Tell your sustainability story!

Pictures tell a thousand words and creative visuals are the best way to engage audiences worldwide on serious concerns. In the highly active world of sustainability communications, presentations, film documentaries, as well as case study success stories are all commonplace—and often very strong tools to highlight the numerous environmental, social, and economic challenges and opportunities facing global business today.  Then the question becomes, in the mid of all this creative dissonance for the greater good, how will your company’s own sustainability story stand out from the crowd? 

Today Major Corporations focus on the following:

In the universe of communications and creative marketing strategy often poses the question of:  What will my company’s sustainability story stand out in comparison to my competitors?  

I laughed while reading the blog article How highly  Networked Non-Profits Are Using Social Media to Power Change written by social media specialists Beth Kanter. In a recent post, Kanter describes the “living case study,” as a constantly evolving picture that paints a beautiful image on issues or causes by piggy backing, not simply celebrating the arrival. As Kanter writes, “While the traditional case study is tidy, packaged, and finished—the living case study is open to feedback, questions, thoughts, and most of all, empowerment of peers.” 

This idea of sharing a complex work-in-progress to audiences engaged in sustainable business is not new one. This is the case with retail giant Wal-mart, that has been telling the story of its intense and highly complex journey towards sustainability that has been in progress for many years. Which as a result of  has opened Wal-Mart  up to everything from extreme criticism to praise from analysts, environmentalists, media, corporate leaders, consumers, and key player.  One can argue that Wal mart’s approach to opening itself up to multiple stakeholders on how to minimize its global environmental footprint has been a large part of its sustainability success to date.

 

And while airing ones dirty laundry isn’t every corporation’s cup of tea, here are some reasons to consider sharing your sustainability struggles as you go:

1. Do thing others have not done. Learn from others who have faced. If you ask for help to solve a particular challenge that’s keeping you up at night, you just might get it.
2. Social media loves social inquiry. Show your challenges publicly through social media channels. Start a blog tracking your sustainability efforts. See who responds and engages. They might just become your next biggest advocate—or most loyal consumer.
3. True leaders have the guts to reach out and engage.; Leadership today is no longer equated with top-down, informative messaging and communications. Include multiple voices into your policy for impact and change. The more you share, the more you stand to gain from the perspective of others.