Sustainability marketing has become a prominent player in today’s digital landscape.
Through sharing content surrounding their pro-environmental stance, more and more brands are winning users over with transparency and by practicing accountability. If executed right, a sustainability marketing strategy also presents an opportunity to earn the trust of one of the more sceptical and difficult to reach audiences – Gen Z. In this blog post, we will outline how sustainability marketing can help your brand reach Gen Z and strengthen your authenticity and trustworthiness.
The importance of sustainability marketing
In recent years, there has been a noticeable shift towards adding elements of sustainability into businesses’ marketing activities. This links to the idea of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which suggests that brands and businesses need to uphold a certain standard of responsibility towards ethical and social matters. As environmental issues have grown in importance to consumers, their expectations of brands to act on these matters have also increased. As a result, sustainability marketing is now often viewed as a ‘must’.
Research shows that users not only tend to expect this from brands, but they also often base their purchase decisions on it. This means that brands which stray away from sustainability marketing might be doing more damage than they realise. Incorporating sustainability marketing in your strategy could positively impact your brand reputation. It can also strenghten your brand integrity, which makes it an important addition to any long-term success plan.
but why this seemingly sudden importance of sustainability marketing?
While pro-environmental causes have been around for decades, digitisation and social media have certainly changed their trajectory. The digital landscape facilitates the largest and most easily accessible information data bank. This makes the spreading of information and awareness of environmental issues faster than ever before, putting them at the centre of the online conversation. Also, social media offers a platform to activists and anyone passionate about the future of the planet to share their cause and mobilise support in a matter of seconds.
All of this, combined with the unprecedented levels of damage that the ecosystem is currently experiencing, leads to this sense of urgency we are all feeling right now. Now more than ever businesses and brands need to do their part to help the planet. And this can be a beneficial step for your brand’s success, as well as the environment.
Gen Z and their passion for climate change
What makes Gen Z so special in this case? To start with, from a marketing standpoint, Gen Z are a target audience that many specialists find difficult to get through to. Research shows that they are generally sceptical of the information they see online and predominantly seek content that is authentic and relevant to them, as opposed to traditional branded content. This is why oftentimes, marketing activities aimed at Gen Z require slightly more time and effort to perfect.
Ensuring your content is authentic and serves a purpose to their interests and passions is key. Therefore, putting in additional research into what Gen Z are currently interested in and what matters to them in this exact point of time is vital.
so, what do Gen Z care about?
According to the latest data – climate change!
Gen Z (along with Millennials) are the two generations that are most actively involved in the fight for environmental issues. Their passion and feelings of responsibility are strong, and are often expressed in their social media habits. Gen Z feel strongly about the future of the planet, work actively towards adapting their lifestyle to better support sustainable living, and thoroughly research brands’ contributions to such causes.
As we previosuly outlined, they seek authenticity and honesty in the content they consume on social media. This makes them very aware of misleading information and not afraid to call brands out for their actions.
While this may sound intimidating, with the right and honest approach, this passion can be turned into an opportunity for brands!
How can sustainability marketing help your business reach Gen Z?
As Gen Z gravitate towards authenticity and relatability, tapping into their passion for environmental issues could be a successful targeting strategy. Being vocal about how your brand is contributing positively to the future of the planet, how your products promote a more sustainable lifestyle, how your manufacturing process focuses on zero-waste and ethical sourcing – these can all be utilised in your sustainability marketing efforts. Moreover, this will postively impact your brand authenticity and showcase your dedication to your Corporate Social Responsibility if executed correctly.
It is crucial to remain honest and ensure the truthfulness of the information you share. While sustainability marketing is growing in popularity, unfortunately so are some brands’ attempts at utilising it through deceitful and dishonest tactics (often referred to as greenwashing). Ensuring that your top priority remains honesty above all else, will guarantee the integrity of your brand and the positive reception of your sustainability marketing efforts.
And while it may seem that sustainability marketing can only be used by a certain type of brand, that is certainly not the case. There are aspects of sustainability that can be found in any business and any brand. This can be on a product, process or community level. Here is our breakdown and content ideas to include:
