Podcast: Effective Communication is Always Sustainable

Several weeks ago, our Founder Tom Geary sat down with podcast host Justine Reichman to discuss all things sustainability. In the episode, “Three Ways to be a More Effective Communicator”, Geary outlines how brands can step up their game to really connect with their audience.

Reichman runs Essential Ingredients, a weekly show featuring conversations with thought leaders who advocate for regenerative change within the food industry.

Essential Ingredients takes a look at ways in which aspiring Foodpreneurs can build accessible food-based businesses.

While many of the episodes review challenges facing the food industry, Reichman (a serial entrepreneur herself) also speaks with business owners about how to stand out from the crowd and lead companies with a dedicated mission to enact positive change.

Reichman founded NextGenChef in 2018, and has since been recognized as a leading voice on raising awareness about issues in sustainability. She invests in startups and supports policy and legislative change that seeks to create a healthier food system for the future.

The hope is that, through education, the public can begin to make more informed, healthy choices for themselves and their families.

When we talk about sustainability at School of Thought, we’re usually referring to so much more than just that “green” buzz word. Our agency chooses to work with clients that have a ‘sustainable mindset’—an eye for progress and an openness to innovation that benefits more than just their bottom line.

Lately, we’ve been working with companies rallying for clean energy and the reduction of greenhouse gases that negatively affect our climate.

However, we also help businesses build sustainability from the inside out, starting with their work culture. For example, when a company makes the smart decision to focus on a recruitment campaign to put Diversity, Equity and Inclusion front and center.

Food is intrinsically connected to our climate and the natural world, so it was only natural to connect with Reichman about how we’ve forged alliances with clients who are trying to make a difference in that department. Through this work, we know our agency is making a difference, as well.

It’s not enough to say that you stand for a sustainable future anymore. Companies have to prove to their customers and their audience that they are invested in the work and are taking adequate steps to leave the world better than when they found it.

In 2019, Edelman released a study that showed two-thirds of consumers (or 64%) would buy from a brand or boycott it solely because of its position on a social or political issue.

“A lot of them are talking about it—what’s far better is to show that you’re actually doing something,” Geary says on the podcast. “We thrive at basically helping clients demonstrate that they’re actually walking the walk.”

Nowadays, he says, people are hyper-aware of what’s honest and what’s for show. “People out there are going to sniff out if your efforts are disingenuous, and a lot of people are unfortunately doing things for the wrong reason.”

Once you’re in it for the right reasons, the next challenge is figuring out how to grab people’s attention. The best advertising usually does not resemble advertising at all. Most people skip commercials and ignore the multitude of marketing attempts that happen to them on a daily basis.

Back in 2016, the digital marketing network Tradedoubler conducted a survey and found that around 49% of people will disregard a brand if it bombards them with ads or if they perceive them to be irrelevant. In light of that, it helps to craft messages that live outside-the-box and feel personalized.

Geary says one test to see if your marketing is hitting the mark is to put yourself in the consumer’s shoes. If you’re the kind of person who goes home and fast-forwards through all the TV ads, you can be sure others out there will do the same.

And when you’ve got a business you’re incredibly passionate about, you tend to be even less objective when evaluating your own advertising.

“Branding takes a long time and communications are hard, so give people a reason to be able to differentiate your message from everybody else,” Geary says. “Make the look distinctive; make the voice distinctive; do something not everybody else is doing in your category and you’re going to have a lot more success standing out.”

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Editor’s Note: Learn more about Justine Reichman and listen to Tom Geary’s full interview on the Essential Ingredients podcast