Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led an entire era. What made him a powerful and effective communicator was that he educated, engaged, and motivated people into action. In fact, to this day, his words continue to ignite and spark new generations to action that continue to face oppression.
One significant difference between MLK’s era and today is that many more people are leading companies with the heart and power to drive an impact, both environmentally and socially. Inspired by impact investing, these companies higher on the social and environmental spectrum are investing in a cleaner, more equitable future. Whether that be educating on and implementing workplace diversity, helping reduce waste, proliferating renewable energy, cleaning up water supply, you name it. It’s not a winner-take-all capitalism game for future-proof businesses. Because of that, there are a lot of lessons that young environmental entrepreneurs can learn from MLK’s impactful strategies, emotional metaphors, academic writings, stories, and speeches.
Dr. King’s tactics can be effectively adopted by today’s disruptors, innovators, renewable energy knights, and organizations adopting solid social and sustainable initiatives. His approach could be used to introduce and motivate people to make better environmental choices which ultimately impact all members of our society. Dr. King understood the interconnectedness of everything – as he once said, “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Here’s how environmental companies can adopt the formula of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to improve their measurable impact on the planet.
Education
“A great majority of the so-called educated people do not think logically and scientifically. Even the press, the classroom, the platform, and the pulpit, in many instances, do not give us objective and unbiased truths. To save man from the morass of propaganda, in my opinion, is one of the chief aims of education. Education must enable one to sift and weigh evidence, to discern the true from the false, the real from the unreal, and the facts from the fiction.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.
Education is a vital aspect of helping our society turn the corner on new, healthier initiatives. We cannot make an educated shift if we aren’t given the information and the tools necessary to do so. The lesson here from Dr. King is that if we are delivering a solution to one or more of the issues this world faces, we must incorporate education on the issue and the solution we’re presenting.
People are now accustomed to having answers at their fingertips. And if we aren’t providing an in-depth, relevant, and transparent explanation – our business and its offerings can be seen as mildly irrelevant – not part of the conversation. These conversations and educational efforts can be executed IRL, online, social media – perhaps the metaverse. Enlisting the power of engagement can be helpful when delivering our education. It’s what Dr. King did. Why wouldn’t we learn from what worked?
It is an especially important time for environmental companies and organizations to claim their role in society and accept a new level of social responsibility. When creating educational content, remember that your organization was created to make an impact. That means it also needs to improve how marketing is done and what it does for people – helpful, transparent, and educational is where we want to be.
Collaboration – supporting and leveraging other movements
MLK was fighting for social justice, but he also deeply understood the interrelated components of all movements and the importance of actively supporting many issues that ultimately shared the umbrella of injustice. Dr. King knew in order to achieve social justice; environmental justice must be achieved. Healthier living environments for every community and access to clean air, water, and soil all led back to racial equality and voter rights.
Dr. King leveraged and supported many movements and organizations in order to reach the overall goal of social justice. Martin Luther King, Jr. recognized how many great movements of his time were linked. Environmental organizations and companies can realize this as well. Many movements could be stronger with collaboration and recognizing how interdependent they are.
“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly. Did you ever stop to think that you can’t leave for your job in the morning without being dependent on most of the world? This is the way our universe is structured; this is its interrelated quality. We aren’t going to have peace on Earth until we recognize this basic fact of the interrelated structure of all reality.” -Martin Luther King, Jr.
For organizations solving environmental woes, let’s think about the movements or companies we can partner with to get more reach and grow our impact together. Without bastardizing a cause, how can we genuinely support our community on important and interrelated issues? How can we use our marketing dollars or combine our marketing dollars with others on education to shed light on significant problems we’re solving? Make an effort to collaborate and form deeper connections with our people and demonstrate our organization’s genuine desire to solve, educate, uplift, engage, inform, and create great and lasting changes in the world.
Political Engagement and Involvement
Dr. King spent much of his life meeting with politicians, leading marches, speaking, writing, and organizing political activism campaigns that were instrumental in the changes that occurred. Green companies are uniquely positioned to learn from King’s past and apply it to create a better future. Most organizations are involved to some degree in policy influencing, whether that be having a lobbying arm in the company, being part of an association that lobbies for a particular industry, or getting individuals to sign environmental petitions. We are amidst many environmental changes affecting our daily lives; while the old powers are trying to cling to their stagnant seats in the market, a shift is happening. Environmental brands are positioned to adopt with ferocity and approach political engagement tactics for the issues our green brand represents, just as Dr. King did.
Consumers are hungry for truth, transparency, and political action on the environmental issues they support. Environmental companies who wish to have long-term staying power in their industry will rally the support of community members and consumers and sway political agendas in a better direction. Dominant sectors like petrochemical, plastic, and non-renewable energy companies have used the power of lobbying for decades. Environmental companies might not have the same sizable budget necessary for a lobbying firm retainer; perhaps utilizing the same principles of lobbying firms and incorporating them into our content marketing strategy is the alternative action. Combining communication, education, and collaborations can help fuel political campaigns our community wants to support.
Storytelling and Engagement – Lead with a positive outcome
There was no doubt when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke; we knew he understood and deeply empathized with the people he spoke for. He painted a picture of the final step of success. He delivered an idea, a goal to attain – a dream. He lifted hope from a riverbed by drying it off and holding it up as a vision. In our communications, be like Dr. King – paint a picture of the promised land first and foremost. What does success look like for our people in particular? How will they know when they’ve reached the finish line? What hopes can actionable steps be drafted from?
From a world with cleaner water to communities with optimal health and excellent air quality, whatever our team and our company is solving, let’s be sure to paint the picture of success in our content.
Visibility – P.R./Advertising/Social Media Marketing
Dr. King was impressive with garnering media attention and capturing a nation, whether in print, radio or on television – the imagery and sound continue to live on. The brutality and horrors that occurred, and still do today, as everyday life for black people in the United States, he knew, had to be seen by everyone to make a difference and change minds. Dr. King made sure this was the case every chance he got. The media played a big part in the civil rights movement. Environmental companies can note Dr. King’s use of the media and press to activate imagery about the need for change.
Green public relations and content dissemination are about relationship building and content sharing around a collective effort to address environmental issues. Green PR builds an ecosystem around our social and environmental solutions. More than building a green face to maintain a positive image, Green PR seeks to align with community members and media to exponentially increase the impact and efficacy of campaigns, content, and agendas.
Takeaways from Dr. King
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. listened and genuinely connected people in a movement. Expanding our environmental impact and protecting the most vulnerable people from the worst catastrophes requires all hands on deck. In today’s world, it involves the action of environmental companies and organizations. We all can do more than quote Dr. King; we can take his strategy for real change and adapt the same formula for expanding our reach and impact on the world – people and our environment. For those that hate the idea of marketing but know it must be done, consider how our solutions in the world will benefit people the bigger our movement can be. To instill new ideas and solutions, we need more organizations on board to take action and:
- Educate
- Collaborate
- Politically Activate
- Create a vision of success
- Be visibly doing it all
Don’t just quote the King, be one by working with our team to improve your measurable impact. As the first environmental content marketing company owned by women of color, A.R. Marketing House offers a unique perspective and expertise in combining environmental science and marketing tactics to drive sales and impact. Our team is dedicated to using our skills and passion for sustainability to help sustainable businesses achieve their goals. Take action and make an impact today with your content strategy.
If you need help developing content and building content marketing strategies, we can help. Contact us today.
Resources:
https://www.thesca.org/connect/blog/dr-king-civil-rights-and-environmental-justice
https://biography.yourdictionary.com/articles/martin-luther-king-progress-civil-rights-movement.html
https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/purpose-education#fn1