Last year I wrote an article for a New York based property services company on how millennials were the driving force behind ESG gaining traction within the property rental market. And early in 2023, I re-visited ESG when I re-wrote a landing page for a UK insurance tech client and had to research the assessment of climate-related financial risk. At the time it seemed that the targeting of ESG as a way of winning over customers seemed like a tough hill to climb as a small business.
ESG, or responsible investing, has three components.
ESG, or ‘responsible investing’, looks at three key components when investing: environment, social responsibility and governance.The first refers to how much a company affects the environment in its operations and supply chain. Social refers to the organisation’s approach to stakeholder and partner communication. Finally, governance refers to how well the organisation is managed, how transparent and accountable it is
Leaning on Your Business’s ESG credentials
In many cases, ESG is a natural fit for service companies. It’s an opportunity to build trust with clients, differentiate yourself from competitors and attract new ones.
That’s the theory anyway. But many of the clients I work with – small to medium size B2B service companies – haven’t the corporate culture to devote much time to developing ESG policies as a whole. The application of ESG policies in business has many positive benefits and should be pursued. But as a marketing position, you’re going to have to connect those policies to the delivery of your service and and to do so along a marketing funnel. How much are my governance policies affecting my turnaround time for delivery of my service? Trying to shoehorn ESG concerns into a service business ends up with very long-winded mission statements that make very little sense. And there’s an AI for that.
If, B2B service business owner, you’re not going to fully commit to the Cause, I recommend not leaning into ESG as a differentiator between yourself and the next guy. Keep it simple and stick to ‘Buy a Printer, Plant A Tree’.