By Richard Croxford, Account Manager
Should you care about Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) factors?
Done right, they can be a great asset to your marketing.
Done poorly, they can lead to issues like “greenwashing” and a lack of trust in your audience.
Some see it simply as a trend and, worryingly, some just look at it as a box they feel they must tick whether it fits or not.
Other brands are leaning into it – really investing capital into their charity or environmental work.
In my opinion, ESG factors tend to matter to consumers, investors, and employees far more than the people who are actually running companies and making marketing decisions.
I think I can evidence this by simply pointing you towards the rush to weave ESG into every campaign, tagline, or content plan – which has, in many cases, felt more reactive than real.
When ESG is earned, not added
The most credible ESG messaging comes from businesses that already have the receipts.
If you’re genuinely changing your supply chain, reshaping hiring practices, or rethinking your environmental impact, then by all means, talk about it.
And yes, use it in your marketing – you’ve earned the right, in my book.
However, if you’re still working it out behind the scenes, or worse, borrowing ESG language from competitors without the substance to back it up, then I think you need to pause.
Your audiences are increasingly savvy – they know the difference between a sustainability initiative and a slide deck.
Overusing ESG in your marketing can actually backfire.
It can raise questions you’re not ready to answer and it can expose gaps in your business that no clever copy can cover.
In a worst-case scenario, it can open the door to accusations of greenwashing or virtue signalling – reputational risks that are hard to recover from.
So, what should you do?
I think brands need to build from the inside out rather than shouting about something that doesn’t exist behind the scenes.
I can’t advise you to make ESG part of your operations (that’s not my job), but I can suggest you adjust your optics depending on what you’re already doing.
If ESG is embedded in your culture, your people, and your product or service, it will naturally become part of your story.
When it does, your marketing won’t need to work as hard to convince anyone.
In other words, use ESG in your marketing if it’s real, if it’s measurable, and if it’s already part of how you work – otherwise, keep it in the background and work on it quietly and meaningfully.
In the end, it’s about balance rather than silence or saturation.
ESG can absolutely be part of your marketing story – just not the whole story and certainly not the headline unless you’ve already done the work to justify it.
Do you want to talk ESG with an expert? Get in touch with the JE Consulting team!
