Just re-reading blog on Chris Heuer’s Inystes – Personal and Professional Thoughts on Life and Marketing and enjoying David Weinberger‘s quote : ’somewhere along the way marketing became what we did TO people’. Apart from making me laugh (Weinberger is SO right) I began to think about how my recent project to create a sustainable ethical policy for my business is effectively an integral part of my marketing strategy.

This is because marketing should be a collaborative process. Like education. My kids discover things for themselves at school, they don’t just absorb information they are provided with. But first, you have to connect, get their interest, or they just won’t LISTEN.

I discovered recently that marketing begins with your own personal values and your vision of why you run your business in the first place. It is those messages that you ‘brand’ – or in other words, communicate to your clients, users and partnerships.

This is why CSR/ethical/sustainable policies are integral to marketing, not as a ‘green wash’, but because they communicate your values and intentions (which must be measurable and accountable to be authentic). People don’t just buy from ‘people’ – they buy and get involved in companies whose values they share.

I have teamed up with Sam Wilson of EcoEvents. Sam is helping me to create a transparent sustainability statement for my businesses (along with Lorraine Bell of Simply CSR), but I want this ‘policy’ to act as a kind of template for other small businesses (especially those I promote). Sam and I both believe that just because a small business may not apply for a ‘community mark’ to give official validation (unless you wanna pay a few hundred quid to go down that road), and just because no other businesses are legally obliged to care about your ethical policies, that is just not the point.

It is a great way of genuinely sharing your values with those who come to check out your business. I tend to listen and take notice more of people whose values I share. That is part of what marketing is about for me – giving others a reason to listen to what you have to say.

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