Why is communicating about sustainability important for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)?
Sustainability is no longer just part of large corporations’ communications strategy. Increasingly, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are recognizing the importance of sustainability in their business operations, and communicating about their sustainability activities is a key part of this development.
Communicating about their sustainability activities and ESG (environmental, social, governance) goals is important for SMEs because it
- is a way of promoting the company’s values
- builds trust with customers
- helps differentiate from competitors, and
- strengthens the company’s brand.
What benefits does communicating about sustainability bring to SMEs?
Well-executed sustainability communications can bring tangible benefits to SMEs:
- Building trust: Customers, employees, and partners value transparency and responsibility. Clear communication about sustainability efforts and ESG goals enhances the company’s reputation as a trustworthy actor.
- Competitive advantage: Sustainability can be a significant differentiator in the market, especially when products or services are otherwise similar.
- Recruitment and engagement: More and more job seekers are looking for employers whose values align with their own. Sustainability communications can attract motivated and committed talent. Successful sustainability work and communication also strengthen the commitment of existing staff.
- Stakeholder expectations: Investors, customers, and authorities increasingly expect information about a company’s sustainability activities and ESG targets. Proactive communication helps meet these expectations and simplifies data collection when, for example, a financial institution requires documentation for funding decisions.
How should you communicate about your sustainability activities?
Sustainability communication doesn’t need to be complicated. Here are a few tips:
- Be concrete: Explain what you do, why you do it, and what the tangible impacts are. For example: “We have switched to renewable energy, which reduces our carbon footprint by 30% annually.”
- Be honest: Not everything needs to be perfect before you communicate about it. It’s acceptable to talk about areas for improvement and future goals. This conveys a sense of long-term and planned sustainability activities, which adds credibility.
- Target your message: Identify the expectations of your audience: Are you speaking to customers, employees, or investors? The tone of voice and content of the message may vary depending on the interests of the target group.
What is greenwashing and how can it be avoided?
Greenwashing (or green claims) refers to exaggerating or misleading communication where a company presents itself as more sustainable than it actually is. Examples of greenwashing include:
- A product claimed to be biodegradable, but it requires industrial composting facilities to break down, or takes so long to decompose that it ends up polluting soil and water.
- A company advertising a single sustainability action as carbon neutral, when the neutrality is achieved through offsetting emissions rather than actually reducing them.
How can we help your company develop its sustainability communications?
Communicating about sustainability is not just a trend: It’s an essential part of modern business. SMEs have a unique opportunity to share their sustainability efforts in an authentic and impactful way. When communication is honest, concrete, and targeted, it can bring significant value to the company.
Would you need help finalizing a sustainability report? Or perhaps writing or polishing an English-language report or other content?
We at Green Advisors can help you plan what kind of sustainability communications your company could implement. We offer hourly services for writing or refining website content, blog posts, or your company’s sustainability report from scratch. Get in touch and let’s plan together how we can best develop not only your company’s sustainability but also other communications.
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