Despite the dollars being spent on corporate sustainability, there are common issues that prevent communications from having the impact they could. Check out 12 common mistakes companies make in their sustainability communications (and other corporate communications).

1. Common Mistakes
In Corporate
Sustainability
Communications

2. No
Flavor
Companies produce
materials with no
personality.

3. Jake Przespo flickr.com/photos/jakeprzespo/
Insert Logo Here
Logo?
Logo?
Logo?
Half the time, you could switch out the
company logo for another company
and no one would notice.

4. When you infuse your
content with your
brand’s flavor the
people who resonate
with your brand will be
happy to consume it.

5. Report
(or Corporate)
Speak
*Also known as using
a lot of words to say
not that much.
*

6. Dense reports with
stand-offish language
are all too common in
the sustainability
realm.
They’re a particular
problem in today’s
online world.

7. With the sea of information on the
Internet, you’ve got seconds
before the next wave hits.
To communicate, you first have to engage.

8. So make it
clear.
Photo credit: Vjeran Lisjak freeimages.com
And provide
value.

9. Puffery
Beware the ‘we’re so
wonderful’ talk.
As far as any real
sustainability is
concerned, our actions
are in the early stages.
Photo Credit: Chris CjVision Flickr
Be humble
and avoid puffing
yourself up.

10. Instead, consider
how you can make
your stakeholders
the heroes.
Humanize your
content.

11. Lack of Clear
Communication
Goals

12. L

13. Too
Even Shakespeare
built comic relief into
his dramas.
Heavy

14. Aim to people up,
not weigh them down.
lift

15. On the other hand, it’s not all
rainbows and roses
either.
Put your information in context of the
larger global issues we’re facing.
Show how your actions fit into the
greater scheme.
And you should be honest
(which should probably go without saying).

16. Aiming to please everyone
results in being bland and
inauthentic.
(Sustainability just
makes you a little
better you).
You need to be
who
you
are.
Aiming to Please
Everyone

17. Stakeholder engagements and materiality assessments should
be used to help you understand your stakeholders interests,
the language they use and the problems they face daily, so you
can better engage them.
Communicate from strength, not from fear.
Middle of the road
communications are
reactive. You spend
your time trying not to
be run over.

18. Spewing
Facts
and
Figures

19. You can’t just throw a
bunch of information at
people and expect
them to understand.
Be their
guide.

20. Help them navigate the
landscape. Provide
wayfinding devices. Give
them a trail map.
What are you communicating and why?
• What story are you telling?
• What is there to see?
• What does it mean?
• What’s the bigger context?

21. Over-extended statements
(like these company
samples) sound like
platitudes and put you in
greenwashing danger:
Platitudes
‘We care deeply about people
and our planet’
‘Our programs make an impact
throughout the world’
‘our products provide
environmental sustainability’
‘The very core of our
company is sustainability’
‘putting people first’
‘helping to protect the
environment and scarce
resources, now and for
future generations’

22. Craft messages
that can stand a
little heat without
melting.
Greenwashing Test
If you can’t clearly
demonstrate it,
don’t say it.
If you write stuff
that sounds like
hype, you miss the
chance to connect
with your audience.

23. No
We connect and care through our emotions;
if there’s no emotional connection, there’ll
be little engagement.
A good way to create connection and
personality is by expressing your values.
Heart

24. Image
Fail
The Internet has created an
age of visual
communication.
Images should reinforce your
overall messages, not just be
‘pretty’ placeholders.

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26. You may have brilliant stuff, but
if no one reads it, you have a
failure to
communicate.
Even in a report, walls of text are imposing.
This is an age of learning to communicate
differently. The old rules no longer apply.
They cause people
to click away.

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