What the Millennium Sustainability Goals Mean for Marketers (and those they serve)

By Dora Lutz

By Dora Lutz, Founder & President, 3 Hawks Consulting

At its essence, Millennium Sustainability Goals establish guidelines that the global community generally agrees are a requirement to building security for the human race. Many find the goals to be an exciting call to action to change the world. Others find them to be an unrealistic approach to social innovation.

Regardless of your personal views of the United Nations or the Sustainability Development Goals, they also provide a guideline and resource that can be valuable for many businesses.

So who should be paying attention?  Everyone: here’s why.

  • Consumers want more from businesses than profitability.  Aligning your business with a cause can increase consumer loyalty, and allow for premium pricing!

  • Businesses that create a sense of organizational and personal purpose have increased success at hiring, retaining and engaging employees.

  • Aligning with a larger purpose allows collaborative relationships to form that allow non-profits, businesses and governments to find common groundwork and make progress towards goals faster, while creating value for all parties at the same time.

 

The data goes far beyond that, but these are a few of the most compelling stats.

So if you’re interested in considering more about how your business can support the SDGs (and vice versa), what should you do?

  1. Review the SDGs, and select 1 or 2 key areas of focus in which your business might theoretically align. Read the goal targets and identify the one that seems like the lowest hanging fruit.  (You may find several, but for starting purposes, don’t make life harder than it needs to be!)

  2. Gather your C-suite and consider ways that you might align with this goal to enhance your business. Go beyond marketing: what could this mean for your HR team? For operations: Are there ways to enhance your supply chain that could reduce costs or risks?

  3. Brainstorm who your partners might be in this space.  The UN provides global partners that might be a good fit if you’re able to have global reach.  If not, think about who in your community is doing similar work.

  4. Have a conversation!  Reach out to those partners and begin a conversation to understand common goals.  What resources do they need that you can bring to the table and vice versa?

 

It can feel daunting to start anything that involves the term ‘United Nations’, but the goals cannot and will not be achieved without local action.  And I can almost promise that every conversation that starts with ‘how can we make a difference together’ will be one of the best of your week.

It always is for me.

About the Expert

Dora Lutz, President and CEO, 3 Hawks Consulting

DoraLDora Lutz is a creative, collaborative, digital marketing generalist who has spent her career in the trenches gaining experience in logistics and operations, management, marketing, and business development.  Dora is passionate about the ways digital media are transforming the ways people communicate, and loves building plans that yield tangible, meaningful results.

Dora earned her MBA in Organizational Leadership from Butler University, and has over 15 years of management and communications experience from a variety of industries.

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