From pain to gain: turning sustainability storytelling challenges into engaging comms.

Four ways to turn the complexities of B2B sustainability communications into a standout story.

While consumer brands have honed their sustainability storytelling over the last decade, many B2B brands still haven’t made it a priority. Yet, sustainability continues to impact decision-making for 69% of B2B buyers, with nearly 50% willing to pay a 5% sustainability premium. 

While many organizations are making steady progress toward their goals, few are successfully sharing their accomplishments. A 2023 survey found that 96% of senior executives believe it’s important to share sustainability stories, but nearly half say what they are sharing is not enough.

Add to that a growing pressure to balance stringent global regulations with an increasingly polarized landscape—it’s no wonder 48% of enterprise leaders find communicating sustainability information challenging.

There’s a massive opportunity for B2B brands to stand out with a sustainability story that connects—yet B2B companies face unique challenges that consumer-facing brands don’t. 

Let’s take a look at how we can turn four common obstacles into opportunities to strengthen your sustainability brand.

1. Demonstrating a (value) chain reaction.

The challenge: B2B brands are part of a much more complex value chain—with a footprint that can span multiple industries and touch dozens (or even hundreds) of downstream partners and customers. This scale can make it difficult to craft a cohesive and consistent sustainability narrative.

The opportunity: Tell a story of widespread impact across your company’s entire value chain—one that positions your business as a catalyst of transformation throughout industries and supplier networks.

Opportunity in action: Calling themselves “A Practitioner of Green Power,” semiconductor manufacturer, TSMC, highlights not only their own emissions reductions, but emphasizes how their innovations also enable partners and downstream customers across multiple industries—making themselves an attractive vendor to consider for partners looking to reel in their Scope 3 emissions.

Take the first step: Map out your entire value chain, identifying key touchpoints where your sustainability efforts make the most significant impact. Collect data and success stories to help you demonstrate how your company’s initiatives have positively affected different parts of the value chain.

2. Speaking the language of your stakeholders.

The challenge: B2B purchasing decisions typically involve multiple stakeholders with varying levels of technical expertise and differing priorities. Addressing different (and often conflicting) perspectives—without alienating any audiences—adds another layer of complexity to creating a consistent narrative.

The opportunity: Use tailored messaging to translate your overarching narrative into targeted communications for different audience groups. Start with the unifying themes that appeal to all stakeholders, then develop audience-specific messaging for each theme to emphasize the aspects of sustainability that align with each group’s specific priorities and expertise levels.

Opportunity in action: ABB is a global technology company that expertly translates their universal sustainability narrative—“Enabling a more sustainable and resource-efficient future,”—into tailored audience messaging that tells a compelling story without watering down the details. From environmental product declarations for technical audiences, to ROI and TCO resources for procurement teams, ABB has cracked the code on crafting tailored messaging that ladders back up to one big idea.

Take the first step: Conduct a stakeholder analysis to define your two to three most important stakeholders and their primary sustainability concerns. Then develop detailed personas for each group to guide your content creation.

3. Turning compliance into a competitive edge.

The challenge: B2B companies continue to face growing pressure from regulations like the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the SEC’s climate disclosure rules. Keeping up with the constantly evolving regulatory landscape creates a moving target for B2B sustainability branding—and in many cases becomes the sole focus for their communications, with little room left for storytelling.

The opportunity: Transform regulatory pressures into stories of proactive leadership—and competitive advantage—by framing compliance as part of a broader commitment to transparency and leadership. Highlight instances where your company is going above and beyond requirements and how staying ahead of the curve enables long-term success for the business and its customers.  

Opportunity in action: B2B fintech company, Alloy, transformed regulatory challenges into a competitive advantage by developing an integrated system for Know Your Customer (KYC) and Know Your Business (KYB) processes. By embracing their need to keep up with a constantly changing compliance landscape, Alloy has created a solution that allows their clients to rapidly expand into new markets while maintaining strong compliance standards.

Take the first step: Identify the regulatory challenges in your industry that are most relevant to your business and customers. Consider potential technological solutions that address these challenges and assess how they might provide additional value beyond compliance. Once you have your idea, develop a prototype or minimum viable product (MVP) to test your approach.

4. Building credibility through transparency.

The challenge: Quantifying environmental impact across complex supply chains can also present significant challenges. Without standardized metrics, sustainability claims can lack credibility, making effective branding difficult.

The opportunity: While many companies struggle to quantify their impact, few are forthcoming about it. Use this opportunity to create a narrative around your organization’s ongoing efforts to improve data collection and reporting. Share stories around any initiatives to develop or adopt new sustainability metrics as part of that journey.

Opportunity in action: Unilever has embraced transparency—from their annual report and accompanying basis of preparation document to content that details new technologies they’ve adopted for improving traceability in their supply chain. Most recently, Unilever has shared a new focus on four key focus areas where they believe they can make the greatest impact.

Take the first step: Assess key areas where data is lacking, so you can be prepared to speak to them in your narrative. Be open about challenges and limitations—and clear about a plan to balance them. You can also engage stakeholders to understand what information is most valuable to them, so you can focus your efforts..

Whether you’re B2B or B2C, the best sustainability stories are the ones that share an authentic journey—struggles and all. By reframing challenges as opportunities, B2B organizations can create narratives that resonate deeply with decision-makers looking for partners committed to meaningful change.

 

We can help you create and tell a sustainability story that showcases your strengths, connects with your audiences, and supports your progress. Get in touch and let’s talk!