How to Discuss Sustainability with Your Vendors

Julie Starr • July 17, 2024

One of the biggest pushes in the last couple of years has been sustainability across all business models. You can walk down the aisles of any grocery store and you're bound to see product labels that boast ingredients that are sourced from sustainable suppliers and packaging that is recyclable and eco conscious.


For these products, there are clear ways to make sure that the old claims about sustainability are kept in the forefront of those who are looking for them. But what about those businesses that sell services? And what about vendors that offer their expertise as a
composite structure manufacturer? How are you supposed to tell which of your vendors lean more into sustainability than others? Just because a service based business doesn't have the same type of green designations as a product based business, it doesn't mean that carbon accounting should be forgotten about, nor that of their vendors. Let's take a look at how you can discuss the stability with your vendors so that you can understand better how they are giving back.


Determine their footprint

Before you engage in any type of professional services from a vendor, start talking about their sustainability and their ESG initiatives.Identifying supply chain risks and aligning their corporate values with yours will help you to be a better business owner. Engage vendors about their social and environmental responsibilities. You don't want to work with a vendor that doesn't treat their work as well, and you don't want to work with a vendor who doesn't have ethical stewardship policies. Do they measure their carbon impact and can they tell you how much the impact is applied to the goods or services they provide?


What if they don't meet your standards?

If this happens, and it probably will when you are shopping around for the right vendors for your business, you could switch to those who are more sustainable. That may require a shift in your management strategy or your procurement process, especially in manufacturing. If you want to make sure that your business is sustainable, then you should require your vendors to embrace their active commitment to environmental sustainability too. Where possible, you need to take an integrated approach instead of making silo decisions here.


Find a way that you can leverage sustainability.

If you're a property management company and you're currently working with a landscaping company, you may have some leverage in asking that landscaping company to switch to fertilizers and plants that are environmentally friendly or drought tolerant. Some companies would be willing to open their minds to making those changes, especially if the contract is big enough. If you can find ways that you can leverage other businesses in being more sustainable then you'll be able to push that sustainability agenda that you're trying to achieve with your customers. 


Sustainability isn't something that you should ignore, so if you're working with outside vendors, make sure that their sustainability ideals align with yours. 

By Julie Starr April 18, 2025
Any business that focuses on sustainability needs to take a holistic approach to their operations. They’ll need to make sure everything is as sustainable as possible. This often feels complicated for various areas. One of the more notable is picking the right marketing strategies for sustainability companies. This can be difficult, as some options mightn’t be eco-friendly. That’s especially true with many more traditional options, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few your business can go for. There shouldn’t be a reason why they wouldn’t be sustainable marketing strategies. Run Eco-Friendly Digital Events Event marketing can often be a great area to invest in, but it’s not always the most sustainable option. Thankfully, that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few ways to make it more sustainable. You could run digital events , which are often much more eco-friendly than their traditional counterparts. There’ll be no need for people to travel and generate carbon emissions, for example. There’ll also be a whole lot less waste during the event itself. Aside from being more environmentally friendly, this offers more than a few other benefits. There’s no reason why these events shouldn’t help your business. Invest in SEO Search engine optimization (SEO) can often be one of the better marketing strategies for sustainability companies. It doesn’t have a negative environmental impact, and it could offer you some amazing results. It’ll help you generate some great brand awareness, visibility, and even sales. This gets more and more in time. t can often be one of the more complicated areas to master, though. That doesn’t mean you can’t make it more straightforward. You can always look into professionals to help you with this, like here: https://tonimarino.co.uk . With a bit of time, you’ll see quality results from your SEO. Get Involved in Eco-Friendly Initiatives Countless eco-friendly initiatives are run every year, and these can often be great to get involved in. They can help you improve your brand awareness while getting in front of like-minded individuals. Many of these could be in a position to be interested in your products or services. Even sponsoring some of these initiatives can be worth it. It’s just a matter of looking into which initiatives you can actually take part in. Spend a bit of time figuring out which ones can be a great option for you. It’ll even help improve how people view your brand going forward. Figuring out the best marketing strategies for sustainability companies can often be a little complicated. Some options can be ruled out relatively quickly, as they mightn’t be too environmentally friendly. That doesn’t mean there aren’t a few options you can go for. A few of them could stand out. These shouldn’t have a negative environmental impact, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t consider them. They’ll also offer you some amazing results going forward. With the impact they can have, it’s more than worth putting the time and effort into them. You’ll see some quality results because of it.
By Julie Starr April 15, 2025
Any business that focuses on sustainability needs to take a holistic approach to their operations. They’ll need to make sure everything is as sustainable as possible. This often feels complicated for various areas. One of the more notable is picking the right marketing strategies for sustainability companies. This can be difficult, as some options mightn’t be eco-friendly. That’s especially true with many more traditional options, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few your business can go for. There shouldn’t be a reason why they wouldn’t be sustainable marketing strategies. Run Eco-Friendly Digital Events Event marketing can often be a great area to invest in, but it’s not always the most sustainable option. Thankfully, that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few ways to make it more sustainable. You could run digital events , which are often much more eco-friendly than their traditional counterparts. There’ll be no need for people to travel and generate carbon emissions, for example. There’ll also be a whole lot less waste during the event itself. Aside from being more environmentally friendly, this offers more than a few other benefits. There’s no reason why these events shouldn’t help your business. Invest in SEO Search engine optimization (SEO) can often be one of the better marketing strategies for sustainability companies. It doesn’t have a negative environmental impact, and it could offer you some amazing results. It’ll help you generate some great brand awareness, visibility, and even sales. This gets more and more in time. t can often be one of the more complicated areas to master, though. That doesn’t mean you can’t make it more straightforward. You can always look into professionals to help you with this, like here: https://tonimarino.co.uk . With a bit of time, you’ll see quality results from your SEO. Get Involved in Eco-Friendly Initiatives Countless eco-friendly initiatives are run every year, and these can often be great to get involved in. They can help you improve your brand awareness while getting in front of like-minded individuals. Many of these could be in a position to be interested in your products or services. Even sponsoring some of these initiatives can be worth it. It’s just a matter of looking into which initiatives you can actually take part in. Spend a bit of time figuring out which ones can be a great option for you. It’ll even help improve how people view your brand going forward. Figuring out the best marketing strategies for sustainability companies can often be a little complicated. Some options can be ruled out relatively quickly, as they mightn’t be too environmentally friendly. That doesn’t mean there aren’t a few options you can go for. A few of them could stand out. These shouldn’t have a negative environmental impact, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t consider them. They’ll also offer you some amazing results going forward. With the impact they can have, it’s more than worth putting the time and effort into them. You’ll see some quality results because of it.