More powerful than marketing and branding

Anything you say in a marketing message can be scrutinised and background-checked.

If you say you’re sustainable, people will scour your website for proof.

If you say you’re carbon neutral, they’ll ask if it’s through carbon credits, or a genuine reduction in fossil fuel use.

If your put “eco” on your packaging, they’ll pick up on the components that are not eco and call you out on it.

Including these sorts of messages on your website, in your advertising, and through your talks and presentations are necessary to your communication strategy, but it leaves you open to scrutiny… so what’s the ace up your sleeve?

Transparency.

Open up access to your sustainability policy; Publish your carbon neutrality report; List the exact components of your packaging that are eco and the ones that are not.

Anticipate questions that you’ll likely be asked, and answer the ones you’re already being asked. Publically.

Prove that you’re aware of the areas where you need improvement, and show that you have a plan for tackling it, even if it’s not fully scoped yet.

No one is looking for perfection – in fact, “looking perfect” is the very thing that invites skeptisicm in the first place.

Sharing the good, bad, and ugly of your operations are where genuine trust and loyalty start.

You simply can’t replicate the power of transparency, no matter how good your marketing copy is.