In a world of mind-boggling complexity, convoluted interdependencies and interconnectedness it is often hard to know where to begin on developing communications for your business around sustainability. Below I've outlined the key steps of a journey that you can follow to develop campaigns with both credibility and authenticity.
Understand your 'Why?' It is amazing how easily businesses lose sight of their raison d'etre, their purpose. All too often they become utterly distracted by their 'what' – the product or service they provide. Perhaps one of the first fundamental questions we must ask ourselves at the start of any communications process is 'what is our why?'. This may sound like management-speak gobbleydegook, but it's actually your 'why' that people and ultimately customers are interested in, so it's vital that you understand it yourself in order to share it effectively and more widely. There's a great TED talk on The Golden Circles of why, how and what by Simon Sinek.
Know how far you want to go Do you want your business to be bleeding-edge, leading edge, a cautious follower or a lazy-ass foot-dragging recalcitrant in progressing towards sustainability? It's important to be realistic about the scale of your ambition - are you really going 'beyond petroleum'? Much as we'd all like to not everyone can do a Plan A like M&S and take an authentic step forward to lead debate and become an integrated, trusted and compelling sustainability brand. But that's OK. Knowing thyself and how far you can go over time will ensure you don't end up on wild flights of hopelessly improbable sustainability fantasy. Without doubt these will get you into all sorts of trouble.
Create yourself a vision What is your business going to look like as you plough that long hard muddy furrow to a more sustainable future? What do you hope to practically achieve? At Futerra we've long advocated the power of sizzling visions of a positive sustainable future, for as the slightly hoary old hotdog-flogging saying goes 'When selling the sausage, if you're not selling the 'sizzle', the sound, aroma and sense of anticipation, you're (literally) selling a dead pig'. A great way of galvanising your business around a vision is the crafting of a 'Big Hairy Audacious Goal' (BHAG) that excites, challenges and also scares people (just a little) in the scale and scope of its aspiration. The most famous BHAG of all time was President John F Kennedy's commitment to 'Put a man on the moon by the end of the decade', at which point most of NASA probably spat the dummy and thought 'how in the hell are we going to do that?!'. But they did it. And with less computing power than a modern washing machine. That's the power of a great BHAG. A good recent example of a powerful BHAG is the launch of Unilever's Sustainable Living Plan their stated intention to 'halve the environmental footprint of our products by 2020' is certainly hirsute and daring. Of course they've yet to clarify all the details of how it will be practically achieved – but the point is the grand ambition will now drive both efficiency and innovation right across the business.
Do something Communications are only as credible as the substantive, tangible initiatives that underpin them. Without these activities delivering real change you are putting yourself on an inexorable path to greenwashing. A CSR report is not an action in itself, though the objective, independent audit of business performance and impact they provide is crucial. Nor is a rebrand or a flowery new green logo enough, mentioning no names. Your change programme should embrace both good housekeeping and your core business, or it's simply window dressing whilst stocking the same old same old on the shelves inside the shop.
Communicate honestly So you know your 'why', you've decided how far you want to go, and you've drafted a compelling vision or something slightly bigger, hairier and altogether more audacious, and begun the implementation of your internal sustainability initiatives that will ultimately transform your business. So now you're ready to communicate openly, honestly and with authenticity. And you don't have to broadcast it.Communication via social media is an amazing opportunity to share your aims, experiences and achievements as the values on which it's built: transparency, ethics, innovation and collaboration, align well with those of sustainability itself. Engage your audiences in genuine dialogue and they will tell your authentic story for you. Of course if you want the ultimate advice on how to manage your brand image online then you could do worse than take the advice of Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales: 'Make stuff that doesn't suck'.
Ed Gillespie is Co-Founder of Futerra Sustainability Communications and tweets via @frucool
