Why Brand Messaging Matters for Your Sustainability Partnerships
You deeply care about your business’ impact on your community and the environment. Ideas of how you can do better and be more impactful are swirling and frequently discussed among your team.
Have you hit a point where you’re thinking about a sustainability partnership?
If this is something brand new to your business, positioning the language around this venture through the lens of your already established brand is crucial.
Have you thought about your sustainability messaging strategy and how it will directly reflect the core of who you are as a brand?
According to a review done by MIT, 90% of executives think sustainability is important, but only 60% of companies have a strategy centered around sustainability. Oftentimes, companies that want to be sustainable, or speak about sustainability initiatives, get stuck navigating how to implement the messaging around it.
So, where do you start?
Creating a Sustainability-Focused Brand Messaging Strategy
“We’re leading the industry in sustainability.” “We’re committed to being more sustainable.”
We’ve all heard statements like these before, and while it’s certainly applaudable for any business to focus on sustainability efforts, it feels a bit generic, right? What do these statements really mean?
The issue here is that too many brands, in an effort to align with consumer values, don’t effectively communicate how they’re being more sustainable.
Step one is to be specific and clear on what your brand is doing to make a positive impact on your community and the planet. Sadly, this becomes a missed opportunity for brands to showcase their narrative and connect and build trust with consumers — of which 92% state they’re more likely to trust brands that are more environmentally conscious.
For your brand to have impactful sustainability messaging that holds value, it’s pivotal to show your story in a meaningful way — not just tell it.
How MLD Can Help Build Your Messaging Strategy
Our team at Mountain Laurel Digital takes the unique elements of who you are as a brand and infuses them into your sustainability messaging to deliver a clear and succinct strategy.
First, we talk to your team, ask pointed questions, and dive deep into the why behind your sustainability efforts. We combine those answers from your team with the unique differentiators that make you you, creating a messaging strategy that’s meaningful, intentional, and authentic to your brand.
A Look at Clayton’s® Sustainability Brand Messaging
We had the privilege of working on brand messaging for Clayton to help launch the announcement of its sustainability partnership.
The Initiative
Clayton wanted to make a tangible contribution to the health of the planet and communities it serves, so it decided to partner with the Arbor Day Foundation® to plant 2.33 million trees in environmentally degraded areas — more than double the number of trees Clayton used to build homes in 2021.*
The Roadblock
Clayton wanted to announce its partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation® in a way that would build trust with consumers, stay true to its core values and at the same time, showcase all of the environmental benefits of the partnership.
Clayton wanted experts to help with the messaging strategy — to ensure that the language was clear and concise, telling a story of why it valued this partnership.
The Finale
Our team at MLD formulated a branding strategy, specific to Clayton’s sustainability partnership, that included a mission, vision, and brand pillars. The language crafted for each created a solid framework that was used by our team to develop a new homepage and sustainability focused page for the partnership launch.
To give you an insight into one area of the strategy, we took one of Clayton’s core beliefs — building a better tomorrow — and formed language around how its sustainability partnership tangibly reflected that value. Here’s an example of the language:
At Clayton, we’re committed to building a better tomorrow, not only for our communities but for our planet. We want to drive change and do good to support and inspire the families, communities, and workplaces we serve. That’s why we’re grateful to partner with the Arbor Day Foundation. Together, we’ll plant 2.33 million trees in environmentally degraded areas — more than double the number of trees Clayton used to build homes in 2021.*
You can see more of our brand messaging strategy in the copy for Clayton’s homepage and sustainability partnership page below.
Creating a Sustainability Brand Strategy with MLD
We love working with brands who aim to make meaningful impacts in the world. Have questions about positioning your brand’s sustainability work? We’re here to help.
Let’s build something beautiful together.
*Based on two trees planted by the Arbor Day Foundation® for every estimated tree used in Clayton’s home building process in the previous year, assuming estimated board feet used at 754 board feet per tree and average square footage of our homes built by type. Arbor Day Foundation is a registered service mark of Arbor Day Foundation Corporation.