Sustainability news service edie.net has produced a series of 60-second video tutorials for sustainability professionals. The second episode sees Kate Levine, International Commitment & Corporate Communications Director at The Body Shop, talk about the importance of ‘influencing’ in the push for change.

“Influencing is really important because it’s about getting your message across to a variety of different audiences, both internal and external, and making sure that that method of communication is not just one-way dictatorial,” says Levine. “It’s also really important to understand your target audience and what is crucial for them so whether that’s the CEO, a member of store staff, a member of the public or a journalist, everyone will have different touch points and its understanding what is important to them and also being really clear on your key message and, crucially, backing it up with evidence.”

Levine revealed to edie.net that sustainability professionals need five key skills to become effective influencers, among them, being bold, selecting a story that will resonate with your audience, raising awareness without scaremongering, getting the right people around the table and using digital tools to reach the widest audience possible.