Companies that have achieved B Corp Certification should recognize that marketing is essential for success. As we transition into a sustainable future, this is more important than ever. Its significance stems from a unique focus on social and environmental impact. Unlike traditional companies, B Corps place equal importance on the bottom line and purpose-driven initiatives for positive impact.
Marketing for businesses with the B Corp logo should be effective. It should not just be about promoting products or services. Instead, it should communicate the company’s dedication to sustainable practices, social responsibility, and positive change.
B Corps can attract conscious consumers by highlighting their mission and values. This can help to build brand loyalty and differentiate them in a crowded marketplace. Also, being a B Corp requires transparent and authentic marketing. Emphasise the tangible impact customers make by choosing your company. Show the world how their support makes a difference.
Ultimately, B Corp Marketing is a powerful tool for driving awareness and fostering meaningful connections. It can also inspire individuals to contribute to a more sustainable and equitable future.
We are specialists in Digital Marketing for Sustainability and Social Impact. Here are our main tips on effective Digital Marketing for those with B Corp Status.
Have your B Corp Marketing Story in place:
As a B Corp, your reputation is important. You are doing the right thing for the planet, and the climate-conscious consumer will be interested to know why.
Through Digital means, a company should be able to detail the story of the organisation well. This should discuss how the beginnings link to the importance of sustainability and social impact for the organisation.
This should be a key part of the next two points. Essentially, consumers should understand this and why it shapes the contribution that a company makes to people and planet.
For example, inspiration can be taken from Tony’s Chocolonely. Tony’s are a company that ensures that social impact is central to their communication.
The Tony’s website contains an interactive story page. It explains the company’s story in an engaging way. This helps consumers to connect to the story even further through visual means.
Here are 5 main points to keep in mind when detailing your story:
- Digital Space: Have a page that details your origins and how it links to sustainability.
- Homepage: Sustainability and your story should play a role on the company homepage.
- Transparency: Don’t create a new story that isn’t true, but link this to your mission.
- Visual: The visual aspect of your story will help customers remember.
- Active: Your story should play an active role in marketing, not just creating a page and leaving it there.
Be Transparent:
Being a B Corp means that most likely, the company has taken efforts towards sustainability. The B Corp system evaluates a company on impact, and that can be spoken about. The company may not be 100% sustainable. However, it has made progress that can be discussed.
Transparency is key, and communicating something is more important than communicating nothing. Any Benefit Corporation should be sure to be transparent about the B Corp process. For example, the changes the company went through during the impact assessment to achieve certification. Or even if your company doesn’t use 100% renewable energy, but 88%, it is still something of interest for potential clients.
Also, be sure to discuss the changes of being part of the B Corp Movement. These could include the impact on the business model, supply chain, governing documents and way of thinking.
Even though many B Corps believe that they do not have much to communicate, this is not the case. Even sharing the workers community within the company is a first positive step.
For inspiration, B Corps can follow the processes by a company such as Unilever. The company publicly reports on their GhG emissions and Intensity Ratios each year through sustainability reports. For example, they shared that they were responsible for around 1.5 million tonnes of Scope 1 & 2 Co2 in 2021.
Like this, B Corps should report authentically on what the company does so consumers know what they are buying. This is essential for their success.
Here are our 5 main points to ensure transparency:
- Create Goals: Share the goals and where the company is going, not just current efforts. .
- Document shortcomings: Nobody expects a company to be 100% sustainable, but to be making progress. Documenting where a company is 80% of the way there improves transparency.
- Show your efforts: The progress towards the B Corp application is effort. This should be transparent.
- Do not hide old sustainability reports: Make them public and digestible, so consumers clearly know where you stand.
- Be Transparent alongside others: Publish data on platforms like Windo, so that consumers can see your progress in context.
Be Creative, not generic.
There are over 4000+ B Corps, but each one is unique. Furthermore, there are probably plenty of other companies in your category that are doing sustainability well. So, a B Corp looking to do marketing well should ask themselves these two questions:
What elements makes your company special?
How could you make noise in a way that climate-conscious consumers will remember?
Thinking of a way that your company can be innovative concerning the good that it does will be key here. The companies that are known by climate-conscious consumers are those that take an innovative or unconventional approach. They are therefore well-known and talked about for doing so.
A key example to consider, that helped put a company on the map in Sustainability, would be that of Patagonia. This occurred due to the ‘Don’t buy this jacket’ campaign, launched on Black Friday 2011.
At the time, Patagonia were a leading company in sustainable outdoor clothing. Patagonia could easily have highlighted how much was being done for the environment. Instead, the ‘Don’t buy this jacket’ campaign was an out of the box way of highlighting their sustainable approach to the world. For example, it cited that consumers should only take what the planet can replace.
Create campaigns that demonstrate your company’s commitment to sustainability. Use creative strategies to capture attention on this topic.
3 points to communicate creative campaigns:
- Transparency across platforms: This should be a central part of your reputation, rather than just an addition on Instagram Stories.
- Making Noise: This should be a given, but focus on ways that can create mainstream attention, rather than discuss statistics.
- Take risks: Doing something common will not gain attention or traction. Calculated risks are the main way to creatively spread awareness about the good that a B Corp does.
Fortunately, as a Digital Marketing Agency specializing in these 3 points exactly, we have plenty more to offer regarding effective digital marketing campaigns for B Corps. Feel free to contact us for more information and a quick discussion on our services:
For tailored campaigns specifically for B Corps, you can contact us below.
