{"id":893074,"date":"2026-03-20T04:12:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T09:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/20\/how-small-businesses-can-effectively-market-their-green-credentials\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T04:12:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T09:12:00","slug":"how-small-businesses-can-effectively-market-their-green-credentials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/20\/how-small-businesses-can-effectively-market-their-green-credentials\/","title":{"rendered":"How small businesses can effectively market their green credentials"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Here is what sustainability experts say small businesses need to know about communicating their green credentials honestly and effectively.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sustainability is no longer a nice-to-have for Australian small businesses. Consumers are making purchasing decisions based on environmental values, and the pressure to communicate green credentials clearly and credibly has never been greater. But knowing what to say, how to say it and how to back it up is where many businesses struggle. Here is what the experts recommend.<\/p>\n

Start by understanding what your customers actually care about<\/h2>\n

Tim Clover, Founder and CEO of Glow, says the first step is not communication at all. It is listening. \u201cBefore businesses start marketing sustainability credentials, first you need to understand what is important to your customers,\u201d he says. \u201cWhat social, environmental, and governance issues do they care about? And how do they expect your business to be addressing those issues? Once you have that insight, you can build a strategy that will create impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clover also flags a trap many businesses fall into once they do have a strategy. \u201cOur sustainability brand performance tracker shows that many Australian brands suffer from \u2018green whispering\u2019, not talking enough about their efforts,\u201d he says. \u201cDon\u2019t be shy about sharing why you are on a sustainability journey, what your plans are and how you are progressing. Just remember to do it with the candor and transparency your customers expect.\u201d<\/p>\n

His research puts the stakes in context. According to Glow\u2019s data, two out of three Australian consumers rank social and environmental responsibility as important when choosing a brand, while more than one in five has switched brands based on sustainability perception in the past year.<\/p>\n

Make the business case, not just the environmental one<\/h2>\n

David Walsh, Founder and CEO of CIM, argues that sustainability credentials are most powerful when they are connected directly to business outcomes. \u201cAccelerating Net Zero ambitions makes good business and brand sense,\u201d Walsh says. \u201cEnergy costs are a significant and rising expense.\u201d He points to data showing that energy efficient buildings attract better tenants, higher valuations and stronger investor interest. \u201cThe shift towards Net Zero isn\u2019t just a regulatory or political imperative, it\u2019s smart business.\u201d<\/p>\n

For small businesses, the implication is clear. Framing sustainability as a commercial advantage rather than a compliance exercise makes it more compelling to customers, investors and staff alike.<\/p>\n

Honesty over perfection<\/h2>\n

The businesses that get sustainability communication right are not the ones with the most impressive credentials. They are the ones who are most honest about where they are in the journey.<\/p>\n

Carolyn Butler-Madden, Founder of The Cause Effect and author of For Love and Money, offers a framework built around courage rather than caution. She recommends setting ambitious goals, allowing those goals to drive innovation, always prioritising actions over words, inviting customers to be part of the change and making others the heroes of the story rather than the brand itself. \u201cYour brand is the facilitator for change, not the story\u2019s hero,\u201d Butler-Madden says.<\/p>\n

Anu Sawhney, Founder of Bidiliia jewellery, puts it plainly from a small business perspective. \u201cCustomers are very environmentally aware, so it\u2019s important to be honest and transparent about your business\u2019s green credentials. Any hint of greenwashing can lead to broken trust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sawhney describes her own approach as one of continuous learning. \u201cNone of us is perfect when it comes to sustainability. We can always do more. It isn\u2019t set and forget but a continued work in progress. We\u2019re learning all the time, and always looking for new ways to do things, to lessen our impact and remain ethical in our practice. And we\u2019re always communicating these efforts with our customers, so they maintain their trust in us and our practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get your visuals right too<\/h2>\n

Kate Rourke, Head of Creative Insights Asia Pacific at Getty Images and iStock, raises a dimension of sustainability communication that many businesses overlook entirely: the images they use.<\/p>\n

\u201cBrands struggle to visualise sustainability in an authentic and relatable way, and often rely on abstract or stereotypical renewable energy symbols such as solar and wind farms to market their green credentials,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

Rourke recommends expanding visual content to humanise and personalise the sustainability story, using images that consumers can relate to and that represent new concepts such as the circular economy or energy efficiency. She also flags a representation issue worth noting. \u201cOur data reveals young white women are depicted the most when it comes to sustainability. It\u2019s fundamental to visually represent people of all ages, genders and ethnicities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Use certifications and third parties to build credibility<\/h2>\n

Veena Harbaugh, Director of Sustainability at Sendle, recommends a three-step approach: measure your environmental footprint, find credible partners to help move to more sustainable options, and seek independent verification from third parties. \u201cReceiving a B Corp certification can ensure you uphold high standards of verified performance, accountability and transparency while building trust with consumers and your communities,\u201d Harbaugh says. \u201cSustainability-focused industry awards can also help to verify and market your impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

She is also direct about where to start. \u201cDo the work to understand and measure your environmental footprint. There are various tools that can help to measure your carbon emissions from manufacturing to shipping to even your digital presence. This can help you set environmental goals and report on them annually via your website.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bring your employees along first<\/h2>\n

Before taking the sustainability message external, make sure your own team is on board. \u201cMake sure your employees understand what you are doing on ESG,\u201d Butler-Madden says. \u201cAustralian workers are passionate about sustainability. Before speaking with external stakeholders it\u2019s important your people are on board with your sustainability plans too.\u201d<\/p>\n

The through line across all of these perspectives is consistent. Effective sustainability marketing is not about claiming perfection. It is about demonstrating genuine commitment, communicating progress honestly and inviting customers into a journey rather than presenting a finished result. For small businesses, that approach is not only more credible. It is more achievable.<\/p>\n

Insights in this article were originally shared as part of Dynamic Business\u2019s Let\u2019s Talk series.<\/em><\/p>\n

Keep up to date with our stories on\u00a0LinkedIn<\/a>,\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Larisa Stoval
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is what sustainability experts say small businesses need to know about communicating their green credentials honestly and effectively. Sustainability is no longer a nice-to-have for Australian small businesses. Consumers are making purchasing decisions based on environmental values, and the pressure to communicate green credentials clearly and credibly has never been greater. But knowing what<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":893075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2487,135],"tags":[12102,6063],"class_list":{"0":"post-893074","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-businesses","8":"category-small","9":"tag-businesses","10":"tag-small"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=893074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/893074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/893075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=893074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=893074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=893074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}