Why is it so important?
In today’s world, most organisations face pressure to become more sustainable in their practices and limit their impact on the environment. It’s increasingly important that in contemporary society, organisations set aside financial targets and results to be more conscious of their actions. But this can also lead to organisations becoming ‘greenwashers’ of their own actions.
We explore ways PR can be leveraged to ensure a positive perception of your sustainability credentials.
The foundations of of PR
PR is used to inform targeted sections of the population, to build and maintain relationships, and create strong reputations. PR can be leveraged in a variety of ways, whether that’s creating awareness of your fast-food brand through a stunt promoting a new product line or offering thought leadership on a key topic. However PR can also used for pioneering real tangible change – to push the general public to believe in something bigger.
Speak only truth
Just as PR is leveraged to build reputation, it can also come crashing down when your organisation is untrustworthy. It’s important when practicing good PR to become a trusted source of truth. When PR is used to pioneer sustainable change it’s important for that organisation to always speak their truth. After all, there is no point stating something is sustainable if it isn’t in reality. Many organisations will create a big splash in the media when they have been caught out ‘greenwashing’ which leads to a damaged reputation. Therefore, you need to be confident that your organisation or product is supported by factual evidence of it’s eco-credentials.
Build trusted relationships
Building trusted relationships within the media is also a great tool when speaking your company’s truth. Having strong relationships with journalists and publications will mean you can rely on them to push your story, generating greater reach and awareness. Speaking, offering exclusives and building a mutually beneficial relationship is an excellent start to feeding your messages through the media.
Newsjack the media
Newsjacking is a great tool to jump on the back of major national and international stories that are relevant to yours. Keeping updated with recent news in your industry or sector and building upon relevant, existing topics is a great way to shout about your initiative and give your opinion.
Even if there is news surrounding other organisations, or even other ‘competitors’, its an excellent way to get your share of some of the noise. Afterall, when you are all fighting for the same values, are you really even competitors? Having the confidence in your brand equity to join forces can also make a big statement and help to pioneer real change.
Act now!
As we all know, sustainability has been one of the biggest priorities when looking to the future. In particular, the transport industry has been facing huge challenges and pushing for transport across the globe to be more sustainable for some time. The rise of electric cars, bikes and scooters have been evident changes in consumer behaviour that are improving the carbon footprint of the transportation industry.
As some organisations are now built solely on a sustainable ethos, other organisations across industries such as food and drink, fashion and construction are facing more pressures to act now.
