Category: Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips Sustainability Tips

How to Avoid Greenwashing Your Brand

With over two-thirds of North American consumers preferring sustainable brands today, it’s no surprise that many organizations are responding by prioritizing environmentally-conscious business practices, such as reducing carbon emissions, using recycled materials, or donating to related causes. 

This has given way to green marketing, which is essentially organizations’ efforts to shout how amazing their environmentalism is through their advertising. All good things to fight the climate crisis, right? 

Well, unfortunately, 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.  

While Kermit the Frog may think “it’s not easy being green,” we think implementing authentically green business practices isn’t an out-of-reach ambition. At Sparx Publishing Group, innovation and sustainability is at the forefront of the content we create to make the world better. Here are our three tips to avoid greenwashing and reap the rewards of implementing green marketing into your marketing strategy. 

Become a Truly Green Business

The first step to avoid greenwashing is to practice what you preach. Do your research and commit to becoming a green business for real. Not only will you be contributing to positive environmental change, but marketing your green practices can improve your stock performance and get more loyal, higher-paying customers, as discussed in this Barron’s article. 

For more information on sustainable business practices, check out our article. Once you have an idea of ways you can make the world better, learn about setting SMART goals in cause marketing, including SMART goals examples. You can also harness the power of technology and social media to do good. 

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, if approved, give you a sustainability mark, which will set you apart in the marketplace. 

As well, any buildings you operate can be evaluated with green building certifications. Becoming a B Corp (Benefits Corporation) is another excellent seal of approval to prove to customers you reach the highest standard of social and environmental performance.  

Communicate Your Sustainable Efforts to Customers

While it can be tempting to look better on paper, it’s worse to be discovered fraudulent or misleading. Communicate your sustainable efforts in an accessible, honest, and repetitive way for your customers and stakeholders. 

For example, this study found that Timberland, a United States-based manufacturer, sticks labels that resemble nutrition facts onto their product boxes. These labels list information regarding the company’s environmental practices, such as their environmental footprint, number of trees they’ve planted, and the total of their renewable, organic, and recycled material in their products. 

We’re Here to Help You

Sparx Publishing Group is a full-service marketing agency creating content to make the world better. If you need help with making a real, positive impact without greenwashing your brand, reach out to Sparx here. 

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

Why and How to Lead with Your Values in Content Marketing

As the saying (or misquote from Field of Dreams) goes, “If you build it, they will come.” You have big dreams of making the world better, and chances are, there are people out there who share the same dreams and values.

Connecting with people to grow a value-aligned following can result in positive benefits for your organization in the long-term. Not saying that short-term wins aren’t important, but focusing on them exclusively, is, well, a little short-sighted. Here’s why and how you should lead with your values in content marketing. 

Why You Should Lead with Your Values in Content Marketing

1. Grow Your Community

By leading with your values, you humanize your organization, which makes it easy for people who share those same values to naturally gravitate towards your brand. This community is not only a place for relationship building and education around your important work, it’s also an invaluable source of feedback on how your organization is doing.

Plus, these followers represent a crucial part of your customer base. 90% of people buy from brands they follow on social media, according to a Sprout Social survey. The bigger your community, the more potential customers you have.

2. Maintain a Loyal Customer Base

When people like what you do and connect to it, they tend to stick around. And not only do they stick around, but they may become your biggest fans and cheerleaders. They’ll likely recommend you to your friends, write positive reviews, and continue to make purchases. 

Loyal customers are the right people to have on your side, considering customers trust family and friends’ opinions the most before making a purchase. That’s pretty powerful stuff.

3. Improve Your Bottom Line

If you’ve read point #1 and #2, this point should come as no surprise. Leading with your values means growing a loyal following, which leads to growing a loyal customer base, which leads to word of mouth spreading to even more future fans and customers. 

It’s also important to remember that the product or service you offer makes the world better. Not only does leading with your values help your bottom line and keep your organization growing, it also helps you achieve your environmental and social goals, because more people are making the better choice by interacting with your brand. 

How to Lead with Your Values in Content Marketing

1. Prepare Value-Driven Content for Each Phase of the Marketing Journey 

In case you weren’t aware or hadn’t considered how prospective customers become loyal fans, we’re here to convert you to using the customer journey in your content marketing efforts (wink). If you don’t have a marketing strategy, now is a good time to make one. And don’t worry, your marketing efforts don’t have to break the bank, there are plenty of ways to up your marketing game on a budget.  

Here are the four stages of the customer journey to keep in mind when creating marketing content:

  • Awareness – Like it says on the tin, this is the stage where you’re building awareness of your organization among prospective customers. Content marketing at this stage should be educational and start with why you do what you do.
    This can include revamping your “About” page, informative infographics, or educational videos that communicate your values and how you’re making the world better. If you’re unsure how to communicate your values, check out our blog. What’s important here is to be genuine, prove your value, and show that you offer a solution. 
  • Consideration – Now that your followers know what you do (and why), they may reach the point where they’re considering your product or service. At this stage, you’ll want to stand out from competitors. While you no longer have to focus quite so much on educating customers, it’s important to move customers closer to a decision while not pushing too hard. You can build trust by creating content that positions you as an expert in the space, such as case studies and FAQs.
  • Conversion – This stage is where your customers are ready to make a purchase – you just may need to edge them along. Your content marketing here should remind them why your product or service is the more ethical and sustainable choice, and what differentiates your company from any competitors.
  • Loyalty – As mentioned in the first part of this blog, leading with your values is a great way to build customer loyalty. Continuing to create share-worthy content about the amazing work you’re doing enables your customers and fans to share your content and amplify your good work, getting more people into your customer funnel at the awareness stage. 

2. Lean on Your Customers and Community

Remember your growing community? They’re also an invaluable source of impactful content ideas. Your community can tell you exactly what kind of content is important to them. Are they sharing an important cause? Using a specific hashtag? See if there are any aligned passions that make sense for your organization to get involved with. For example, Lyft Toronto acknowledges the pride of the LGBTQ2SAI+ community in the city and actively gets involved in the city’s pride events every year. 

Get in Touch

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

If you need help securing your website, creating great content, building experiences to delight your customers, marketing your business, or you simply have 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 Sustainability Tips

Challenges That Are Unique to Sustainable Marketing and How to Overcome Them

Taking the road less travelled to make the world better may result in a bumpier ride along the way. Your purpose-driven organization is likely no stranger to unique challenges like sourcing sustainable materials or getting certified (for example, through Greenguard or B Corp). 

But in the end, you know that it’s all worth it, because you’re making tangible and positive impacts on not just people, but the planet.

However, just because you know your organization is doing the right thing, that doesn’t always mean customers know. When it comes to convincing people to choose your company, you may face specialized marketing challenges as a purpose-driven organization. Here’s our guide to overcoming them.

Communicate Your Value to Customers

Brands that pay fair wages, use sustainable materials, and have ethical production processes usually incur higher operational costs, so generally charge more for products that may also have an inexpensive “fast factory-made” counterpart. 

Money-conscious customers may be tempted by the cheaper option, so you’ll need to communicate your value and impact.

It’s a good idea to 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.

Kotn, a B Corp-certified Canadian clothing retailer, is a great example of how to do this. Check out their About page here. 

Another way to let customers know that they’re making the more sustainable, ethical choice is to inform them of the impact they have by choosing your products or organization. For example, US shoe retailer Thousand Fell shows the driving emissions avoided, bulb energy saved, and plastic bottles recycled for each product, so customers know their individual impact before purchasing. 

Rise to the Challenge of Meeting Higher Customer Expectations

Customers that are willing to choose an environmentally and socially conscious product generally have higher expectations, as they’re potentially paying more and waiting longer for their product.

It’s a good idea to 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. 

It’s also important to remember that these are well-researched, well-educated customers, which means they’ll likely be able to sniff out any potential marketing disingenuity, like greenwashing. Always be completely transparent and honest with your processes and efforts.

Stand Out From the Competition

Whether it’s for altruism or to keep up with increasing consumer demand, more brands are entering or transforming themselves to fit into an environmentally and socially conscious marketplace. 

The Global Sustainability Study 2021 found that “Globally, 85 percent of people indicate that they have shifted their purchase behavior towards being more sustainable in the past five years.”

While this is great for people and the planet, it also means increased competition for your organization. You can set yourself apart from the competition by focusing on what makes your company unique – and get specific.

Have you innovated an existing product? For example, SAYE is a shoe brand that uses “leather” made from cactuses. Have you innovated on the process? For example, Canadian furniture brand Pivot has a circular approach to their manufacturing by using reclaimed materials for their furniture, and they also have a made-to-order option. Communicate these differences, and their impacts, through your marketing efforts.

Another important way to set your purpose-driven organization apart is through your branding. 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. Here are some examples of eco-friendly companies who have memorable branding. 

Keeping up with trends can also ensure that you’re also keeping up with (or getting ahead of) the competition. Check out some Marketing Trends to Look Out for in 2022.

Time and Budget Constraints? Plan Marketing Efforts Strategically

For purpose-driven organizations, tasks like developing aligned partnerships, working towards or maintaining certifications, and developing new sustainable products may take up the lion’s share of your time and budget. However, you can still employ sustainable marketing tactics strategically, even if you don’t have a lot of time or resources.

Whether you want to drive website traffic, grow your social media audience, and/or convert prospective customers, here’s how to up your marketing game on a budget. 

Choose Sparx to Elevate Your Sustainable Marketing

You’re making the world better and we want to help you do it. 

If you’re looking to elevate your sustainable marketing, the experts at Sparx Publishing Group are always available to chat. We help purpose-driven organizations secure their website, create great content, build experiences to delight their customers, and help grow their business, all within a variety of budgets. You can reach us here.


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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

How to Up Your Marketing Game On a Budget

As a purpose-driven organization that’s making the world better, it’s important to amplify your impact story. If you’ve been around the block, there’s a good chance you’ve already undertaken some sort of marketing effort, whether it’s email newsletters or social media posts.

For many organizations, especially in the ESG space, there’s a chance that marketing efforts may wind up getting deprioritized to help keep different priorities or impact projects on track. 

This might make marketing seem like an expensive “luxury.” However, being tactical and strategic with your efforts can result in effective marketing that doesn’t break the bank. Here’s how to up your marketing game on a budget.

Drive Website Traffic

Whether you want to educate your audience on your important cause, or encourage them to buy your company’s sustainable products from your digital storefront, it’s a good idea to make driving website traffic one of your goals. After all, your website is the digital home of your organization! 

You can tailor your marketing tactics depending on your budget to increase website visitors. One relatively inexpensive way to do this is by regularly producing educational and value-driven blog posts that include necessary search engine optimization keywords to help your Google ranking. 

Similarly, an email newsletter can also be another effective website traffic driver and all-around great marketing tool. There are several free and paid email marketing tools out there that can help you create emails to strategically drive traffic directly to specific pages on your website.

If your target audience is particularly active on social media, running paid ads on Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn that link to your website can be a way to put your budget to good use and get more eyes on your brand. 
Alternatively, you can also launch paid Google search ads, which is when you bid on keywords to show up at the top of Google search rankings. Just a heads up, though, this tactic can get expensive quickly, so you’ll want to be very strategic in its execution if you choose to do this.

Grow Your Social Media Audience

When it comes to achieving your organization’s impact goals and boosting awareness of your cause, social media can be a powerful tool. In fact, 83% of Canadians use social media, which means it’s likely your target audience is already there. 

In addition, according to GlobalWebIndex, 71% of consumers are more likely to purchase products and services based on social media referrals. 

A good first step is to regularly post well-curated content on your key social media platforms with relevant hashtags. Hootsuite recommends posting at least once per day depending on the platform.

In order to show your audience and prospective followers what your values are, it’s also a good idea to post about the causes that matter to you through educational infographics, reshares of content from other value-aligned organizations, or collaborating with micro influencers in your specific niche. Content resharing in particular is a budget-friendly method of community building online.
If you’ve got a little extra room in your marketing budget, you can introduce paid social media ads into your repertoire designed to increase your followers. For example, to show up on the Explore page of like-minded Instagram users, you could try Instagram Explore ads. Other social media platforms have similar ad types as well.

Convert Prospective Customers

For many organizations, conversion is the ultimate end-goal – literally. Perhaps you want to sell more of your ethically-made products or get more donations for your worthy cause. That’s where marketing efforts towards conversion come in. 

If you sell a tangible product or service, one relatively budget-friendly way to encourage sales is to offer a deal or promotion, or to run a giveaway. You can promote the sale in your email newsletter, on social media, and on your website. Encouraging sharing and tagging in your social media posts is a good way to get more eyes on your promo.

If you have the budget for paid advertising, an excellent form of paid ads for converting customers is retargeting ads. These ads remind customers of an item in their cart or an action they didn’t complete to remind them in order to edge along the conversion. For example, if someone went to your page, learned about your cause, but hadn’t yet donated, a retargeting ad could remind them to do so. 

If this all seems a little overwhelming, it’s fine! The most important thing to remember is that if you’re on a budget, you don’t need to do it all when it comes to marketing. Find out where your audience is, identify your most important business goals, and create strategic content around that.

Marketing agencies are also a great resource. We’re able to help you map out your customer journey, strategically identify and target critical marketing touchpoints in that journey, and build tactical content and ads designed to support your most important business goals.

Choose Sparx for Your Budget-Friendly Marketing Efforts

You’re making the world better and we want to help you do it.

If you’re looking to amplify your world-changing message, the experts at Sparx Publishing Group are always available to chat. We help purpose-driven organizations secure their website, create great content, build experiences to delight their customers, and help grow their business, all within a variety of budgets. You can reach us here.

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

How to Set SMART Goals in Cause Marketing

Your company is doing amazing things to make the world better. Whether you’re creating a more environmentally-conscious and sustainable product, raising awareness for an important and impactful cause, or organizing volunteers to contribute to a local initiative, it’s important to be able to see the impact of your work.

Regardless of the positive mark your company is making, it can be challenging to measure the tangible impact of your good works and to visualize how each separate initiative contributes to your organization’s overall business goals and mission. It’s time to get SMART with the way you set goals! 

What are SMART Goals?

The SMART system, which stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely, is a method of goal setting that includes clear, realistic, easy to measure targets. SMART goals increase the likelihood of success by encouraging you to determine which measurable metrics define success, and to verify that your goals are actually achievable. Plus, you can clearly see how close you are to achieving a milestone. They can also be used holistically to map out steps towards a long-term goal. 

Here’s a breakdown of the SMART system and how to apply it to cause marketing.

Specific – Get specific with your goal. For example, “I want to reach more people” is too vague. Think about the why and how. “I want to increase subscriptions to our email newsletter to boost awareness of upcoming sustainable product launches by running paid ads on Facebook, where we typically see the most engagement” is much more specific. (But still contributes to an overarching goal of reaching more people.)

Measurable – “More” isn’t a measurement: percentage and quantity increases are. Using the example above, you could set a goal of a 25% increase in the number of subscribers. Or, if you’re setting a numerical target, 50 or 150 (or more) new subscribers might be reasonable.

Achievable – While it’s good to shoot for the stars, make sure your goal is realistically achievable based on your current performance and resources. Use your past numbers as baseline data, and if you don’t have any, now’s the time to establish KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and track them. 

For example, if you’ve got 1,500 email newsletter subscribers and typically see an increase in subscribers of between 10 and 20% after a social media push, trying to get an increase of 100% in a relatively short period of time may not be realistic.

Relevant – Ensure that your goal is value-aligned. Does it contribute towards your overall values and mission? In the example above, if your company’s mission is creating more ethical and sustainable products to help save the environment, getting more people to subscribe to your email newsletter to let them know about your upcoming product launches increases the likelihood that more people will choose your environmentally-friendly product, thus contributing to your sustainability mission.

Timely – There needs to be a deadline, so you know when you’ve achieved your goal, or how close you are to achieving it. Monthly, quarterly, and/or annual goals are a great place to start. Remember, 1,500 new subscribers in a month may be unrealistic. 1,500 new subscribers over the course of a quarter or a year might be more achievable. Adjust timelines based on your KPIs.

SMART Goal Examples 

Scenario 1: Sustainable product marketing to increase sales

Specific – We want to increase sales of our biodegradable soap product by running an “always on” sales campaign on social media and paid channels. 

Measurable – Our goal is to increase our current sales by 10% to sell 5,000 units. 

Achievable – The last time we ran a two-week sales campaign on those channels, sales increased by 5%.

Relevant – By selling more units, it means more people are using sustainable soap products, which contributes to our mission to protect the Earth’s fresh water sources. 

Timely – We will achieve this by the end of the quarter. 

Scenario 2: Building awareness for a cause

Specific – We want to raise awareness of the harm caused by tourist elephant riding by circulating a petition across all our social media channels to stop the practice.

Measurable – Our goal is to get 1,000 people to sign the petition.

Achievable – Last year when we circulated a petition on social media, we got 750 signatures over the course of six weeks from our audience of 5,000. Our audience has since grown to 11,000.

Relevant – As an ethical clothing retailer whose branding prominently features elephants, our mission is to end harmful practices against elephants worldwide. Raising awareness of the harm caused to elephants is the first step to ending these practices.

Timely – We will get 1,000 signatures over the next six weeks, before peak tourist season begins. 

How to Take SMART Goals Even Further 

You can also use the SMART system to break down larger impact marketing goals into specific channels and campaigns. For example, in Scenario 1 above, you could set a SMART goal for your sales campaign on Instagram. How many impressions are you aiming for? How many people would you like to see click through to your website? Smaller SMART goals can support larger SMART goals.

If you’re still new to marketing your impact organization, we recommend checking out our How to Create an Effective Marketing Strategy for Your Impact Organization blog first.

Let Sparx Help You Reach Your Cause Marketing Goals

You’re making the world better and we want to help you do it. 

If you’re looking to get your world-changing message out there, the experts at Sparx Publishing Group are always available to chat. We help purpose driven organizations secure their website, create great content, build experiences to delight their customers, and help grow their business. You can reach us here.

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

How Companies Can Harness the Power of Technology and Social Media to do Good

Whether you’re tackling ever-evolving climate crises, social justice issues, or animal welfare concerns, it can be challenging to know how to effectively utilize technology on your company’s journey to making the world better. Luckily, it’s at your fingertips with the click of a button (literally). Here’s how to harness the power of technology and social media to do good.

In life, there are the dreamers and the doers. If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance your company aims to be the latter. But perhaps you’re wondering: how can we really make a difference? In our ever-evolving world of climate crises, social justice issues, and animal welfare concerns, it can be challenging to know where to start or how to make actionable change.

Luckily, doing good can be achievable with the click of a button — literally. Social media and technology are two powerful ways to enable your company to authentically live its values and make a difference. 

Participate in Community-Led Movements Online

When it comes to activism, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. Unless your cause is smaller and unknown, there’s a good chance community members have already begun a movement, and trying to do “your own thing” can not only be perceived as self-serving but can actually hurt the reach of existing movements. 

Instead, get involved in community-led movements that matter to your organization, and spread the word by posting on your social media channels and using the existing hashtags. Some ongoing movements include Black Lives Matter, Stop AAPI Hate, and #MeToo. 

Just remember: as with any cause marketing, ensure you do it in a meaningful, actionable, and non-performative way. Show genuine support for causes that matter to your organization, encourage your audience to participate, and contribute to the conversation where appropriate.

A company that often gets involved in movements on their social platforms is ice cream retailer Ben & Jerry’s. They have created multiple Instagram posts to support the Black Lives Matter movement and continue to show their support for new movements on a frequent basis. 

Use Grassroots Marketing & Technology to Amplify Specific Causes

Through social media, community movements can grow into global movements. Grassroots marketing, or creating inspirational and highly shareable content targeted to a very specific niche or locale, is a great way to raise awareness of specialized causes that matter to your organization. Remember the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge? This is a classic example of successful grassroots marketing.

Social media is a fantastic medium for grassroots marketing due to the fact that it’s easy to share content. To be successful with a grassroots social media campaign, you’ll want to keep the target audience tight, either psychographically or geographically; tell a story that resonates and inspires; and, most importantly, encourage people to share your content.

Alternatively, if your organization is built on particular values, social media posts can be a way to educate your audience about very specific issues. Canadian clothing retailer tentree uses social media to bring to light a variety of environmental issues that matter to them. For example, they use Instagram to highlight the environmental impacts of the dyeing process, the importance of protecting coral reefs,  and the benefits of the circular economy.

Innovative use of technology is another way to help amplify and raise awareness of important causes. For example, National Geographic ​​used Meta Spark to show Instagram users what the world will feel like in 2070, while a VR experience called Greenland Melting shows the unfortunate effect of warm ocean waters on glaciers in Greenland. 

Take a Stand on Causes That Matter to You 

According to Sprout Social’s #BrandsGetReal: Brands Creating Change in the Conscious Consumer Era Report, based on their 2019 survey, 70% of consumers believe it’s important for brands to take a public stand on social and political issues and 66% believe brands should do so because they can create real change. And social media is a great place to publicly show your stance and advocate for real change, especially if it’s something that is relevant to your organization. 

For example, Nike is a brand for athletes, many of whom are Black people who experience discrimination and police brutality, particularly in the United States where Nike is headquartered. Knowing they’d receive backlash for supporting Colin Kaepernick, who took a knee in protest at a football game in 2016, they made him the face of a global campaign in 2018. 

Amplify Advocates and Activists Within Your Community 

When it comes to doing good, letting others take the lead is, sometimes, the best path to take. There are many notable organizations and activists who are on the front lines of causes and supporting them helps amplify their important work. 

Follow relevant organizations and activists on social media, reshare their content, and reach out to partner with them for initiatives, such as an Instagram takeover, contest, or content swap. Similar to participating in community-led movements, you’ll want to ensure you’re doing this in a meaningful and non-performative way.
Patagonia, a B Corp–certified outdoor clothing retailer, often shares content from like-minded creators and activists in the outdoor space. For example, they featured a non-binary climber who advocates for a more supportive climbing community, and their Run To film series, promoted on Instagram, features runners who are advocating for issues, such as saving a watershed and honouring Indigenous scientists, past and present. 

Make Goals for Sustainable Change 

It’s one thing to have big ideas to do good, but it’s another thing to execute them. Social media is a great opportunity to hold yourself accountable to your goals. 

You’ll want to post about your goal and update your audience when you reach certain benchmarks. For example, Glossier, a US-based beauty company, opted not to use a vague post about “doing better.” Instead, they pledged to donate to various BLM organizations and commit to ongoing change within their company, as shown in an Instagram post. 
But how do you know if you’re getting close to your goal? There are various apps that can help you track your progress, like Strides, Way of Life, and ATracker.

Let Sparx Help You Use Social Media And Technology to Do Good

By engaging with social media in these ways, companies gain the power to amplify their own purpose-driven initiatives, support and boost the visibility of ongoing mission-aligned efforts and changemakers, share impact stories to an ever-growing audience, and drive positive change.

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

If you’re looking to make an impact using social media and technology but aren’t sure where to start, the experts at Sparx Publishing Group are always available to chat. We help purpose driven organizations secure their website, create great content, build experiences to delight their customers, and help grow their business. You can reach us here.

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

Recognizing and Eliminating Unconscious Bias in Your Organization

You’ve read anti-racism books, you’ve watched LGBTQIA+ documentaries, you consider yourself well-versed in diversity and inclusion, you stay up to date on human rights issues, so you’re impervious to being unintentionally prejudiced, discriminatory, and exclusionary, right?

Well, not exactly. Everyone has unconscious biases: “unconscious assumptions, beliefs, attitudes and stereotypes that human brains have about different groups,” as defined by the University of Victoria. 

Here are some examples of unconscious bias.

  • Affinity Bias – gravitating towards people who share similar interests, experiences, and backgrounds to us 
  • Confirmation Bias – drawing conclusions based on your personal desires, beliefs, and prejudices rather than unbiased merit 
  • Attribution Bias – judging a person’s behaviour based on prior observations and/or interactions you’ve had with them
  • Conformity Bias – acting similar to the people around you, regardless of your beliefs or desires  
  • The Halo/Horns Effect – placing someone on a pedestal after learning something impressive about someone (halo), or, alternatively, viewing someone negatively after learning something unpleasant about them (horns)
  • Contrast Effect – comparing two or more things that have occurred simultaneously or one after another, causing you to exaggerate the performance of one in contrast to the other
  • Gender/Racial Bias – judging or preferring one gender identity and/or racial identity over others  
  • Ageism – having negative feelings about a person because of their age
  • Name Bias – judging and/or preferring people with certain types of names, typically names that are of Anglo origin 
  • Beauty Bias – believing attractive people are more successful, competent, and qualified
  • Height/Weight Bias – judging people who are taller or shorter than average height, or smaller or heavier than average weight.
  • Anchor Bias – making decisions based on an initial impression that you’re unable to “unsee” 
  • Nonverbal Bias – ​​analyzing nonverbal communication attributes, such as body language, and letting it affect a decision or opinion
  • Authority Bias – weighing and/or giving more attention to ideas provided by authority figures because it’s thought to be more accurate
  • Overconfidence Bias – being more confident in your capabilities than is reasonable

Unfortunately, unconscious biases can have unwanted consequences for your organization, including negative PR or marketing campaigns, exclusionary products/services, and unfair hiring practices. Here’s why you should consider addressing unconscious bias in your organization and how to do it. 

Why You Should Address Unconscious Biases

  • Allows you to be more diverse in your marketing efforts. Unconscious biases could be preventing your organization from showcasing a true representation of your audience in your marketing.

    Take a look at your current marketing collateral; what do you see? People of varied abilities, genders, races, sizes, and ages? What are each of the roles of these individuals? Do those roles conform to outdated or stereotypical societal expectations? It’s a good idea to check your copy for potentially offensive or outdated language as well.

    If this exercise brings forth some areas of concerns, rest assured that you’re not alone. Research has found that stock image websites do show gender bias in work-related images. 

    So, why showcase diversity in your marketing? Not only does it make members of your community feel seen and heard, there are many business benefits to doing so. We’ve outlined these benefits in our Why and How to Add More Diversity Into Your Marketing Efforts blog. 
  • Helps you best serve your customers. Unfortunately, biases can lead to exclusionary, offensive, or even inaccessible offerings for certain customers. If you and your employees haven’t had occasion to think about things like accessibility ramps in buildings, closed/open captioning on videos, or text readers for website browsing, there’s a good chance your organization may be inaccessible for customers who have certain disabilities.

    Alternatively, perhaps confirmation bias has led your organization to provide offerings that unintentionally exclude the end customer — or some of them, at least. This can be offensive at best and dangerous at worst.

    For example, the automotive industry uses crash test dummies the size of the average man, so women can actually be more injured in a car crash because of this unconscious bias.

    By taking unconscious biases head on, you can think of all of your current and potential customers and provide products they want and need. Not only will this curb any potential PR incidents, but you’ll improve your sales and customer satisfaction and retention.
  • Adds objectivity during the hiring process. Biases can also cloud judgement when looking for new candidates. For example, men get hired more often for scientist roles, Anglo-sounding names get more interview requests, and CEOs are disproportionately taller (and male). 

    In addition, the affinity bias may be guiding you to unconsciously hire people who are similar to you instead of diverse candidates. 

    Other biases to look out for are ageism, racial, weight, beauty, and/or nonverbal. You may also be comparing candidates who you saw back-to-back with the contrast effect, or letting the halo/horns effect affect your judgement if you learn something impressive (i.e. where the candidate went to school) or less-than-perfect (i.e. a gap in the resume) about the candidate.

    By addressing any unconscious biases during the hiring process, you can look at what’s important: the skills and fit of the candidate for the job. That way, you get the best person for the role, and in turn, help foster a diverse and inclusive workplace. 

How to Eliminate Unconscious Biases in Your Organization

  • Discover your unconscious biases. We all have unconscious biases, whether we realize it or not. Even the most well-educated, cultured, “woke” people have to challenge the biases that were hard-wired into them from birth. But it’s one thing to accept you have unconscious biases, and another to find them. 

    One way to discover the biases you may have is to take an Implicit Association Test (IAT).

    An IAT will ask you to classify certain images and words into specific categories as quickly as possible. For example, you may be asked to assign terms that are accepted as feminine and masculine to categories associated with science or humanities.

    Knowing what your biases are is the first step to improving. After all, you can’t fix something you don’t know is broken. 
  • Educate yourself and your staff on unconscious biases. So, you know you have unconscious biases and what they are — now what? In order to address these biases head-on, you need to educate yourself on how to tackle them. It’s a good idea to involve your staff (perhaps have them do an IAT as well).

    By involving your entire organization, they’ll be able to challenge biases in their specific roles, provide understanding of marginalized groups they may come from, and be better equipped to catch issues that may come up in the future. 

    Unconscious bias training is really a stepping stone into a much bigger conversation. Many organizations who have done one-off training and then called it a day generally do not see long-term change, which is why this practice has been seen as controversial.

    Instead, be prepared to pair unconscious bias training with a more systemic, integrated approach to diversity and inclusion, including hiring diverse staff and creating sustainable initiatives in all departments. 
  • Audit your business to find where biases could be occurring. Go through every department, looking for processes that may continue to run with unconscious biases in the background. Auditing your marketing content and customer-facing collateral is a great place to start.

    We’ve covered how unconscious bias can affect things such as your marketing efforts. However, unconscious biases could be lurking in other areas of your business, too. For example, do you offer gender-neutral washrooms for customers or staff in any physical locations you have?

    Like finding mistakes in your own writing, it’s not easy to find issues in your own organization. Sometimes, you need to have someone else take a look. Diversity and inclusion consultants, like Canadian Equality Consulting, offer an objective look at your organization. 
  • Ensure diversity among your employees. When an organization is filled with the same type of person, conformity bias can occur. This could result in “blind spots” which may impact various initiatives and campaigns. 

    However, when the staff is diverse, insights into other types of lived experiences are expressed, issues related to exclusion or inappropriateness get flagged, and products and services can be designed with more types of people in mind. 
  • Listen to your employees and customers. Did you know only 29% of employees are engaged at their workplace? It’s one thing to have diverse employees and customers, but it’s another thing to actually empower them to get involved, listen to their insights, and implement their ideas and suggestions. 

    Did a customer bring up a pain point? Come up with an action plan on how to address and change it. Does a staff member have a great idea for making a product or service more accessible or user-friendly? Consider implementing it.

    Alternatively, you can use social media polls (like on Instagram Stories), physical suggestion boxes, focus groups, or feedback forms/surveys on emails (like Google forms) to generate data on areas of your business that may be affected by unconscious biases.

***

By addressing the unconscious biases within your organization, you can add diversity to your marketing efforts, and better serve your customers and staff. Remember, challenging biases is a lifelong process, so lean on your people and keep striving to do better. 

Let Sparx Help You Challenge Unconscious Biases in Your Marketing

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

If you want your marketing to better reflect diversity and inclusion but aren’t sure where to start, the experts at Sparx Publishing Group are always available to chat. We help purpose driven organizations secure their website, create great content, build experiences to delight their customers, and help grow their business. You can reach us here.

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

5 Ways to Repurpose Evergreen Content

Content may be king, but it also requires a significant investment of effort and resources. Constantly churning out new content pieces to be your next “crowning achievement” requires a lot of researching, writing, editing, approving, and publishing. 

Luckily, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel to achieve your content marketing goals. Your older content has been waiting in the wings and it might finally be time to give it an encore. 

There are many perks of repurposing evergreen content (content that continues to be relevant), such as providing an SEO boost, reaching new audiences, driving traffic, and potentially getting sales. 

However, not all of your old content is evergreen or should necessarily be given a second chance; sometimes, it’s already served its purpose. Instead, look to your best, top-performing, and still-relevant content to give a facelift.

Once you’ve audited your existing collection, keep reading for our five ways to repurpose evergreen content.

1. Transform Evergreen Content into New Content 

These days, books become TV shows, TV shows become movies, movies become, well, more movies. Content is versatile and malleable; it has the ability to become new, exciting things in different mediums. 

This should be good news for your content team. They may have put a lot of effort into creating a piece of content, and transforming it helps ensure you get the most out of their efforts. 

Use the information in an evergreen blog or landing page to create an infographic. Infographics use texts and graphics to display information in a fun, digestible way. Here are some great examples of infographics to inspire you. 

Video content continues to be one of — if not the most — popular forms of content these days. Fifty-four percent of consumers want to see more video content from a brand or business they support. In addition to video content, over 11 million Canadian adults listened to podcasts in the past year. If you have either recording or film equipment, you could turn your content into a podcast or video for your audience to enjoy. 

2. Use Your Evergreen Content to Make an Email Newsletter

If you have an email newsletter, you know the time and energy it takes to come up with quality, consistent email content. Luckily, your older blogs can make their comeback in your next email send. 

Depending on your goals and newsletter style, you could tease your blogs in the email copy and drive traffic to these pages to give them an SEO boost. Crossing an email off your to-do list and boosting your SEO? It’s a win/win. 

Alternatively, you could “borrow” copy from the blog to put into the email itself. For example, a listicle blog could be repurposed into multiple email content blocks or an infographic embedded in the email. Here are some great examples of listicle-style emails. 

3. Turn Your Evergreen Content into a Social Media Post

According to Global WebIndex, 53.6% of the world’s population uses social media with an average daily usage of 2 hours and 25 minutes. There’s no doubt that a good portion of your customers are hanging out on social media — so why not meet them where they’re at? You’re likely already doing social media posts for updates on your latest offerings, so adding in more content-focused posts is a great way to get your content in front of your audience.

Here are some quick stats from Forbes: 54% of social browsers use social media to research products and 71% watch videos on social media to laugh. With this in mind, think of your existing content that could check these boxes. Social content that is interesting, helpful, or funny is more likely to get shared and engaged with. 

So how do you take a blog or webpage and make it into a social post? It’s simple: think of the content and the platform. Stats can be turned into tweets; infographics can be turned into Instagram grid carousels; listicle blogs can be turned into Instagram stories. Don’t be afraid to get creative!

4. Refresh Your Evergreen Blog Posts

Turns out, you can teach an old blog new tricks. Give an old blog a second chance by updating dated information. For example, if you had written a blog at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic about changes to your service offerings, you could update that information with your latest protocols instead of writing an entirely new blog. That way, you don’t add unnecessary work for your copywriters, and you maintain the SEO value of the original blog. 

As consumer behaviour changes, we’re learning how to best market to our target audiences.  Perhaps you had written a long-form blog which isn’t seeing the same performance it once did. Don’t worry, it’s nothing personal. 

According to a Microsoft Study, people have an attention span of eight seconds, a decrease from 12 seconds back in 2000. Consider refreshing that long-form blog into a shorter listicle blog. Alternatively, you could take that longer blog and stretch it out into several, shorter blogs, depending on your goals. 

5. Combine Your Evergreen Content into Long-Form Content

People might have shorter attention spans these days, but that doesn’t mean that longer form content doesn’t have its place. There are lots of reasons for long-form content: they earn the most organic traffic, readers spend more time with them, and Google rewards them. 

So how do you take your existing blogs, infographics, or social media posts and combine them into long-form content? Some ideas include: combining multiple blogs into an ultimate guide or ebook, building out an infographic into a slidedeck for internal brand trainings, or making a blog post featuring your top social media posts. 

Old content doesn’t have to be left behind; it can boost SEO, drive traffic, reach new audiences, and more. Choose evergreen content that’s relevant, high-performing, and engaging, and don’t be afraid to get creative with how you repurpose it. 

Create Incredible Content with Sparx  

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

Whether you want to give your old content new life or create new content, the experts at Sparx Publishing Group are always available to chat. We help purpose driven organizations secure their website, create great content, build experiences to delight their customers, and help grow their business. You can reach us here.

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

Why and How to Add More Diversity Into Your Marketing Efforts

Following the heightened activity during the COVID-19 lockdowns of ongoing ground-breaking movements like Black Lives Matter and Stop Asian Hate calling attention to systemic issues in society, more people are taking a stand against the hidden and not-so-hidden injustices in the world – and companies are no exception.

There has been a groundswell of corporate engagement on issues that affect marginalized folks, and with it, a push for more diversity and inclusion in marketing campaigns, such as ones done by Coca-Cola, Google, and more.

Diversity goes beyond race and gender; it includes age, socio-economic class, sexual orientation, ability, and a variety of other factors. There are many reasons to consider these groups in your marketing efforts, and beyond. However, it’s important to avoid “woke-washing,” performative efforts to jump on the bandwagon of a movement – often to cash in – while not actually working to address a systemic issue.

Fear not: we’ve come up with a guide to help you add more diversity to your marketing efforts in an authentic, actionable way to truly make the world better.

Why You Should Consider Adding More Diversity to Your Marketing

  • Enhance brand perception and loyalty. An Adobe survey found that 62% of adults say diversity in a company’s ads impacted the way they perceive a brand, and 38% say they’d be more likely to trust a brand with diversity in their advertising. It’s not a coincidence that a brand that focuses on diversity and inclusion makes people feel, well, included.

    On the flip side, lacking diversity can lead to unwanted consequences. Top Design Firms reported this finding: “If two brands offer the exact same product, one in three consumers (34%) would consider each brand’s commitment to diversity and inclusion when making their final purchasing decision.” By showcasing diversity in your marketing, you increase trust and loyalty with your customers.
  • Make customers feel represented. Think of your marketing like a high school cafeteria: if your marketing is mostly white, male, able-bodied, young, and affluent, there’s a big chunk of the population who would feel like they wouldn’t fit in at that table. Instead, these people would go to another spot in the cafeteria where not only would they fit in, but thrive with other similar people. Try to include all types of people in your marketing so everyone feels invited to take a seat.
  • Grow your audience. When your marketing represents more of the population, more people come to your table. Therefore, not only do people feel good about being included, but you grow your audience of people to market to, which continues to build as they share your company with their audiences. It’s really a win/win.
  • Increase your profits. About two-thirds of consumers consider making a purchase immediately after seeing an ad they consider to be diverse, and two-thirds of consumers also consider making a second purchase from a brand they believe is committed to diversity and inclusion, according to a Top Design Firms report. On top of that, by growing your audience, you have a bigger pool of potential customers to market to, and therefore, potentially sell your products or services to. 

How to Add More Diversity to Your Marketing 

  • Think beyond imagery. While it’s important to showcase diversity in your images, it’s important to take it a step further and put in the work behind the scenes. 
    • You’ll want to understand your target audience, including their demographics, values, opinions, and more. This will help you be authentic and thoughtful in your messaging to them. 
    • It’s also recommended to have diverse voices and points of view within your internal team so you’re truly practicing what you preach. This can also help avoid things like inadvertent cultural appropriation, or accidentally coming across as insulting or condescending to any audience segment. 
    • You may also want to audit your internal and external systems to gauge user experience. This is especially important in the case of ability, as you may be unintentionally excluding members of the population with certain disabilities if they’re unable to use your systems due to accessibility challenges. 
    • As well, it’s recommended to continually educate your team on politically-correct terms and allyship practices, historical contexts of certain groups, and current events that affect these groups today. For example, you can acknowledge the Indigenous land your company resides on somewhere on your website or social media profiles, and add the pronouns of your public-facing staff to show support to gender non-comforming and trans folks by helping normalize gender discussions.
  • Be strategic about your marketing. Choose your words and imagery carefully in your content, but know that a single ad or post isn’t going to please all people at all times. Try your best to be inclusive, politically-correct, and authentic, but if something is brought to your attention that wasn’t quite right, use it as a learning opportunity to do better next time. Acknowledge the shortcoming, and apply that knowledge to your next campaign. You can also look to your audience and directly ask what matters to them to ensure they feel seen and heard in your marketing. 

Get Expert Marketing Support with Sparx  

At Sparx, our mission is to create content to make the world better.
If you want to create inclusive marketing campaigns but aren’t sure where to start, the experts at Sparx Publishing Group are always available to chat. We help purpose driven organizations secure their website, create great content, build experiences to delight their customers, and help grow their business. You can reach us here.

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Purpose-Driven Marketing Tips

How to Create an Effective Marketing Strategy for Your Impact Organization

As we continue to navigate global challenges, it’s apparent that sustainable business practices are more important than ever. In response, there is a rise in impact organizations, companies that consciously, intentionally, and sustainably attempt to alleviate a local or global problem. 

While profit may still be a goal, “the main metric is whether the company achieves its aim of impacting social, cultural or environmental issues,” according to Entrepreneur. If this sounds like your organization, you may be tempted to shout your company’s goodness from the rooftop – and rightfully so. 

However, to achieve your goals, it’s important to broadcast your message in a way that ensures you reach the right people with the right message. Here’s our guide on how to create a marketing strategy to effectively and authentically promote your impact organization. 

Figure Out Your Impact Organization’s Goal

Before you begin your marketing strategy, you’ll first need to determine what you want to achieve in terms of your organization’s impact. Do you want to recycle a specific number of bottles? Deliver a certain number of free meals? Donate a set amount of clothing items?

To know how close you are to achieving your impact goal, you can use KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). KPIs are measurements used to gauge aspects of your company’s overall long-term performance, and, in turn, your impact. 

For example, if your desired impact is donating a million free meals to people in need, a KPI could be the number of meals donated per sale made. The larger the sale, the more meals donated.

Once you have your KPIs in mind, you should determine what role your customers play – essentially, what action you want them to take to support the KPIs. Do you want them to make a purchase? Share a link to your company on their social channels? Watch a video to gain awareness of your cause?

In general, the better your company performs on the relevant KPIs, which are specific and measurable, the better you’re doing impact-wise

Determine Your Target Audience 

If you’ve ever implemented a communication or marketing strategy, you know the importance of determining your target audience before you begin. Your target audience are the people you want to reach; the people you want to take the desired actions you’ve outlined. 

For impact organizations, this step can be especially important to ensure your audience’s values are aligned with your company’s. According to a PwC Canada survey, 34% of Canadians are willing to pay a premium for brands known for their sustainability practices, and 33% for ethical and environmental considerations. Value-aligned customers are also typically more loyal, and more likely to take the actions you want them to.

So, how do you find your audience? Personas, semi-fictional representations of your ideal customers, can help guide you in the right direction. Use data or research from your past, current, or ideal customers to create profiles. 

Though many personas start with basic demographic data, it’s also helpful to include details like where this customer spends time both online and offline, personality type, likes and dislikes, lifestyle, and issues they care about.

You can then use these personas to tailor how, where, and when you speak to your audience, including determining your content types, communication channels, messaging, and tone.

Fine-Tune Your Messaging 

While you’ll need to reach the right customers, you’ll also need to reach them with the right message in order to get them to do the right thing. You’ll want to determine what you need to communicate to convince people to do this.

Consumers are increasingly becoming savvier and more aware of their options before they buy, especially consumers who are seeking information on environmental impact, ethical production, and fair treatment of stakeholders. 

As mentioned, your target audience may be willing to pay more for your products or services, but they’ll need to know why they should be choosing your company over another – particularly if there’s a cheaper or more immediate choice in the mix. 

Your messaging should address the “cost” or impact of this choice. Essentially, answer the question of why choosing your company’s product or service is better overall by highlighting the values and benefits. 

It’s also a good idea to be transparent about your impact progress for your current and prospective customers to see. 

For example, Canadian clothing company Tentree plants 10 trees for every item purchased (their KPI). To date, they have planted nearly 58 million trees (their progress), and have a goal to plant one billion trees by 2030 (their impact goal). This information is clearly and easily found on the homepage of their website.

Measure Your Marketing Strategy’s Success 

Once your message is out in the world, you’ll probably want to know how it’s doing – more specifically, if you’re actually reaching the right people and moving towards your impact goals. The KPIs you identified earlier can be a useful tool to see if your company is making headway on these goals. 

You can also look at how specific campaigns or content pieces are performing, and use this information to fine-tune your target audience, explore which types of content work best, A/B test different versions of your marketing collateral, and more.

As an impact organization, you’ve chosen the path that may be less travelled, but it’s also the path towards making the world better. So, don’t be shy to share your good deeds! Just remember to do it strategically and authentically to ensure you’re packing the strongest punch for your cause. 

Create Memorable Marketing Campaigns with Sparx

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

If you need help securing your website, creating great content, building experiences to delight your customers, marketing your business, or you simply have questions, the experts at Sparx Publishing Group are always available to chat. You can reach us here.