ESG PR: Overcoming media skepticism to boost media coverage
The surge in greenwashing means it is harder for businesses and brands to get media coverage for their positive ESG stories. However, there is a way to overcome this challenge… you just need to be willing to work a little harder with ‘how’ you position your stories.
The number of B Corp businesses in the UK has seen a six-fold increase since Clearly PR gained certification in 2021. Back then, there were only 400; today, this number has risen to over 2,300. At the current rate of growth, I believe this number can – probably will – reach 10,000 within five years.
It’s an exciting time to be a B Corp. However, despite there being huge interest among businesses aspiring to become part of the movement the UK media is increasingly immune to stories from organisations talking up their sustainability and social impact stories.
The reason? Greenwashing.
‘Greenwashing’ is when a business or brand exaggerates their green credentials in a bid to look good and appeal to the customers they want to attract.
There has been a plethora of high-profile cases of greenwashing among businesses and brands caught out for making false claims or acting in direct contravention to them – Starbucks, VW, Ryanair, and Havas to name but a few. This is bad.
But whilst most of us can see through the green-tinted smoke that these organisations are blowing in our direction, it has given rise to a more worrying phenomenon: greenhushing.
This is a term used to describe those who keep quiet about the things they do out of fear of being labelled a greenwasher. I believe that greenhushing is the biggest threat to the advancement of the B Corp and general purposeful business movement – you can only become what you see.
All of which leads us to ask:
How can businesses and brands communicate their stories relating to their sustainability and social impact initiatives?
This is critically important to understand.
That’s because if businesses and brands do not communicate their great environmental and social impact stories in the right way through PR then both the B Corp and wider purpose-led business movement will a minority concern with little influence to affect the positive change that is needed.
Aside from working with a great PR agency like Clearly which is a specialist PR agency for B Corps (hey, it’s my blog so I’ll allowed a cheeky plug!), the answer lies in addressing the ‘So, what?’ factor in all communications being sent to the media outlets of greatest importance to the business or brand.
Here is an example of what I mean.
Imagine that you want to create a media story – a press release – announcing a new addition to your company’s ESG policy (or environmental, social and governance – the term used to describe a set of standards that sustainably and socially focused businesses and organisations adhere to). It might look something like:
“Company X will be allocating 1% of its total net revenue for local social initiatives.”
This is great, but it won’t get you media coverage. You need to ask yourself, ‘So, what does this mean?’ You could answer by saying:
“Based on a predicted growth rate of 15% that will take us to net revenues of £500,000 over the next 12 months, this means that the business will be able to allocate £5,000 to supporting local causes.”
Again, this is great. But again, it’s not enough to get your story in the press. You need to keep going with another ‘So, what?’
“Of that £5,000, £2,500 will be given to a homeless charity to support the work they do.”
You’re almost there… just a wee bit more of a push is needed:
“This will be used to provide skills training for 30 people to help them gain meaningful employment and help five people to secure shelter where they can achieve an improved quality of life.”
Hurrah! You got there. It took some coaxing, but you got there.
As we shared earlier the media is skeptical of any bold statements made by businesses and brands about their people and planet stories. That’s because they’re seen and heard so many that they no longer take what an organisation tells them at face value.
They don’t have the time or inclination to substantiate every claim made in a press statement – that’s your job. Fill in the gaps and ensure that each point made addresses the ‘So, what?’ factor. In doing so, your chances of media coverage success are hugely boosted.
