4 Ways to Avoid Greenwashing in Your Marketing
Use these tips to make sure your environmental claims are accurate and truthful
There’s no way to sugarcoat it—marketing that oversells your company and says you’re doing more for the environment than you actually are is called greenwashing. Making exaggerated (and therefore deceptive) claims about your brand's activities can lead to mistrust with customers.
Even if you’re greenwashing unintentionally, which is the case for many brands, you’re preventing consumers from understanding the impacts of their purchasing decisions as they struggle to differentiate between valid and invalid claims. Greenwashing can slow down sustainability efforts by making people skeptical of environmental initiatives.
Newer companies are especially prone to greenwashing because they’re less likely to understand federal guidelines that regulate green marketing claims, less likely to consult legal counsel before launching, and might be trying to take advantage of “sustainability” as a buzzword to get attention from prospective customers. To avoid the repercussions of greenwashing, implement these 4 tips into your marketing strategy:
1. Be Transparent
Being transparent in your marketing is one of the best ways to avoid greenwashing. If you’re honest about your company’s activities, your customers will learn to trust you.
Think about every aspect of your business in order to develop a successful green marketing campaign. If one part of your company is sustainable—maybe you’re paper free—but you rely on fossil fuels to heat your office, you should disclose that. If the face wash you sell is made from sustainable materials but the bottles it comes in can’t be recycled, don’t hide that piece of information. Nobody expects perfection—be up front and proud of the steps you are taking toward sustainability.
Building trust with customers takes time. Don’t squash the relationships you’ve built by hiding anything about your business practices.
2. Use Appropriate Images and Words
Be specific with your marketing! This should be the case for every type of business, but especially for companies that make green claims. The images and words you use in your marketing should accurately reflect your company’s affect on the planet.
Brands get into trouble with greenwashing when they use words that don’t properly describe their actions, products, or services. Using words like “eco-friendly” or “ all natural” isn’t enough. Using the color green or images of nature to give the impression that you’re environmentally friendly isn’t enough—even if your environmental initiatives are top of the line. This is a form of greenwashing; one that many companies fall into the trap of.
To avoid this, you need to be able to specifically describe and explain your company’s sustainable practices in your marketing. Use imagery and wording that reflects how your company does better for the environment. If you use biodegradable packing, disclose the exact details of the packaging on your website, social media, etc.—and don’t claim that your entire company is sustainable if biodegradable packaging is the extent of your sustainability efforts.
3. Focus on the Facts
If you make a statement about your company, you need to be able to back it up with facts. For example, if your marketing highlights that your business uses “35 percent less energy” to manufacture its products, this isn’t transparent enough. Thirty-five percent less compared to who? Using “35 percent less energy” could still mean you’re consuming a lot of energy.
Share your company’s reports with consumers. If you emit fewer carbon emissions than competitors in your industry, then share the report that gave you that statistic on your website. Cite valid research papers from .org, .gov, or .edu sites to backup any environmental claims your business makes. Having a dedicated section on your website labeled “sustainability” or “transparency” to provide customers with the facts behind your sustainability efforts builds trust and shows you truly care about your company’s impact on the planet.
4. Get Certified
The best way to prove that your sustainability claims are substantiated is to get certifications. Certification processes dive deep into a company’s environmental impact. If you have sustainability credentials, they should be highlighted in your marketing efforts. Here are some of the top environmental certifications company’s can receive:
Consider getting certified to avoid greenwashing and put your company’s best foot forward. If you’re unable or not ready to get a certification, you might consider releasing a Corporate Social Responsibility Report (CSR) to disclose your internal policies and practices. A CSR would paint a larger, more in-depth picture about the way your company views social and environmental issues, as well as any programs or initiatives you support and goals you have for your company, along with the status of each goal.
Regardless of whether or not you have certifications or a CSR, you can look to the Federal Trade Commission’s Green Guide for support with your marketing efforts. The Green Guides are designed to help marketers avoid making environmental claims that mislead consumers. They provide guidance on:
General principles that apply to all environmental marketing claims
How consumers are likely to interpret particular claims and how marketers can substantiate these claims
How marketers can qualify their claims to avoid deceiving consumers
Every business should market in a way that’s truthful and non-deceptive. Your marketing should reflect your company’s values and accurately tell the story of how your business affects the planet. It’s easy to avoid making false claims that mislead customers with a little mindfulness and effort.
Businesses have an incredible power to make a positive impact on people and the natural world—remember that when customers buy from you, they’re voting with their dollars!
Consumers in the US can file a complaint of deceptive marketing at FTC.gov or by calling 877-FTC-HELP.
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