Remember: no brand wants to be accused of greenwashing, so it is important to follow through with any public sustainable announcements you make. After all, you’re asking for bad press if you make an ethical announcement and then backtrack!

Implement Sustainability Into Your Overall Marketing Strategy

Thinking about sustainability as an afterthought is unlikely to work when it comes to marketing. What you need is a tactical action plan that creates impact.

Integrating sustainability into your overall marketing strategy will help you propose tangible upgrades, and simultaneously help the environment.

Though this sounds scary, this can help align other segments of your business with your new vision – win-win!

Clothing brand BA&SH treat sustainability as a product, complete with an extensive marketing campaign, while Patagonia famously told New York Times readers “Don’t buy this jacket” on Black Friday 2011.

By discussing sustainability first and foremost, BA&SH and Patagonia are making money and reinforcing their ethical brand positions at the same time.

Be Specific In Your Marketing

Above all, you need to be specific in your marketing to effectively market your sustainability goals.

Just like any other brand or service provider, your customers will have certain interests and attitudes – especially around sustainability! If positioned in the right way, your brand can resonate with your customer base and lead them to act. Though non targeted campaigns have their place, many are as much use as shouting into the void.

Luckily, many marketing providers now offer a plethora of options to track and select the perfect audience for your brand.

From the Facebook pixel that supports custom audiences and remarketing, to Google Analytics; HotJar and email monitoring, you can see what your online audience reacts to and then tailor your marketing to similar groups.

Use The Media Wisely

Contacting newspapers and relevant online publications may seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be! Most journalists love promoting success stories – especially around sustainable innovations, the circular economy and ‘world firsts’.

You should keep in mind the main two rules of press releases:

Does your story create something newsworthy?

OR

Does your story add something interesting to something that is already newsworthy?

If you’re able to answer ‘YES’ to one of those rules, get your address book ready and start contacting journalists.

If you need further help with contacting journalists and getting your Earth-saving message out to the world, our experienced PR team can help.

Build Partnerships

Has your business received a sustainable certification? At the time of writing, there are 334 B Corps in the UK – will yours be next?

Importantly, partnerships can help you join forces with likeminded businesses. Sharing best practice can also save you money and improve your sustainable results further – win-win!

Tailor-Made Media is Yorkshire’s first sustainable marketing agency. Current and former clients include the United Nations, Bright Green Plastics and Yorwaste. If you need a sustainable marketing strategy or want help in repositioning your brand to be more sustainable, get in touch today.