10 Tips To Becoming A More Sustainable Brand

What used to fall under CSR and other corporate jargon is now a fundamental consideration for any brand, and, frankly, common sense. A sustainable brand will not only increase brand value and strength; it will also increase brand loyalty and ensure longevity.

In a landscape where brands are named and shamed to the point of being publicly flogged for their lack of transparency. An honest and strategic sustainability plan is the only one to communicate.

At Greatergood, our mission is to build better brands. By this we don’t mean better than the next agency – we mean better for us, better for our environment, and better for generations to come.

In this article, we look at 15 ways you can build a better brand by looking at your own sustainability options.

1. Communicate

Are you really shouting from the roof about all the great ways your business operates? Make a list of all the positive ways your business runs. Consider every touchpoint of your business, who comes into contact with it. How does it affect them and how can it be improved? Are your customers or clients aware of these points? How can you integrate them into your brand communications? At the most basic level can you add messaging to your email comms reminding recipients to not print unless absolutely necessary?

2. Keep It Simple

At Greatergood we strive to build better brands. At every point of our work this gives us the opportunity to examine what we are doing and question ourselves. It gives us something to measure ourselves against. How can you distil your sustainability goals down into a core ethos/driving message?

3. Start With The Basics

50% of all business waste comes from paper! Do you have an efficient and well-communicated recycling procedure in place? Are your recycling processes signposted so all staff know the rules and minimise contaminated waste?

4. Packaged goods

Has your packaging format and physical dimensions been optimised to reduce materials? Are all secondary and tertiary packaging elements really needed? Can existing materials be replaced to become more sustainable? Is there an opportunity to create a closed-loop system?

5. Energy conservation

Where does your energy come from? Can you source alternative energy suppliers and renewable energy providers? Do you have an energy-saving strategy in place? At the least are your computers, printers, and other equipment fine-tuned to operate in power-saving modes when not in full usage/outside of office hours?

6. Waste production

How can you reduce the amount of your operational daily waste?

7. Transparency

Even if you’re not where you want to be now, communicating your journey with your customers and clients could maintain their trust in your brand and where your future is heading. Are you transparent with your customers/clients as to where you are with your sustainability plan? How are you performing now? How are you looking to change this in the future? Can you produce a yearly report communicating your journey to customers, clients, shareholders, investors?

8. Make it a creative concern

How can you harness creativity and design thinking to meet your sustainability aims and objectives? Can your packaging be redesigned and reimagined? Try introducing something new and innovative to your category which is in a more sustainable pack format? Can you make sustainability a key element of your new product developments?

9. Are you harnessing digital?

One of the quickest and easiest ways of becoming a more sustainable business is by operating digitally. Not only will this save on paper, ink and other physical and operational resources. It will increase productivity and ensure customer satisfaction. Could your business make use of cloud technology for storing documents. As opposed to physical storage which requires materials, and resource maintenance? Take a look at our article 10 Invaluable Free Tools For Startups.

10. Are you making the most of government schemes?

With a wealth of government-funded schemes available to businesses of almost all sizes are you making the most of the options available to you? Have you considered becoming a part of the Cycle To Work scheme? Some more government initiatives can be found here.