Category: Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

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30+ Eco-Friendly and Zero-Waste Gift Ideas for the Holidays 2023

The holiday season is a time of thoughtful giving, but it can be detrimental environmentally. Thankfully, there are a lot of ways we can spread some holiday cheer while also spreading positive impact.

Alternatives, like finding pre-loved items, are a great way to give unique gifts. Homemade gifts, including sharing recipes, make for personal and heartwarming presents. And making memorable experiences together is something truly priceless.

If you choose to shop for the people on your list, there are plenty of eco-friendly options out there and sustainable ways to gift wrap. Öko Creations offers some beautiful zero-waste gift wrap selections, including reusable bows, gift bags, pouches, and furoshiki wraps made from rescued fabrics. Other waste-free ways to package presents include upcycling gift bags you were given, reusing boxes, wrapping in recycled and recyclable paper, or getting creative with things you already have, like scarves or beeswax wraps.

And if you’re looking for something new and meaningful to buy, check out these sustainable and purpose-driven gift options we’ve rounded up that not only help support the planet but people as well.

Home & Lifestyle

Nature Bee Fire Starters – Keep your loved ones warm all winter long with these eco-friendly fire starters made from beeswax wrap offcuts by Nature Bee, an inclusive, woman-owned and -operated, sustainable Canadian company that uses locally-sourced ingredients to make products in-house.

Mimi & August Reusable Candle – Available in three different sizes, this reusable candle is hand-poured in Canada, 100% vegan and cruelty-free, made from biodegradable soy wax, and uses non-toxic fragrances. The website includes tips on how to use every drop of wax and ways to reuse the jar, including as a coffee cup, a spice container, or jewellery holder.

Friendsheep Wool Handmade Gifts – Handmade for fair wages by Nepalese women artists, these beautiful Eco Coasters are made with 100% cruelty-free New Zealand wool and coloured with azo-free eco-friendly dyes; and these Penguin Dryer Balls are all-natural, organic, fully reusable for over 1,000 loads, and add a touch of wintertime festivity to every load of laundry. Plus, Friendship Wool has a partnership with Eden Reforestation Project meaning a tree is planted for every product purchased; is a member of 1% of the Planet; donates about 20% of all their proceeds to several nonprofit organizations; and is compostable and plastic-free down to the packaging.

Baloo Weighted Blanket – Give a gift of warmth and comfort with this chemical-free, plastic-free, vegan, weighted blanket from Canadian brand Baloo. The fact that the company donates a portion of profits to the Pajama Program and is carbon neutral through a partnership with SeaTrees by Sustainable Surf makes this one feel extra cozy.

Pebbly Compost Bin – This functional, lightweight, and durable compost bin adds sustainability to any home or countertop. It’s made from metal and bamboo, has a handle for easy lifting, comes with a charcoal filter, and a seven-litre capacity.

LastTissue Reusable Tissue Pack – These reusable, 100% Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS) certified organic cotton tissues come in an easy-to-clean silicone case with sewn-in barriers for sanitary storage. Each tissue can be cleaned in a washing machine and used over 520 times. Plus, LastTissue is a certified B Corp, mom-owned, charitable, and practices safe and fair labour, with products that are compostable, cruelty-free, organic, and with low-impact dyes and inks.

Tech & Accessories 

Ronxs Rechargeable Electric Lighters – Save matches and skip the disposable lighters and butane. These electric chargers come in different styles and colours, are USB rechargeable, wind- and weather-proof, and can light hundreds of times per charge, making them a great and practical eco-friendly gift option.

Pela Biodegradable Phone Cases – These plant-based, biodegradable phone cases come in a wide variety of designs and styles to suit the needs of everyone on your list. Plus, Pela is carbon neutral, supports various purpose-driven organizations and nonprofits, partners to help other companies reduce their footprint, is on a mission to keep 10 billion pounds of waste from being made, and donates to Ocean Cleanup and Preservation initiatives each time they make a sale. 

Nimble Ethically-Made Tech – Made using recycled and eco-friendly materials, Nimble’s portable chargers, wireless chargers, and charging cables are housed in plastic-free packaging made from biodegradable recycled paper with no harmful inks or dyes and built to last. These durable charging products are a great gift for all the tech-users in your life. Plus, Nimble includes a recycled plastic bag and a prepaid shipping label with each product so they can recycle old tech and e-waste for free.

Games & Activities 

Bare Market Flower Paper Kit – This eco-friendly kit is ideal for the crafter in your life who wants to engage with nature and enjoy an activity using sustainable and natural materials. Plus, Bare Market offers local delivery and ships using 100% plastic-free upcycled packaging. It’s all part of their mission “to make sustainable and ethical living easy and accessible for everyone, everywhere.”

The Good Tee DIY Shirt Kits – Your loved ones can customize to their heart’s content with these sustainable t-shirt kits that come with water-based, non-toxic, acid-free fabric paints, markers, or natural dye ingredients. They can feel good wearing their creations, as The Good Tee is a certified B Corp on “a mission to humanize the fashion industry,” with durable and sustainable products, a 100% transparent and traceable supply chain, and contribution toward UN Sustainable Development Goals, positively impacting both people and planet.

Zefiro Recycled Coloured Pencils – Support your loved one’s creativity with these recycled coloured pencil sets made from 100% recycled newspapers and packaged in a recyclable travel container. Each set is plastic-free, biodegradable, and compostable. The brand Zefiro is a member of 1% for the Planet and donates 1% of their annual sales toward environmental causes, while the seller, Zero Waste Hero, is a women-operated and -owned Canadian online store dedicated to providing sustainable alternatives.

Made By Bees All Natural Beeswax Crayons – Bring joy to the children on your list with these handmade 100% Canadian beeswax crayons that are safe for all ages, durable, use food-grade pigments, and are made to fit small hands. Each purchase includes a free downloadable colouring book to teach children about bees and encourage creativity. Proceeds from crayon sales will be donated to the Tech Transfer Team based out of the University of Guelph which conducts vital research for Ontario’s beekeeping industry.

Forestation Board Game – This environmental strategy board game is a great gift for families, friends, and gamers alike, and challenges players to build and maintain a sustainable ecosystem of plants and animals. Made by a family-run company in Victoria, BC, the FSC-certified game uses local artwork, animals, and trees to make an immersive experience and is sustainably manufactured in the Netherlands using sustainably sourced materials. Plus, 5% of all sales go to the Wilderness Committee and 5% to the Rainforest Conservation Foundation.

Plantoys Beaver Tumble – This timber-toppling game is sustainably made in Thailand using chemical-free rubberwood, formaldehyde-free glue, organic pigments, and water-based dyes. It’s available for purchase through The Mini Branch, a small Canadian company run by a husband-and-wife team that aims to provide families with durable and sustainable products, offers guaranteed clothing buy-back and no-time limit returns to help encourage sustainability, and supports local vendors and community outreach.

Food & Drink

Fernwood Coffee Beans – Fill their cup with purpose with this coffee blend from Victoria-based company Fernwood, a Certified Canada Organic, Fair Trade, Swiss Water Process, and Offsetters climate-friendly company. Through a partnership with Raincoast Conservation Foundation and Pender Island Conservancy, proceeds from this blend go to the Raincoast Conservation Foundation to fundraise for their project to preserve and protect a special ecosystem in British Columbia’s Gulf Islands.

Raven Rising Holiday Chocolates – Choose from a collection of holiday-themed, sustainable, ethically sourced, traceable, Fair Trade, organic chocolates for the foodie on your list. Ingredients are sourced from Indigenous people and businesses in Canada and globally. Indigenous women-owned and -operated, Raven Rising donates a portion of proceeds to various societies that support Indigenous organizations and carries a number of certifications.

Camino Hot Chocolate – Find a drink for everyone on the list with these certified organic, Fair Trade certified hot chocolate mixes that come in a variety of flavours, including milk, dark, maple, and chili and spice. Canadian company Camino is focused on making both a social and environmental impact through dignified and meaningful employment, sustainable packaging, donating unsold products to food banks, investing in carbon offset bonds, and more.

Pluck Holiday Tea – These limited edition holiday tea blends come in reusable stacking glass jars and three flavours: Apple Spice, Gingerbread Spice, and Chocolate Orange. Made by Toronto-based brand, Pluck, each ingredient is ethically sourced in Canada from a growing network of Rainforest Alliance, Fair Trade, and organic certified tea farms. Plus, many of their ingredients are Upcycled Food Association certified and their tea bags are plastic-free, made from plants, renewable, compostable, and biodegradable.

Drizzle Cinnamon Spiced Honey – Gift your loved ones a sweet treat with this holiday-themed Cinnamon Spiced organic, bee-friendly, all-natural, non-GMO, 100% raw honey from certified women-owned and -operated B Corp, Drizzle, who donates 1% of profits to pollinator research.

Self Care

Rockwell Beard Products – Give the gift of plastic-free, anti-static beard care with these durable beard shapers and bristle brushes made from bamboo. Rockwell Razors is on a mission to eliminate single-use plastic from its supply chain, has diverted over 100 tonnes of plastic waste, is committed to continuous improvement when it comes to the sustainability of its packaging, and seeks to create more products that replace traditionally plastic-laden items. 

No Tox Life Moisturizing Vegan Shaving Bar – These gentle, moisturizing, and palm-oil-free shaving bars for body and face ditch plastic bottles to make showers more sustainable and are wrapped in paper for shipping. No Tox Life is a family business run by a mother-and-daughter team that uses plant-derived ingredients and plastic-free, upcycled, and biodegradable shipping materials. 

Educated Beards Beard Wash – Handcrafted in small batches, this beard wash is great for removing ingrown hairs and dirt and is good for all skin and beard types. Non-comedogenic, cruelty-free, made from natural and certified organic ingredients, and housed in 100% biodegradable packaging, this wash is a great gift option from a brand that collaborates with Fair Trade companies and uses local ingredients and vendors wherever possible. 

Sḵwálwen Botanicals Gift Sets – Nourish good with sustainably and renewably hand-harvested, hydrating, and healing gift sets. In harmony with the teachings of their Skwxwú7mesh ancestors, Sḵwálwen uses an Indigenous supply chain, native botanicals, and regenerative practices, works to preserve Indigenous plants, and creates products that are free of harsh chemicals, phthalates, synthetics, and parabens. 

Soft & Butter Caona – Exfoliating Facial Scrub – This sustainable golden honey exfoliating facial scrub is made using an Indigenous plant-to-product model and natural ingredients that help with underlying skin issues. Soft and Butter, founded by Jasmine Swimmer, a member of the Taino Arawak First Nation people, infuses traditional Indigenous plant culture into each product, partners with Indigenous farmers and lawn owners, and champions sustainability and economic growth between Canada and Africa.

Little Seed Farm Holiday Sugar Body Scrub – Your loved ones can luxuriate in the scent of their favourite holiday treats with this all-natural, organic, cruelty-free, peppermint vanilla sugar scrub that comes in a glass jar with a recyclable metal lid. Little Seed Farm, a family-farm–owned and -made brand, is 100% solar powered, uses zero-waste biodegradable and recyclable shipping, and humanely manages a 100% grass-fed goat herd, making this gift guilt-free.

Apparel 

Unbelts Stretch Belts – Equitably made, made to last, and made from recycled materials, these stretchy belts are comfortable, machine-washable, super adjustable, and made in Canada by B Corp-certified company, Unbelts. This female-founded company engages in a lot of social and environmental good initiatives, including donating a portion of their inventory to community organizations, offering mentorship to purpose-driven companies, advocating at sustainable apparel events, and using circular methodologies.

Good For Sunday Save the Ocean Bamboo Crewneck – Made from sustainable bamboo in a family-owned factory in Toronto, every sweater purchased helps protect our oceans and marine life via a $5 donation to Sea Shepherd. Plus, Good For Sunday has embedded environmental and ethical responsibility into all its business processes and practices, including compostable packaging, responsible shipping with carbon offsetting, and an environmentally responsible return program called EcoDrop. 

Solmate Socks – Bundle up for winter with socks made from recycled yarns that contain no added chemicals. Best of all, Solmate is a B Corp with additional certifications by the Global Recycling Standard and Oeko-Tex materials that sources from Recover’s Upcycling System, practices carbon offsetting, and is involved in several giving initiatives to help various causes.

The Better Good Upcycled Wool Mittens – Give a practical and unique gift with these lined winter mitts made with 100% upcycled materials. Your loved ones will feel extra warm knowing that The Better Good sells products that are organic and Fair Trade and made with upcycled, recycled, or renewable materials; works with local producers; is involved in giving initiatives and hosts free community events; and offers a special discount program to help people make values-aligned purchases who wouldn’t be able to otherwise due to costs.

Giftwrap Your Marketing With Sparx

Engaging in purpose-driven efforts to make the world better? The experts at Sparx can help package up your message and deliver it to your audience. Contact us for a free marketing

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Make The World Better Magazine Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

25+ Resources That Will Amplify Your Efforts to Make the World Better

Everyone has a part to play in making the world better. Whether you’re looking to influence positive change through social media, make a difference at your workplace, and/or support or advocate for a cause, or you’re looking for ways to make meaningful changes in your everyday life, these resources will help amplify your own efforts or those of others doing good.

Resources From Organizations Featured in Make the World Better Magazine

Check out these resources and supplementary content from individuals and organizations featured in this issue of Make The World Better Magazine.

Asparagus Magazine – Submission Guidelines: Apply to share your purpose-driven stories about individuals and organizations working to make the world better, sustainable living tips, and environmental and social justice. Underrepresented voices are a priority and both aspiring and established writers are encouraged to apply.

Brown Girl Green – Green Jobs Board: Looking for a job where you can actively help make the world better? Or perhaps you’re an employer looking to find someone with a real passion for purpose? Check out Brown Girl Green’s Green Jobs Board to find and submit jobs in policy, tourism, education, media, and more.

David Suzuki Foundation – Building Bridges for Climate Action: Engagement Strategies for Millennials: Amplify your environmental advocacy efforts with this guide, designed to help increase your understanding of how millennials engage with climate change so you can create effective engagement strategies.

David Suzuki Foundation – Community Engagement Toolkit: Grow your environmental initiatives and personal impact with this dual-language toolkit, filled with ideas for collective and individual action, steps for getting started, and networks, resources, and tools for every step of your journey.

Intersectional Environmentalist’s Leah Thomas – The Intersectional Environmentalist: How To Dismantle Systems of Oppression To Protect People and Planet: Dive into this novel by Leah Thomas, Founder and Values Officer of Intersectional Environmentalist, to learn more about the link between environmental justice and civil rights, and discover actionable strategies for protecting people and planet.

Intersectional Environmentalist – Reimagining Food Justice and Food Sovereignty Toolkit: With this digital toolkit, increase your understanding of food justice and food sovereignty, and discover steps for taking action, including ways to amplify community-based initiatives.

Love Food Hate Waste Canada – Tips Board: Promote efforts to eliminate food waste by sharing food-saving tips and stories, or visit the board for actionable recipes and advice to make positive changes in your kitchen.

Not My Problem – Sustainable Brand Database: Naman Bajaj provides paid Not My Problem subscribers with a Sustainable Brand Database they can use to find brands across the globe and across a range of industries, from cleaning products to apparel and more, that have verifiable sustainable practices. A seven-day trial is available.

RIPPLE of CHANGE – Contribution Form: Share your impact story or help amplify organizations and initiatives with RIPPLE of CHANGE’s (ROC) nomination form. On this page, you can also answer ROC’s call for writers.

RIPPLE of CHANGE – Start a Ripple: Learn how you can start your own ripple of positive change with actionable lists across multiple categories, including activism, education, health, identity, and land, as well as recommended books that will help you take your purpose-driven journey to the next level.

Sage Initiative – Application Form: Apply to join the third Sage Initiative as a participant, sponsor, or mentor to learn more about impact investing, fund some good, and support Indigenous womxn.

Squirrel News – Podcast: Tune in to the Squirrel News podcast, hosted by Founder Jonathan Widder and Ed Crasnick, an Emmy-winning writer and comic from Los Angeles, to discover solutions for positive change and get inspired by guests who are making the world better.

Sustainability Advantage – 7 Ways Companies Can Contribute to the SDGs: Learn how your company can help advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and amplify collective efforts toward the goals.

Sustainability Advantage – Master Slide Decks: Bob Willard, Founder of Sustainability Advantage, has over 900 slides for subscribers to use and tailor for their purposes, saving them time and resources. Enjoy in-depth content on sustainability in the business community, including frameworks, business cases, and more. 

Resources From Other Changemakers

ACE Hot Talks – Climate Influencers at COP26 With Kristy Drutman aka Brown Girl Green: Kristy Drutman, Founder of Brown Girl Green, joined Action for Climate Emergency’s Indy Howeth to share insights into how young people can use their creativity to help progress the climate movement on social media.

Amplify Good Podcast: Hosted by Aria Camaione-Lind, this inspiring podcast series shares stories of changemakers who are bringing their values to their work and driving positive change in their communities.

Arielle V. King’s – Environmental/Climate Justice and Liberation-Related Resource Recommendations: Arielle V. King, host of season one of Intersectional Environmentalist’s the Joy Report Podcast and Director of Programming for Black Girl Environmentalist, shares an extensive list of resources to help amplify environmental justice efforts.

Eco Ally – The Ultimate Guide to Killing It as a Sustainability Influencer: This comprehensive, eight-step guide provides sustainability influencers and aspiring influencers with detailed tips on how to make a real impact. 

Good Good Good – 37 Ways To Make a Difference in the World: Good Good Good’s guide offers 37 actionable ways individuals can help make the world better, from protecting the environment to using the internet to amplify good.

Giving Tuesday – Social Media Toolkit: Giving Tuesday happens every November. Learn how you can join this movement through your social media channels and spread some good.

Greater Good Charities – Get Involved: Amplify your mission to help people and planet with this resource from Greater Good Charities, which you can use to start a fundraiser, build a fundraising page, and launch a Facebook fundraiser. 

Influencer Intelligence – How to Work With Influencers for Purpose-Driven Marketing Report: Discover best practices for teaming up with an influencer to amplify your purpose-driven business with this downloadable report from Influencer Intelligence. 

National Screen Institute’s TikTok Accelerator for Indigenous Creators: Indigenous influencers and Indigenous-owned small businesses can join this free accelerator to grow their community on TikTok, learn how to collaborate with brands, and learn skills and tools to make content creation a career.

Sparx PG’s Resources 

3 TED Talks to Inspire You to Make the World Better: Spark your inspiration with three talks that provide tips for remarkable storytelling, expanding your mission, and spreading good in the community.

How Companies Can Harness the Power of Technology and Social Media to do Good: Discover actionable ways your purpose-driven organization can amplify impact online.

How to Avoid “Rainbow-Washing” During Pride Month: Learn how to genuinely amplify 2SLGBTQIA+ voices and support the community during Pride Month and beyond.

Amplify Your Purpose-Driven Story with Sparx
We would love to increase support and awareness around the good your purpose-driven organization is doing. Want to team up? Give us a shout for a free consultation. Together, we can amplify your impact.

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Impact Inspiration & Initiatives Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips Sustainability Tips

20+ Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Resources for Purpose-Driven Organizations

Making the world more diverse, equitable, and inclusive is a collective effort. That’s why it’s important to educate ourselves, assess our personal and professional DEI efforts, and find actionable ways to participate in and support the cause.

We’ve compiled a list of helpful DEI resources you can use to deepen your understanding and enact positive change.

DEI Resources from Organizations Featured in Make The World Better Magazine 

Check out these inspiring guides, toolkits, ebooks, and DEI resources from individuals and organizations that have been featured in Make The World Better Magazine.

Bakau Consulting – Resources Toolkit: Bakau Consulting has compiled an exhaustive list of DEI articles, books, podcasts, and other resources covering a wide range of topics, from fundamentals of anti-oppression to strategies for 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusion and everything in between. Available in English, Spanish, and Russian.

Benevity – Belonging: The Third Piece of the Diversity & Inclusion Puzzle ebook: Benevity fosters a culture of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging and is sharing this fundamental part of their workplace culture with everyone. This guide, directed at corporate social responsibility leaders, teaches companies all about belonging, its importance, and how it benefits the workplace.

Benevity – Your Guide to Creating and Promoting a Culture of Gender Equality: Benevity’s free, downloadable guide is designed to help companies build a workplace culture of gender equality through four actionable steps.

Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion – Glossary of Terms: The Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion (CCDI) has put together a comprehensive 76-page glossary of terms important for understanding and discussing DEI. 

Canadian Centre for Diversity and Inclusion – Responding to social issues – The ‘when’ and the ‘how’ of workplace responses: This guide from CCDI educates employers on if and how to respond to social issues and how to develop a response framework that will ensure employees and communities feel heard and supported.

Diversity in Sustainability – Mamadou Abou-Sarr: Bringing Intentionality to ESG: This interview with Mamadou Abou-Sarr, international financier and Co-Founder of V-Square Quantitative Management, explores the importance of sustainable investing, pressing issues in sustainable finance, and his experiences, achievements, and advice.

QMUNITY – Gender Inclusivity Language: QMUNITY has created a resource that offers ideas for gender-inclusive greetings to ensure mindful language. 

Raven Indigenous Capital Partners – Raven Impact Measurement Framework: Raven Capital’s framework, the Raven Impact Measurement (RIM), provides insight into how they measure the impact the businesses in their portfolio are having on Indigenous Peoples, communities, and on the ecosystem, along with sharing their epistemology, philosophy, investment practices, and alignment to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Sxwpilemaát Siyám / Chief Leanne Joe and Lily Raphael – Step into the River: A Framework for Economic Reconciliation: This Framework draws on Indigenous worldviews about wealth, sustainability, and lived experiences of Indigenous thought leaders and offers values, practices, and ideas for action, providing a deep exploration of the ways in which economic reconciliation could transform our economic system and create positive impact.

DEI Resources from Other Changemakers

AccessibleEmployers – Workplace Accommodation Guide: This guide provides actionable ways to accommodate for both visible and invisible disabilities, proving that increasing workplace accessibility doesn’t need to be complicated or expensive.

Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls: Read the 231 individual Calls for Justice directed at governments, institutions, social service providers, industries, and all Canadians in this two-volume report on the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and Two-Spirited People (MMIWG2S) epidemic in Canada.

The Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion – 10 Tips for an Accessible Website: Discover 10 actionable tips you can start using right away to ensure your website is accessible for all.

The Human Rights Campaign Foundation – Talking About Pronouns in the Workplace: This resource highlights the importance of using pronouns in the workplace, offers helpful background information, and provides examples of opportunities to ask for/offer pronouns. 

Good Good Good – 13 Sites to Find Diverse Stock Photos & Why It Matters: Check out this article for stock photo databases that offer a wide range of diverse and inclusive images, including sites that ethically source authentic photos and help support diverse content creators.

LinkedIn – Inclusive Language For Marketers: A Pocket Guide: LinkedIn has created a guide to help marketers incorporate a more inclusive lexicon in all of their communications. The guide includes best practices and alternatives to common exclusionary language.

McLean & Company – DEI Strategy Research: This DEI guide helps HR leaders create a people-first DEI strategy, empowering them to assess their current efforts and gaps, determine a clear purpose and how to carry it out, implement organization-wide DEI, and measure progress.

One Mind At Work – 2022 CHRO Insights Series: Neurodiversity: Uncover key learnings and best practices surrounding neurodiversity in the workplace from leading experts in this 2022 report.

Ten Thousand Coffees – Create an Inclusive Work Environment During Black History Month and Beyond ebook: Ten Thousand Coffees has designed a guide that shares advice, strategies, and experiences from 15 Black business leaders to help workplaces celebrate Black History Month, take year-long inclusive action, and nurture Black and BIPOC talent.

UBC Sustainability Scholars Program – Exploring a Just and Inclusive Circular Recovery: Part of the UBC Sustainability Scholars Program, this report explores the benefits of the circular economy and the social enterprises that intersect with it, offering insight into the jobs that a transition to the circular economy can generate and share, reuse, and repair businesses within marginalized communities.

Veza – Anti-Racism Sample Statement: Equity, diversity, and inclusion organization Veza Global has provided an anti-racism sample statement, which companies can adapt to create their own anti-racism commitment statement and steps.

Sparx PG’s Resources 

Since DEI is so important to Sparx and a crucial part of our DNA, we have created some DEI marketing resources of our own that we hope will benefit you and your purpose-driven organization:

  • Why and How to Add More Diversity Into Your Marketing Efforts: There are many benefits to adding diversity to your marketing efforts, but in order to avoid performative or disingenuous “woke-washing,” we’ve created a guide on how to do it in an authentic, actionable way to truly make the world better.
  • How to Avoid “Rainbow-Washing” during Pride Month: June is Pride month, which means it’s a great time for your organization to live its values and support the 2SLGTBQIA+ community. However, it’s important to make sure your efforts aren’t “rainbow-washing.” Be sure to read our guide on how to be a true ally this Pride month, and beyond.

Join Forces with Sparx

Sparx would love to work with your purpose-driven organization to build a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable community. Want to team up? Give us a shout for a free consultation. Together, we can help make your diversity story shine.

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

Sparx’s Circular Economy Marketing Advice Masterpost

If we want to make the world better, we need to transition to the circular economy.

Sparx is determined to help amplify the good being done by purpose-driven organizations like yours — we even have our own 3Ps of Sustainability Practices (Philosophy, Possibility, and Profitability) which we use to approach marketing in the circular economy space. As such, we’ve written articles over the years to help changemakers share their sustainability stories, educate individuals about the circular economy, and expand their reach to a wider audience. 

We’ve compiled this masterpost to share advice and highlights from several of our circular economy articles and to provide quick and easy access to each blog post. Keep scrolling for tips you can start using right away! 

Table of Contents

  1. Overcome Challenges Unique to Sustainable Marketing
  2. Avoid the Appearance of Greenwashing Your Brand
  3. Reframe Consumers as Investors
  4. Help Your Audience Rethink Waste
  5. Use Storytelling

Overcome Challenges Unique to Sustainable Marketing

When it comes to convincing people to choose your company, you may face specialized marketing challenges as a purpose-driven organization. 

Here are some ways to overcome these challenges:

  • Communicate Your Value to Customers: Include an “About” page on your website that showcases your backstory, goals, and impacts. Periodically share this page and related content on your social media platforms, emails, and advertisements to educate new customers and remind existing customers of the impact of your good work.
  • Rise to the Challenge of Meeting Higher Customer Expectations: Ensure your marketing-adjacent user experiences, such as your website and your customer service channels, are solid and easy to use, so customer satisfaction is not only met, but exceeded. 
  • Stand Out From the Competition: Focus on what makes your company unique – and get specific. Communicate these differences, and their impacts, through your marketing efforts. Make sure you have a distinct visual identity (i.e. logo, fonts, imagery, and colour palette), and tone of voice that fits with your values and resonates with customers. Keeping up with trends can also ensure that you’re also keeping up with (or getting ahead of) the competition. 

Read more: Challenges That Are Unique to Sustainable Marketing and How to Overcome Them 

Avoid the Appearance of Greenwashing Your Brand 

There is a growing trend of brands making unsubstantiated green marketing claims, which leads them to be under scrutiny for false or misleading information, known as greenwashing. This can lead businesses to lose money and customers, receive negative reviews, and even be the target for class-action lawsuits.  

To avoid being misconstrued as greenwashing, you can: 

  • Get Your Business Tested and Certified: Before you go to market with your green product, it’s advised to get your product certified. CSA Group is a Canadian standards organization “dedicated to safety, social good and sustainability” that can evaluate your product and give you a sustainability mark. 
  • Communicate Your Sustainable Efforts to Customers: Communicate your sustainable efforts in an accessible, honest, and repetitive way for your customers and stakeholders. 

Read more: How to Avoid Greenwashing Your Brand 

Reframe Consumers as Investors

In order to empower consumers and businesses to choose purpose-driven products and services over the “default option,” brands need to provide resources that will educate consumers about true cost. Once made aware of this information, perceived value will begin to shift and purchasers will be equipped to decide if a brand’s impact is really worth their investment.

  • Explain Return on Investment: Consider treating customers more like investors. Investors want to feel that the reward is greater than the risk, they want to see tangible impact, and they want to know they can trust your brand. Also, by reframing customers as investors, the end game for companies and brands shifts to ensure they’ve considered how their customers can feel invested in seeing the brand they support thrive. 
  • Draw Lessons from Luxury Brands: Consumers of luxury goods spend their money because it allows them to make a statement about the vision they want to project. If purpose-driven brands follow this example and clearly communicate why their products or services are worth the premium price, it will encourage customers to invest. 
  • Report Your Impact: Whether you use social media, press releases, e-mail newsletters or other documentation, your steps to live out your vision can’t be taken in secret. They have to be a part of your communications flow, ingrained into your online presence, and something your audience can easily access through your website. Seventh Generation, for example, publicly presents their Climate Impact Report. 
  • Build Trust with Third-Party Recognition: Certifications such as 1% for the Planet, along with other recognitions such as third-party partnerships, programs, initiatives, and event participation all indicate to your customers that they can trust they will have a real impact when they invest in your brand’s goods and services.

Read more: Mind the Value-Action Gap: How Reframing Consumers as Investors Can Improve Marketing Results for Purpose-Driven Brands  

Help Your Audience Rethink Waste

Sparx attended the Zero Waste Conference 2022, which got us inspired about building a waste-free future.

One of the most inspiring moments of the conference was when Katie Treggiden presented her closing remarks on rethinking and recategorizing waste. By redrawing our mental model of the idea of “waste” from something that should be discarded into something that has value, we can rethink all points along a production sequence to move towards circularity. 

By starting with the end in mind and recognizing that what we view as disruption is actually going back to the way we used to do things (i.e before mass production methods became the norm), we can start making tangible progress. Somewhat poetically, we have to go back to where we came from in order to truly move forward. 

Another important piece of advice given by Treggiden was that we are all capable of sustainably effecting change, and the best way to do that is to find the intersection of what we’re good at, what the world needs, and what we love doing – a piece of wisdom that is very close to the Japanese concept of ikigai. 

  • Marketing the Circular Economy: We heard it in the words of Shane Koyczan that “stories burn lessons into our memories, they become how we remember.” These words resonate with our view that storytelling and marketing will be essential to moving hearts and minds to get on board with embracing the circular economy.  

Read more: Zero Waste Conference 2022 Recap: Inspiring a Flood of Change 

Use Storytelling

Storytelling will help you better engage, inspire, and lead your audience on the long journey to the day when the circular economy just becomes “the economy.” 

  • Know Your Target Market Audience(s): Break down your audiences into primary and secondary groups through segmentation. It’s important that you get specific with your various audiences to understand who will have the most impact, and, therefore, who you should be reaching and creating resonance with. Depending on what sector you’re in within the circular economy space there may be unique audiences you’ll want to target.
  • Determine Your Current Challenges: What are the current challenges/problems your organization is facing that marketing/communications could help overcome? Knowing these challenges can help you focus on a story that would appeal to your target audience and cause them to perform a desired action. 
  • Use Storytelling to Reach Your Impact Goals: Storytelling allows you to activate the imagination of your audience, which can help you stand out from the noise, establish a deep connection, and ultimately get their buy-in.

Here are some tips for effective storytelling:

  • Establish a brand voice if you don’t have one
  • Choose a clear, concise message
  • Include personal anecdotes when appropriate
  • Look to others for inspiration. For example, check out Warby Parker’s Our Story page 

Read more: Why and How Circular Economy Companies in Canada Should Use Storytelling

Communicate Your Circular Economy Impact

Looking for marketing services to share your circular economy story or give a specific project a boost? The experts at Sparx would love to help amplify your efforts. Contact us for a free consultation. 

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

Diversity and Marketing: Why and How CAMSC-Certified Organizations Should Communicate Their Diversity

As a CAMSC-certified company, diversity is likely a key part of your identity and a value your brand is committed to supporting. Communicating this commitment to diversity will help drive your impact and demonstrate that diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is an authentic part of your brand. 

Keep scrolling to discover why sharing your DEI story is an important step on your impact journey and to learn actionable tips that will give your purpose-driven marketing strategy a boost.

Why is DEI Marketing Important?

A DEI marketing strategy is no longer a nice-to-have, it can be make-or-break. In a 2019 survey conducted by Adobe, 61% of respondents said diversity in ads was important. The majority of consumers care about diversity, equity, and inclusion and are interested in marketing that visibly communicates a company’s commitment to DEI.

Marketing that is diverse, equitable, and inclusive also builds trust with current and prospective customers. In the same Adobe survey, 38% of the respondents said they’re more likely to trust a brand with diversity in its advertising, while a Microsoft Advertising Inclusive Marketing Research study found that 70% of Gen Z consumers feel greater trust for brands that represent diversity in their ads. 

Along with building trust and demonstrating a commitment to shared values, DEI representation in marketing drives up engagement and creates long-lasting emotional bonds with your desired audience. For example, 76% of Gen Z consumers are more likely to support brands with authentic advertising. 

DEI marketing is important for another reason as well: it draws in loyal, like-minded consumers who share your vision of a better world, and thus, are more likely to be interested in supporting your CAMSC-certified diverse business and furthering the DEI cause. A recent Deloitte study found that 57% of consumers are more loyal to brands with a commitment to addressing social inequities and that 90% of Gen Z consumers are more willing to make a purchase they believe is beneficial to society. 

When a CAMSC-certified company uses DEI marketing to communicate their unique and authentic diversity story, it’s a win for everyone. It will drive up visibility and engagement for your brand, expand your audience, and further the DEI cause, creating positive impact for all. 

What Does Effective DEI Marketing Look Like?

DEI marketing should be representative of both your internal team and the audience you want to engage with your brand. So, what does that look like exactly? 

Effective DEI marketing removes barriers, celebrates differences, and invites everyone to interact with you by communicating your unique story and values in a way that forms a strong emotional connection. It contains imagery and messaging that is accessible, inclusive, representative of folks from different walks of life and backgrounds, and keeps gender balance in mind. 

After all, representation is a bridge to your brand. Consumers want to feel seen and heard, and will ask themselves, “can I see myself in this?,” which is why 47% of Gen Z consumers are more likely to trust brands that they feel represent them in their advertising. Unfortunately, a Top Design Firms’ study found that only 29% of BIPOC consumers feel that their race is accurately represented in advertising, and a 2021 Facebook study found that 54% of consumers do not feel culturally represented in online advertising, even though 71% of consumers expect brands to promote diversity and inclusion and 59% are more loyal to brands with diverse and inclusive online advertising.

If consumers can’t see themselves as the right fit for an organization’s product or service then they will not feel connected to a brand, and that feeling could result in decreased engagement. To build that bridge and invite in your desired audience, your DEI marketing should represent them accurately while avoiding homogenous, biased, or cliched imagery and messaging.

Communicating Your Diversity 

As part of an effective DEI marketing strategy, you can communicate your diversity story with the following suggestions.

  • Put your CAMSC certification in places where they will be seen, such as your website footer, email signatures, social media profiles, and advertisements and collateral. If you’ve invested in certification, be sure to put it on display.
  • Use images that are representative of diversity, equity, and inclusion across all your content and channels. Consider doing a content audit, if necessary. It’s important to be vigilant when it comes to your visuals so that you avoid exclusionary, biased, or cliched imagery. There are a lot of different databases with stock image collections that represent different demographics and underrepresented groups. You can also use images of your diverse CAMSC-certified team on your website, instead of stock images.
  • Avoid exclusionary language choices. Words are powerful, which is why it’s important to carefully select each word to ensure it supports your message and welcomes your audience. Stay up to date on politically correct terms, look at how different groups refer to themselves and echo their wording to avoid problematic language, use gender neutral words, and be mindful not to include language that supports stereotypes.
  • Ensure that your content is accessible for individuals with disabilities. The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) provides the international standard for making web-based content accessible for people with disabilities. You can test your webpages and marketing collateral against these standards to help you determine how accessible your website will be for everyone. Make adjustments as needed and ensure text and visuals are clear, readable, and compatible with screen readers.
  • Get everyone’s input. Since your CAMSC-certified organization has a diverse team, it can be extremely helpful to give everyone the chance to provide their input. By bringing forward their unique backgrounds, perspectives, and identities, your teammates can help identify problem areas and provide innovative ways to communicate to audience segments you want to include. Just a note: don’t expect diverse employees to heavy-lift educating fellow staff and/or consumers. Be respectful of their time, energy, and boundaries, and consider how you can compensate them for their efforts if they agree to help out beyond their usual job description scope. 

Conclusion

Integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion into your marketing, communications, and content is a huge part of walking your talk and sparking positive change. Creating a more equitable, inclusive, and diverse society rests on all of us. If you can demonstrate that you can do this in your business by marketing with purpose and communicating your DEI story, other people will look at what you’ve done as an example of what they can do as well.

Join Forces With Sparx

As a CAMSC-certified organization, Sparx would love to work with you to build a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable community. Want to team up? Give us a shout for a free consultation. Together, we can help make your diversity story shine.

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

Mind the Value-Action Gap: How Reframing Consumers as Investors Can Improve Marketing Results for Purpose-Driven Brands

When it comes to making purpose-driven purchases, there’s a gap that can’t be ignored. While 65% of consumers want to buy from purpose-driven brands only 26% do. To make the world better, we need to narrow this divide. So how can you empower more people to choose purchases that are better for the world? Here are six recommendations purpose-driven brands can incorporate into their impact marketing so customers are empowered to vote with their dollar.

Focus on Customer Education

We’ve all heard that phrase of “voting with your dollar” as a way to directly align purchasing behaviour with desired outcomes. The problem is, it’s not that easy or simple for most people to do that. 

We believe that most people, given no other barrier, would choose to purchase a ‘better’ option for the planet, however affordability and perceived cost are genuine hurdles to being able to cast one’s vote. 

For example, in today’s world, environmentally sustainable products tend to require more time, effort, and ingenuity to make and, as such, their cost is typically higher. The consequence: it’s hard for these products to exist in large supply. 

In order to empower consumers and businesses to choose purpose-driven products and services over the “default option,” brands need to provide resources that will educate consumers about true cost. Once made aware of this information, perceived value will begin to shift and purchasers will be equipped to decide if a brand’s impact is really worth their investment.

Explain Return on Investment

This brings us to a critical point – purpose-driven brands should consider treating their customers more like investors. 

Investors want to feel that the reward is greater than the risk, they want to see tangible impact, and they want to know they can trust your brand. Also, by reframing customers as investors, the end game for companies and brands shifts to ensure they’ve considered how their customers can feel invested in seeing the brand they support thrive. 

Aligning marketing efforts to meet these needs and viewing customer purchases as capital to support your cause will help bridge the value-action gap and create a more-deeply engaged customer base.

Draw Lessons from Luxury Brands

That people are willing to pay more for one type of product relative to another, regardless of a difference in quality, is not new. 

Luxury brands, for example, have already figured this out. Consumers of luxury goods, such as a $4000+ purse, spend their money because it allows them to make a statement about the vision they want to project.

If purpose-driven brands follow this example and clearly communicate why their products or services are worth the premium price, it will encourage customers to invest. For instance, Patagonia has been very successful in both selling products at a high price point and expressing their values. Their customers support and participate in Patagonia’s impact by purchasing their products to the point where the Patagonia brand is now symbolic of a more conscientious purchase. 

Communicate the Reward Rather Than the Risk 

You know what your brand’s vision for the future is, but does your audience? 

If there’s one important lesson to draw from investor psychology, it’s that people opt for a reason to believe in something working out. The key for purpose-driven brands is not to just talk about your product or service, but to truly market your vision for the world. 

If you want consumers to invest in the true cost of the product or service you’re offering, you have to connect what you’re selling to that vision of a better world, and one very effective way to do this is with storytelling. 

When purpose-driven companies use storytelling, it proves that the reward customers receive from investing in purchases from brands are worth the risk. This is vital for attaining customer loyalty and gaining long-term investors, rather than short-term consumers.

TOMS’ Our Story page presents a compelling narrative, which traces the company’s impact goals and accomplishments from 2006 to the present. Along with these highlights, it showcases their signature design and communicates tangible progress so customers can read more about their impact story.

Report Your Impact

Investors live and breathe progress reports – the same is true of your customers. What your company or organization is doing to help improve the world has to go beyond your product or service. 

Your active and ongoing work to create impact needs to be documented publicly and transparently in order to provide your consumer base with the updates they require to continue investing. 

Whether you use social media, press releases, e-mail newsletters or other documentation, your steps to live out your vision can’t be taken in secret. They have to be a part of your communications flow, ingrained into your online presence, and something your audience can easily access through your website.

Seventh Generation, for example, publicly presents their Climate Impact Report. Key takeaways and infographics furnish the page, along with a link to download the full report. They also publicly share product safety data sheets.

Build Trust with Third-Party Recognition

Deciding whether or not to make an investment requires trust. Your customers don’t want to have to conduct due diligence every single time they think about making a purchase. That’s what makes involvement with trusted third parties so vital – it’s a quick and effective way to build trust.

Organizations like UN Global Compact invest significant resources (i.e. spend money on marketing) to inform consumers about brands that are committed to reliable and higher standards of operation. 

Participating in initiatives like UN Global Compact’s Sustainable Development Goals proves that your brand is one that people can trust to deliver the impact you promise. People believe in the UN’s criteria and goals, and that in turn will enable them to believe in your brand.

B Lab is an international network of organizations designed to lead economic systems change and to make business a force for good. Their B Corporation Certification is awarded to companies that are dedicated to impact, demonstrating a high level of social and environmental performance, transparency, and accountability.

1% for the Planet is an initiative that was co-created by Patagonia founder, Yvon Chouinard, which drives environmental philanthropy. Companies that gain 1% for the Planet Certification meet the commitment of donating 1% of their sales to environmental causes.

Certifications such as these, along with other recognitions such as third-party partnerships, programs, initiatives, and event participation all indicate to your customers that they can trust they will have a real impact when they invest in your brand’s goods and services. It proves your brand’s commitment to doing good, and that commitment will make your customers want to commit too. 

Conclusion

Ultimately, we believe most people will want to shop for better items or services given the opportunity. With price still a barrier –  real or perceived – reframing conscious consumers as investors helps to rethink your approach to building a long-term, sustainable, successful enterprise. 

The capital clients or donors bring with them is an investment in making the world better – which means tapping into what we know about investor behaviour and psychology can be an important way to help bridge the value-action gap.

Get in Touch

If you’re looking for more ideas on how to align your marketing efforts to achieve this goal, we’d be happy to talk. Plus, check out Make The World Better Magazine to see how purpose-driven organizations are affecting positive change in the world. 

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

Considerations Before Hiring a Marketing Specialist

When it comes to the purpose-driven space, marketing efforts not only include standard marketing goals but also serve to inspire action, communicate impact, attract the attention of like-minded audiences, and help the organization face greater degrees of scrutiny and expectation than brands outside the space. 

A lot of purpose-driven organizations search for a talented marketing specialist who can help achieve these goals by checking every possible box. But finding someone with the right combination of skills, innovative thinking, and expertise is no simple task. So, what should you look for when you want to hire a marketing specialist? 
Here’s what a marketing specialist should do, what they shouldn’t do, and what are the alternatives for a full-stack solution at a comparable cost.

What Marketing Specialists Should Do 

According to Glassdoor, marketing specialists “develop, execute, and monitor marketing programs across a variety of channels.” While the scope of a marketing specialist will vary on the budget, needs, and size of the organization, their focus should be on, you guessed it, marketing. 

A marketing specialist’s role should primarily consist of:

  • Understanding key business initiatives and implementing the marketing plan/strategy;
  • Supporting, project managing, and coordinating tasks for the execution of marketing campaigns;
  • Tracking marketing initiatives to adjust if necessary;
  • Conducting research on key areas, including competitors, customers, and trends, to identify opportunities for marketing;  
  • Working with the creative team (i.e. copywriter and graphic designer) to develop marketing collateral.

What Marketing Specialists Shouldn’t Do  

Finding a jack-of-all-trades marketing specialist, equipped with an entire team’s worth of skill sets, is like finding a unicorn. Even if someone has all the desired skills, the sheer volume of work they are expected to handle tends to reduce their bandwidth and increase the chances of burnout and human error. 

A marketing specialist should not be expected to:

  • Work independently, expecting them to be an expert in and cover all areas of marketing;
  • Create professional-level brand and marketing material (i.e. copy, design, video, etc.);
  • Carry out duties that should be assigned to a marketing manager, such as setting budgets, developing the marketing strategy, or reporting to executives; 
  • Perform IT and HR tasks.

Finding the Right Solution

While an in-house marketing specialist may be the right choice for your organization, outsourcing your marketing may be a better solution depending on your needs. If you are interested in a full-stack marketing solution, agencies and vendors like Sparx are an excellent alternative to consider.

Marketing agencies fill knowledge gaps with specialized expertise, creating professional marketing strategies and campaigns. As a team of experts, they provide top-quality talent across multiple channels, from analytics and web design to branding and advertising. 

Having a dedicated team of experts who already know how to work together, consistently work to stay current on the latest trends and best practices in the space and can assist your in-house marketing professional means your existing staff won’t have to deprioritize other tasks, and you don’t have to worry about the hiring and training process.

Not only that, but marketing agencies tend to use sophisticated tools and technologies, such as pricier software for design or analytics, that may not be accessible to in-house teams because of budget constraints. This leads to new levels of efficiency and effectiveness and opens up new avenues of innovation.

Working with marketing vendors and agencies also presents a lot of flexibility. You can scale up or down based on your needs, enabling you to find the ideal solution for your marketing budget.

Sparx is a Mission-Aligned Alternative

Looking for a full-stack, purpose-driven marketing solution? Contact the experts at Sparx for a free consultation. We’d love to help make your impact story shine.

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

3 Marketing Best Practices for Your B Corporation

Achieving B Corporation status is a major milestone for many purpose-driven organizations. If your organization has received or recertified your B Corp status, firstly: congrats! Secondly, some good news: marketing your B Corp in the right way can help you stand out from your peers, deliver a deeper emotional connection with your stakeholders and ultimately maximize your organization’s impact.

How can you make the most of your marketing efforts? Here are three best practices for your B Corporation. 

Tell Your Certification Story

While you may know how rigorous it is to achieve and maintain a B Corp certification, an important question to ask is whether or not your audience does? 

Storytelling is a powerful tool for any purpose-driven marketing strategy. Incorporating your certification journey into your brand’s story can build credibility, emotionally engage your audience, and present a roadmap for achieving mission-critical goals.

For example, with strategic storytelling, your audience can gain an understanding of what compelled your organization to pursue B Corp status and where that fits into the big picture of your brand’s purpose. 

Communicating your intentions, whether it was legitimizing your existing world-changing efforts or deepening your relationships with like-minded suppliers, employees, and stakeholders by having an internationally-recognized stamp of approval, helps to build trust by explaining why having a B Corp certification matters to you. 

Additionally, the more that consumers and other businesses understand the work and commitment it takes to receive and maintain certification, the more respect the certification will command.

An easy way to call attention to your B Corp story is to have a dedicated web page or section on your About page that speaks to your B Corp certification. Once you have a landing point for the story, you can share it with new audience members (e.g. new email subscribers), as well as link to it on your social media channels. Budget-permitting, it could also be a fitting piece of content for an awareness campaign.

Communicate Your Impact

Another important best practice in marketing your B Corp is communicating the difference your brand or organization is making in the world. 

Your audience, whether it is potential or existing customers, as well as other important stakeholders value knowing that putting their support behind a brand results in tangible outcomes. 

So, whether it’s making progress in achieving your UN Global Compact’s Sustainable Development Goals program (if applicable), the amount of waste diverted from a landfill or the number of trees planted as a result of doing business with you, using numbers to clearly communicate progress and impact makes it clear to your audience that your organization values making a difference. 

While it’s a big feat to receive B Corp certification, it’s important to stay accountable to your stakeholders and share impact information as content (e.g. with impact reports or infographics) on your website, blog posts, email newsletters, and/or social media channels. 

Demonstrate That You Walk Your Talk 

Companies tend to think their internal operations aren’t newsworthy, but we know the power that small actions adding up over time can have.

When it comes to creating content to deliver to those who’ve expressed an interest in you, there’s a good chance your community will find small wins just as impactful and meaningful as your big PR pushes.  

As a B Corp, it is particularly important to demonstrate via your marketing mix that you are living by your mission to not only achieve and maintain your B Corp status, but to show your stakeholders that you’re truly “walking your talk.”

Here are some tangible suggestions on how to market walking your talk:

  • Keep your audience up-to-date on mission-aligned events you attend, company functions, and staff education sessions, and use these to generate content, such as event takeaways.
  • Add authenticity into your content by featuring profiles of your employees on your website and on your social media channels.
  • Make sure your website content is accessible, such as using alt-text, considering readability and design, and more.
  • Announce certifications, third-party recognitions and partnerships, and process updates.
  • Be transparent about your supply chain. Working with certified diverse suppliers, like Sparx, boosts your B Corp score and ensures your procurement remains mission-aligned.

Conclusion

The more that consumers and other businesses know about what it takes to achieve and maintain B Corp status, the greater the value that certification will have. 

By investing time and energy in these three important marketing best practices, we’re confident that you can help set your B Corp up for success, and ultimately provide the world with a better way of doing business. 

Get in Touch

Want to use marketing to share your B Corp story? Whether you need extra hands, hearts or ideas on how to do so, we’d love for you to contact the experts at Sparx for a free consultation. 

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

Why and How Circular Economy Companies in Canada Should Use Storytelling

In a world where consumption rules and waste is taking over, your organization is ready to help save the day.

As a circular economy organization, you already know the benefits of reusing, repairing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, repurposing, or recycling products. But the journey to rally others on your quest for impact may seem incredibly lonely.  

Bam! Suddenly, a conveniently-timed character has entered the scene to help guide your marketing and offer a beacon of clarity to your communications. Their name is storytelling. 

Setting and achieving your impact goals can be daunting given that the circular economy hasn’t entered the mainstream yet. And if getting attention is hard enough, imagine sustaining that attention to explain something that most people haven’t even really heard of. 

As an impact-led enterprise, connecting with your audience at a deeper level is crucial. Storytelling will help you better engage, inspire, and lead your audience on the long journey to the day when the circular economy just becomes “the economy.” 

To avoid getting lost in the plot and deliver compelling communications leading up to the Zero Waste Conference, here’s how to effectively use storytelling to reach your impact goals. (Cue the cliffhanger.) 

Know Your Target Market Audience(s)

Before you can begin using storytelling as a marketing tool, you first need to break down your audiences into primary and secondary groups through segmentation. 

According to Bizfluent, “the primary target market is the group of consumers a business covets the most or feels is most likely to be the purchaser of its product or service.” As you can imagine, secondary audiences are those that fall closely after primary in terms of desirability. 

It’s important that you get specific with your various audiences to understand who will have the most impact, and, therefore, who you should be reaching and creating resonance with. Depending on what sector you’re in within the circular economy/zero waste space, as well as your impact goals, there may be unique audiences you’ll want to target.

Here are a few sector-specific audiences:

Public/Government: Legislators, personnel, general public.

For-profit: Since the circular economy is new in the mainstream, audiences may need to get created; however, they may be cohorts of current “green” consumers. 

Non-profit: Employees (often unpaid volunteers), donors, board members, etc. 

Determine Your Current Challenges

Before you can devise a story to share through your marketing channels, ask yourself: What are the current challenges/problems your organization is facing that marketing/communications could help overcome? 

Knowing these challenges can help you focus on a story (or stories) that would appeal to your target audience and cause them to perform a desired action. 

For example, if you’re a non-profit in need of volunteers, perhaps you could highlight one of your current volunteers, including why they started volunteering, what they like about volunteering, and how volunteering at your organization makes an impact on the planet. Individuals who connect with the “characters” in the story are more likely to consider contributing to your organization, including possibly volunteering.

While most circular economy organizations may currently face the common issue of educating stakeholders about the zero waste space and the circular economy, there may be challenges specific to your organization and/or sector that are worth focusing on in more detail. 

Sector-specific challenges:

Public/Government: Getting funding and legislation passed and/or buy-in from stakeholders.

For-profit: Audience growth, lead generation, and/or sales. 

Non-profits: Appealing to board members, getting donations, finding volunteers, etc. 

There may also be challenges you’re facing with your marketing efforts. Luckily, we offer tips on how to identify and overcome them. 

Use Storytelling to Reach Your Impact Goals

Now that you know your audience and have identified your current challenges, you’re ready for the inciting incident: telling your story(ies). 

While it may seem daunting, humans have been telling stories for thousands of years; it’s sort of our thing. 

Storytelling allows you to activate the imagination of your audience, which can help you stand out from the noise, establish a deep connection, and ultimately get their buy-in.

Perhaps you didn’t realize that you were already doing it by leading with your values, but marketing relies heavily on telling stories — in this case, your story. 

In order to do this effectively, you need to take this “novel” concept of the circular economy — something, of course, Indigenous people have been doing for centuries — and package it in a way that is accessible and familiar.  

Here are some tips for effective storytelling:

  • Establish a brand voice if you don’t have one
  • Choose a clear, concise message
  • Have a clear structure; a beginning, middle, and end is a good place to start
  • Include personal anecdotes when appropriate
  • Use one of seven familiar story archetypes, such as Overcoming the Monster or The Quest 
  • Look to others for inspiration. For example, check out Warby Parker’s Our Story page 

By applying these tips, you can more effectively share your brand vision to achieve your impact goals, thus helping the circular economy at large — and the world, one story at a time. 

Get in Touch

At Sparx, our mission is to create content to make the world better.

If you’re in the business of making the world better too and need help creating great content, digitally delighting your customers, marketing your business, or you simply have marketing-related questions, the experts at Sparx Publishing Group are always available to chat. You can reach us here.

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

What Purpose-Driven Companies Need to Know About Insurance

Entrepreneurs understand the fine balance between risk and reward, especially when it comes to doing business.

For purpose-driven companies who are innovating and taking risks in order to make the world better, the reward may include nothing less than helping save the planet itself.

But what happens when the insurance companies, a crucial component in the function of the economy, aren’t prepared to take the same risks?

Sparx Publishing Group spoke with James K. Asaad, President & Vice Chairman at Ferrari and Associates Toronto, who has extensive experience working with emerging industries, about the complex relationship between these businesses and the insurance industry.

The Current Relationship Between Insurance and Purpose-Driven Companies

As many business owners and seasoned entrepreneurs already know, securing adequate insurance coverage is a prerequisite to doing business. Insurance is embedded into every part of commerce and every transaction that takes place. 

But what does insurance actually do for a company?

Put simply, insurance effectively takes away various elements of risk your business would otherwise be liable for, in exchange for a small percentage of what those risks would actually cost you.

However, the insurance industry in general is not very friendly towards innovation. 

“The insurance market has been hardening since 2019, exacerbated by COVID,” Asaad said. “That issue is acute for startup segments… because the insurers that have been around for a long time are insuring a lot of these businesses which have had a long runway in history. It’s an industry that looks backwards and then makes decisions on the future.”

In another view, the insurance industry’s perceived resistance to insuring purpose-driven companies seems contradictory. Insurance is designed to mitigate uncertainty, and from that perspective, a better world is a predictable world. 

However, nature is becoming increasingly unpredictable, in large part due to climate change. If a company’s work helps mitigate the effects of climate change and restore some of that predictability, it seems logical that the insurance industry would want to incentivize these companies to succeed.

Perplexingly, this does not appear to be the case.

“Unfortunately, when the capital markets and entrepreneurs are always looking into the future… but the insurance company can’t stop looking at the rearview mirror, you slow down that innovation,” said Asaad.

Challenges Around Securing Insurance Coverage

The insurance industry’s pervasiveness and challenging relationship with innovative companies has resulted in an environment that can make it difficult for businesses in the impact space to get off the ground.

“It’s become an unfortunate situation where businesses are unable to launch,” remarked Asaad. “They can’t secure contracts if they don’t have insurance.”

In cases where purpose-driven companies are able to secure insurance, pricing is often a hurdle, especially for start-ups.

“As a result of reduced interest in that space, there are insurance companies that have become opportunistic,” said Asaad. “They do charge a premium to insure these companies. Recognizing that they’re one of few that have an interest in underwriting these things, they can call their shots on pricing.”

One potential solution to the pricing problem is grants and subsidies for entrepreneurs. However, Asaad believes this only addresses part of the overarching issue.

“We are seeing an increased amount of this capital that’s being provided to the entrepreneurs, be that by the private sector or the government,” he said. “That does help to remedy the situation in the sense that it gives them the capital they need to secure insurance. However, it does not change the insurance segment’s vision or view on startup businesses and startup segments.”

Though these challenges are undoubtedly tough, they’re not insurmountable.

Critical Shifts in the Industry, and What Still Needs to Change

There is a growing sentiment in the insurance industry towards the opportunity purpose-driven companies represent. 

“The competitive landscape right now, from an insurance perspective, is ready to be disrupted. What I’m seeing right now is a lot of younger people who see an opportunity within the industry to disrupt it, and have an entrepreneurial mindset, that want to insure and support the vision of these new segments where the journey is to make the world a better place,” noted Asaad. 

Asaad compares these more entrepreneurial insurance companies to investment bankers. “They want to get to know: who are the people, the players, that have this idea? What’s their vision? What’s their aptitude, their experience?”

According to Asaad, one important change that still needs to be made across the insurance industry is a shift in mindset

“We have to take the mindset of supporting the entrepreneur and supporting the segments that are trying to make the world a better place. That is our duty.”

What Can Purpose-Driven Companies Do?

In emerging sectors, where there’s not a lot of data and history available, it’s difficult to quantify execution risk from an insurance perspective. That’s why it’s important to make as many unknowns as possible into “knowns.”

To turn unknowns into knowns for his clients, Asaad uses a method called the Insurance Investment Presentation. “We want the insurance companies to get comfortable investing their capital into these leaders and businesses,” he said. 

“We want to start to recognize some of the operational pieces of the client or the business as it relates to insurance… When you get a sense of what the ecosystem looks like for their product or service, and how much control over it they have, you get a better sense of their ability to actually execute.”

Purpose-driven companies will also want to be particular when selecting an insurance broker to work with.

“Choose an insurance broker who demonstrates an interest in you and your business, an understanding of who you are, what your vision is, and who is fluent in the language of entrepreneurship, law, and finance,” Asaad recommends. 

“They must exemplify the qualities of your business while packaging your story creatively in a manner which navigates the needs of underwriters in today’s market.”

Finally, purpose-driven companies should feel empowered to speak up about the challenges their companies are facing when it comes to insurance, and encourage others in the sector to share their stories as well. 

If entrepreneurs advocate for focus on innovation in the insurance industry, meaningful change is possible, and with it, a chance to build a better world.