With sustainability set to become a $150 billion market by 2021, two-thirds of all Americans saying they consider sustainability when making a purchase and 73% of global millennials saying they would pay more for a sustainable product, it’s easy to see why many companies are making green marketing a priority. Don’t let your company fall by the wayside – follow these 5 green marketing principles to make your company last a lifetime.
What is green marketing?
Green marketing is a way of marketing your products/services which allows the consumer to understand your company is sustainable and eco-conscious.
People want to know that their money could be making a positive difference to the world which is why such a large percentage is willing to pay more for sustainable products. Consequently, there is a large opportunity for businesses to tap into this desire, to increase profits but also do their bit for the planet.
1. Life cycle design
It is not enough to just say the product is sustainable. What does sustainable even mean? Buyers understand that many steps have to be taken before the product gets to the shelves. To resonate with customers and boost your potential customer base, you must think about the sustainability of the product lifecycle and market that to your customers. Questions to ask yourself could be:
- Where are the materials sourced from?
- Who are the workers in each step of the process?
- How are the products packaged?
- How much waste is there? (During and after use).
- How will it be transported?
- What form of energy fuels the manufacturing process?
A great example of a huge corporation changing its products lifecycle design is Lush.
2. Transparency and certification
Being upfront and transparent with your product’s life cycle will help to gain trust with your customer base. A great example of this is Patagonia.
Promoting your sustainable approach should be a key component of your marketing strategy. If unsustainable aspects of your product are kept quiet you will ruin your credibility with the customer, which suggests your higher prices may just be what is called ‘Greenwashing’.
To engage with your customers you should publically set transparent, measurable, and timely sustainability goals that reflect your company’s mission.
Whilst carrying out this transition, promote your progress. Give the customer an inside view of what is going on in your company. This could involve producing sustainability reports, adding a sustainability section to your website, or even a specialised social media page for your sustainable campaigns.
Once you have laid the groundwork, you can begin to certify your efforts with industry recognised standards. Examples include fair trade, vegan friendly and B Corp.
3. Pricing
Customers understand that a sustainably based lifecycle for a product will be more expensive to produce than the traditional means of product manufacturing and your prices should reflect that.
With a transparent lifecycle process, you can price your products appropriately without the issue of being deemed as a greenwasher.
In addition, higher prices for sustainability-conscious products could reflect an added bonus for the customer. Will your product now last longer than previous or market alternatives? Could your new sustainable methods help reduce the customers’ home emissions?
By adding additional sustainability benefits, your product will become simply too good to say no. This will help to grow brand awareness and produce a high percentage of returning custom.
4. Professional visual content
With all of these earlier principles in place, you have an incredible opportunity to grow your brand. However, the final piece of the jigsaw comes in the shape of visual content.
People need to see your sustainable efforts in a way that will make them buy the product. It’s no good having done all this work and no one seeing it.
Visual content providers will help produce fantastic photos and videos of your new sustainable practices and market these in a way that drives custom.
Visual content marketing is booming with many providers starting to realise the demand in the sustainability market. For example, Splento has a specific videography service for sustainability products.
For a taste of the sustainable visual content, you could create, take a look at Lush’s video campaign for their new shipping process
Conclusion
It is no doubt that green marketing is here to stay and the reward if done properly, are immense. By using the 4 green marketing techniques shown in this blog you can transform your company into a reputable, moral, and conscious brand that customers will love to buy from.
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