Communicating your sustainability work
To ensure your stakeholders understand what your business is doing to improve its sustainability, you need to communicate this. This can result in increased engagement among employees and more satisfied customers and partners.
What is important to your customers?
It is important to understand your customers’ views on sustainability, and what is important to them when purchasing your services or products. Perhaps you need to inform your customers about what is a good choice? Through close dialogue with your customers you can obtain useful ideas for how to develop the business and how to communicate with them. At the same time you can ensure that your business develops to keep pace with increasing demand from customers.
Read about stakeholder analyses on the page about the business’ own impact
Employ “nudging”
One way to strengthen your customer offering can be to make use of “nudging”. Nudging involves influencing customer behaviour in a more sustainable direction. This could include making the most sustainable alternative your standard option, such as a certain dish on a restaurant menu, or placing products that you want customers to notice near the till or entrance.
Image and profile
The “profile” of your business is how you want your business to be perceived, while its “image” is how it is actually perceived. It’s essential that these two are consistent. In order to be credible, a business that sells a sustainable product or service also needs to have a sustainable image and a brand that communicates sustainability.
In order to attract employees, customers and capital, it has become increasingly important to be values-driven, i.e. allow the values of the business to point the way forward.
Be honest and credible in your communication
Many businesses communicate their sustainability work by explaining the journey ahead of them to accomplish their set goals. In order to be credible, it is essential that sustainability work includes all relevant elements of the business, and goals are taken seriously, with an active approach to accomplishing them. By communicating honestly and credibly you can continue to remain relevant to customers in the future.
Learn more about making your business sustainable
More questions to consider
All the questions from the sustainability pages are collected here.
Questions to consider for developing your sustainability work
Film: Seven smart tips for sustainable business
Want to be more sustainable? Here are seven specific tips for how to reduce the impact of your business on the environment and society, but also how you can ensure your business concept is long-term, relevant and competitive.
The film is in Swedish, but you can add English subtitles in the film settings.
Film: Inspiration from two business owners who are incorporating sustainability into their operations
How does sustainable business work in practice? Discover how the company Essem Design incorporates a life cycle perspective, and how the firm RSCUED focuses on circularity with regard to food waste.
The film is in Swedish, but you can add English subtitles in the film settings.