The climate crisis is one of the biggest challenges humanity has had to face, and all businesses have a responsibility to help by reducing their footprint and living more sustainably.
However, businesses are also in the position to do so much more. They can spread the message of sustainability, inspiring others to take action and, in the process, gain loyal customers and employees who will advocate for them too.
Consumers start to choose a sustainable business
The fact of the matter is, consumers know the choices they make every day influence their environmental footprint, and more of them want to change than ever before.
New research by IBM showed there’s a growing group of people that they called ‘People + Planet Guardians’, who are deeply committed to sustainability and social responsibility.
They rated all 15 topics as very or extremely important to them personally, including ending poverty and hunger, providing access to quality education, ending systemic racism, reducing pollution, addressing climate change, and securing freshwater supplies. On top of that, 80% of them also saw sustainability and social responsibility as at least somewhat linked.
While this particular demographic may seem like an outlier, the research actually found that almost half of the 16,000 respondents qualified as part of this group, showcasing a huge opportunity for businesses that do more for the planet.
Despite how passionate consumers today are about responsibility, many obstacles still hold them back from taking real, sustainable action.
In many instances, there was a disconnect between how easy people thought an activity was compared to whether they were actually doing it. For example, many said it was easy to recycle electronics but few did, while most reduced energy consumption but stated that it was difficult to do so.
Regardless, they all believed there were more steps businesses could take to help make sustainable action easier. These include offering greater personal incentives to change (such as rebates or discounts), creating different and more accessible ways to participate, and ensuring greater awareness of available choices.
Off of this, the researchers summed up three major areas businesses can make progress in to attract and retain these customers:
Enhance Communications
Increase transparency and communicate progress toward sustainability goals. You can use social media to supplement traditional reporting to help reach consumers directly. It also helps them understand how your company is protecting the environment and enabling responsible consumption.
Embrace the Circular Economy
Design and engineer sustainable end-of-life for your products, but also help give them new life by educating consumers on how products and packaging can be reused, reclaimed, or recycled.
Educate, Inform, and Influence
Help consumers share their experiences and success stories with others in their networks. Videos, social media posts, savings calculators, and online articles are all great methods to help consumers amplify the conversation—and promote your brand.
Here at Play it Green, we are dedicated to helping businesses make the most out of their sustainable efforts. We provide all our members with our Net Zero Framework so they can take steps to reduce their footprint and become more circular, as well as a whole host of marketing support to help make your message heard.
Businesses who don’t take action risk falling behind, while those who do can gain more loyal customers, ones who will advocate for them, promoting not only their amazing impact but their brand too. Businesses should take action to help themselves, and their customers live more sustainably together!
Find out how Play it Green can help your business