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6 tips to help tell your company sustainability story

The world has made a fundamental shift in the way it views sustainability since the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement was signed by 195 countries in 2016. The effects of this shift have rippled to companies who are now also legally obliged to meet the agreement’s goals.

Thus, organizations are gradually realizing that sustainability is not merely a trend or a moral obligation, but a reality that needs to be integrated into every strategic plan and action. However, few organizations know how to communicate to stakeholders that their actions align with global climate goals.

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Words to watch out for – if English isn’t your native business language

by Jonathan Winch

cylindr’s home market is Scandinavia. And, while the Scandis (thanks to one of my colleagues last week for proving to me that the word “Scandi” has become mainstream these days) are known for being well-versed in the English language, there are still a few common errors that squeeze through the cracks in the world of business.

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Why it’s worthwhile to be an industry advocate – or 8 reasons to stop talking about yourself!

by David Hoskin

Person with open mouth talking into a can - being an industry advocate

Shifting the perspective of your communications and taking on the role of an industry advocate can bring many benefits for your company. Offering customers valuable, objective advice on your industry can boost your credibility, website traffic, social media engagement – and give you better sales leads.

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Your company’s sustainability story needs a powerful strategic narrative

by Jonathan Winch

Have you heard the saying, “Build a better mousetrap, and the world will beat a path to your door”? The theory is that all you need to do is produce something innovative and people will come running to buy it. But that’s simply not true – as many businesses know.

In fact, there are over 5,000 patents registered for mousetrap designs – and lots more that don’t get registered for one reason or another. To become a success, your innovation needs a powerful, well-structured story – what we call a “strategic narrative” – and the exact same goes for sustainability innovations, too.

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Why every B2B company needs a strategic narrative

by Jonathan Winch

The starting point for many of cylindr’s engagements with its B2B clients is often the construction of a ‘strategic narrative’. And over the past year or two, it seems that these two words have become a hot topic – almost as much of a must-have as the better known concept of a ‘value proposition’. But what exactly is a strategic narrative? And why is it now perhaps the most important element of a B2B branding strategy? Continue reading →

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Credibility

Why ‘should’ can take a long walk off a short pier

by Laura Matheson

Hot on the heels of an exceptionally hot European summer and CNN naming Copenhagen as the best city in the world for swimming, the nearby beaches and harbors are still teeming with people cooling off in the open water. When I complain about the heat, I’m often told, ‘You should go for a dip!’

The only valid reason I can see for swimming is to avoid death by drowning – but that ‘should’ stops me in my tracks. It carries a sense of obligation, judgement, pressure and, most of all, guilt.

I don’t like to swim, but I should.

Should is for things we don’t want to do. Should is based on the expectations of others. Should is inconsistent with our own values and how we want to behave. Continue reading →

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4 ways Danish companies can nail B2B marketing in English

by Mandy Chilcott

It’s not that hard to write a blog post, a Tweet or an article, right?

All you have to do is think about what you want to say, structure it, then start tapping away at the keyboard. At least, that’s pretty much true if you’re a good writer and English is your native language!

Our Danish-based B2B clients, on the other hand, have an added challenge in comparison with competitors from English-speaking regions: producing high-quality English texts when English is their second (or even third) language.

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How to lose a B2B sale in 4 ways… and how not to!

by Mandy Chilcott

Like all relationships between people, B2B relationships require trust and credibility to work.

In fact, we could liken a prospective B2B buyer to a sophisticated partner who is well-educated, has high expectations and is generally intolerant of mistakes. And like in all relationships, there are certain behaviours that strengthen bonds, and critical mistakes that turn people off.

Take your website, for example. In B2B, missteps can sow enough seeds of doubt in the minds of potential or existing customers to make them lose faith in your brand, question your professionalism, or simply click away from your site. Once you lose that credibility, it can be as hard to get back as convincing a cheated-on lover to trust you again. And the result of lost credibility? Lost sales.

So what can you do to make sure you hang onto B2B prospects?

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The price of poor language

by Mandy Chilcott

Are you confusing your customers with second-rate English? For example, did your company recently win a price? Are your people competent, and (by implication) not skilled? Are your writers to your webpage loosing you credibility with spelling misstakes, joiningwordstogether and split ting others, or not using all the write words – making the text that little bit to hard too read?

We all make mistakes sometimes. Especially if we’re writing in a second language. But if your organization has put blood, sweat and tears into creating an innovative product or service that stands head and shoulders above anything else on the market, doesn’t it deserve high-quality promotion? Shouldn’t messaging about what you stand for and what you offer be communicated clearly and professionally? Continue reading →