[Video Link for Email/Other Subscribers - 2.5min]
John describes a transition from a “Push” communications environment by companies, to a “Pull” one. My view is that this has been happening all around us for the last 6 years in terms of customer service and public relations.
“In the past, companies basically produced a printed sustainability report once a year, and then would mail it out largely to what they described as stakeholders. Over a period of time, they started to use websites to make this all a bit more interactive. What now is starting to emerge is a sort of 24-7 environment where companies can report on all sorts of quarters or annuals, including increasingly by very major customers who have strategies and programs in the sustainability field, and want to know what their suppliers are both doing to minimize the “bad” that they do, and also to create positive value. That’s what I mean by a “Pull” environment.”
Sustainability and CSR communications in terms of reporting and providing stakeholders, activists, employees, and other interested parties with information will need to be updated more often, readily available and findable on the web (on your site and off through content marketing and digital PR), extremely well designed for quick navigation and relevance, and digestible through chunks made for both shallow and deeper dives. This is the future how I see and extol it.