Tag: Impact Marketing

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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. 

Categories
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.