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In today's marketplace, tangible commitments to protecting the environment are rapidly becoming the 'greens fees' for doing business. Whether it be introducing environmentally-friendly products and processes, reducing carbon footprints or assuming cradle-to-grave responsibility for the items you sell, environmental considerations have permeated every aspect of business. So too, they increasingly color how audiences evaluate your organization.
Environmental responsibility is a building block of corporate reputation and a key component of much-heralded "Most Admired" and "Best Places to Work" surveys. It impacts everything from consumer brand preference, purchase decisions and employee retention, to partnership opportunities, analyst perceptions and investor confidence. Strong environmental initiatives can be leveraged to establish leadership positioning among peers. They can also build goodwill among constituencies which help mitigate the impact of the inevitable crises.
Publicizing your organization's strong environmental record and progress towards improvement goals is absolutely critical, as is the ability to market differentiated products and services that address customers' environmental priorities or that enables consumers to enjoy a "green" lifestyle. The challenge: executing reputation-boosting environmental communications initiatives without crossing into "greenwashing" territory.
The line between credibly reporting environmental achievements and running afoul of environmental watchdogs varies widely from product-to-product and industry-to-industry. There are no secret formulas, no silver bullets. There are, however, several principals that can be applied to help you steer clear of trouble:
Leadership Required: Accepting an organization's claim that the environment is a high priority is significantly easier when senior executive ownership is clearly evident…and the closer to the C-suite the better. Vesting responsibility for environmental initiatives in your marketing team sends is a clear tip-off that organizational commitment goes only as far as the annual marcom budget will take it. In many cases, senior-level ownership also provides a spokesperson capable of telling the organizations environmental story to media and through thought leadership efforts.
Authenticity Matters: While 'doing the right thing' is noble, most audiences understand what being a 'for-profit' organization entails. Confidently link environmental responsibility and value creation. Align your environmental initiatives with your core business and communicate how those efforts boost performance, whether by driving sales, minimizing expenses or strengthening relationships.
Embrace the Process, Communicate Your Progress: Being "Green" or environmentally responsible is a continuous improvement process, not a journey to a fixed destination. Identify your path and the key milestones along the way and regularly report on your progress. Transparency in reporting is critical as your audience is savvy and certainly capable of seeing though hollow claims masquerading as fact-based progress reports.
Less is More: It is not necessary to change the world all at once…nor is it possible. Identify the environmental issues your organization is facing and on which real progress can be made. Tackle those and report progress on a regular basis. As momentum is achieved, begin adding additional issues to be addressed. Engagement at all levels of your organization and confidence in the process will be aided by early wins.
Engage Your Ambassadors: If your environmental story falls on deaf ears internally it will be an uphill battle to sell it to the outside world. Promote active employee engagement in environmental initiatives and create pride in the organization's progress. Engage partners and customers where possible. You will be rewarded with a cadre of supportive storytellers more than happy to spread the message of the organization's good works.
For more information on effectively communicating your organization's environmental commitment and initiatives, contact:
Jim Duffy
Senior Vice President
jduffy@mww.com
