B2B sustainability creds without cliché is harder than it looks
Credential presentations used to be simple. You needed to show that you had:
- Relevant experience in working with similar companies or solving similar challenges
- Key people, especially if you provided professional services
- Capabilities that you differentiated via a unique theme, phased around an opinion or an approach
- Corporate information that provided reassurance around size, stability and history, as well as office locations and – if you’re a manufacturer – facilities and floor plans
- Industry award wins, certifications or accreditation and any other third-party recognition possible.
Once you had your base content, presentations would often be tailored to the audience, but mainly used as an interlude or an afterthought in conversations that were built around that customer and their pain points.
Now, you need more. You need to weave your approach to environmental, social and corporate governance (i.e. ESG) into everything you do.
ESG, explained
The ESG acronym, coined by the UN back in 2015, has recently become a popular and essential corporate bandwagon, with customers, employees and stakeholders alike wanting to know how ESG how fits into a company’s overall strategy.
Compared to the more traditional elements of a credentials presentation, illustrating your approach to ESG provides a greater challenge.
Why? Because your claims must be authentic and substantiated to ensure no accusations of cliché. The story needs to be well told and devoid of well-worn classics such as “on our journey”, “saving the world” and “one step at a time”.
In short, how you tell your story matters.
Your ESG approach – and how you describe it – has to be about much more than just net zero. It is about working practices, your organisational culture and your approach to the who, what and why of the businesses you work with. It is not just offsetting with a few pennies in a charity box. It is the future of organisational credentials. It is not a slide on its own, but a narrative that must be woven into your entire credentials deck.
We’ve learnt from our own work in this area – both as an agency and working with companies targeting a niche – that there are some golden rules:
- Base your ESG on strategic pillars, which can become your storytelling structure. They provide a channel for all of your content and flexibility in presenting the detail within. Have a clear aim to show where you’re headed.
- Always be credible. It stinks to high heaven when you dress up your claims. Data and baselines are vital.
- Be honest about why you’re going down the ESG path. Do want to be a place where the best future talent wants to work? Are you aiming to pass those pesky new procurement processes of your clients? Is your goal offer services in this area from a place of credibility? Or are you seeking to change your organisational impact on the environment for morale reasons (at a rate which does not harm commercial viability)? They’re all valid. Just admit it and stay true.
- A good ESG strategy covers all aspects of the company and goes across your entire organisation. It should weave across all of your credentials.
- You need a storytelling canvas. The actions you take as a team and as a company provide rich stories to bring your brand and your culture to life. Embrace it. It is more than social content, it is real life.
- Expect cynicism. Charges of greenwashing across the headlines mean many raise an eyebrow at corporate claims. With trust levels in organisations being lower than ever (source: Edelman Trust Barometer), use data and third-party accreditations to validate and substantiate your efforts and provide authenticity.
- The ‘journey’ is a cliché, but it does contain some relevant truths – most organisations have a lot to do, and even more that they want to do. This is an extension of your corporate story that will continue to unfold over time. Documenting efforts are as important as identifying the destination.
Finally, our largest lesson is that ESG strategies cannot just sit on the shelf. One of the most important audiences is your own team. Bring them with you, have them own parts of the strategy, and encourage them to share progress and tell the story of their efforts. Weaving in your people and their stories will make your credentials come to life more than ever before. Just avoid the cliché…
Find out more about the work we’re doing as a business in our own ESG report here.
