The terms ‘eco-friendly’, ‘sustainability’ and ‘green’ are terms used often by brands across sectors – but what do they stand for? What’s more – how can they help your reputation?
As consumers we are becoming increasingly conscious of the effects the human race has on the Earth, more and more we are looking to our favourite brands to put the planet first. Using sustainable marketing and branding, you can communicate to consumers that you are doing your bit.
Becoming a sustainable brand is very appealing for many businesses, with not only a focus on eco-friendly products but also brands who have sustainable practices across all areas of their business. This is everything from the way you treat your staff, to your supply chain and product development.
Becoming a sustainable brand is a long-term process, and something that can’t be done without in-depth market research. At Spark, our experts can equip you with the data and insights to help you understand what needs to be done to grow your brand reputation from a sustainability perspective. Find out more by getting in touch with one of our experts.
How you can build a sustainable brand
Companies can build sustainable in all sorts of different ways, there is no one size fits all method. There are a number of key areas that our experts recommend you think about and research, which will help you on your journey.
- Define your Audience
You can’t build a sustainable brand that connects with its audience until you first define your audience and what sustainability means to them. Do your research: explore current trends, find out what people are talking about in the sustainability field. This will help you identify what people value, and ultimately, what they want from you.
- What do you offer?
Acknowledging and addressing your consumers’ specific concerns around sustainability will help you build brand loyalty. For example, you might find out your customers care about ethically sourced ingredients and materials. Aiming for this goal should be shared with your customers so they can see they value the same things.
- Identifying Key Areas
Every business will have key areas: parts of the business which you can work on to make it completely sustainable. Explore how you could improve different aspects of your company, for example the products you sell or changes you could make. We’re talking about every area here, from day to day operations, to product development and life cycles and everything in between.
- Craft concise content
Content should be an integral part of every brand’s marketing strategy: it’s one of the best ways to connect with consumers and get your point across. Your target audience will have their favoured methods of consuming content, whether that’s watching videos, reading articles or engaging with social media posts. Work with your creative team to come up with ways to communicate your sustainability mission statement.
- Measure the Results
You have put all these processes into place, but you won’t find anything out until you measure the results. Make sure you’re paying attention to the data, and give space for the results to help you plan and make changes for the future. The last stage in the process is to pull everything together and map your approach to building a better business with a sustainability strategy.
The benefits of sustainable branding
Sustainable practices and branding bring benefits to both the consumer and the businesses. Not only are the social, ethical and environmentally-friendly aspects beneficial, but there are concrete benefits that sustainable branding can bring to your business.
- Makes your brand more desirable
In order to stand out from your competitors, you need to have a unique offering. This will help enrich your brand and make you more appealing to consumers. Sustainable practices are an excellent way to attract new customers to your brand.
- Increases your brand visibility
Every industry has hundreds if not thousands of brands, competing for the same customers. Each one will be working hard on its own marketing strategy, so it can be difficult to grab people’s attention. Implementing a sustainable marketing strategy is a fantastic way to show consumers what your value and what your brand stands for. You can reinforce this message through traditional channels such as mail, newsletters and emails but you can also do it with unique green projects.
- Keeps customers coming back
It costs more to acquire new customers than it does to keep existing ones. The way to do this is to build deep relationships to encourage brand loyalty, to keep them coming back again and again. This can be done through a variety of methods, such as loyalty programs and excellent customer service. For sustainable marketing though you need to think long term.
- Make your products premium
Research has shown that customers are happier to spend more on products from brands that follow sustainable practices. Work to adopt an increasingly environmentally-friendly angle in all aspects of your business, from your messaging and branding through to your supply chain and you’ll be able to attach premium prices to your products that customers are willing to pay for.
Build your sustainability brand with Spark
You want to go green, but it’s not easy to do without in-depth market research. At Spark our expert team have developed the S Factor, which can be used as a standalone tool or used to measure performance over time and in addition to qualitative research.
Using S Factor, you can discover how your business sustainability compares to competitors, as well as focus on key areas where you could improve. We pride ourselves on being ahead of the curve. Our team’s expertise spans industries, from entertainment to finance and retail. Find out more about S Factor and get in touch here.
Download our sustainability pack by clicking here to access more blogs, case studies, webinars and S Factor information on the topic.