Green Marketing

Environmental sustainability is one of the most relevant issues worldwide and is involving governments, companies, and consumers. Consumers have never been as environmentally conscious as they are today, and this is impacting the organizational and business processes of companies. The importance of communicating sustainability for a company is increasing exponentially. As never before, companies have a growing need to communicate sustainability and direct their actions under a new banner. This is how green marketing was born.

Green marketing is the promotion of products, services, or activities described as ecologically safer or more environmentally sustainable. In other words, eco marketing consists of selling the image that your company is environmentally aware of. But it is not enough that your company begins to transmit only an image of conscience, it must begin to have a true attitude toward transformation and environmental, social, cultural, and economic responsibility.

What Is Green Marketing?

Green marketing consists of a marketing resource combined with actions that aim to benefit the environment. This strategy, therefore, focuses on demonstrating that the company’s production method, products, or behavior do not harm the ecosystem. It is not enough for the company to be ecologically aware, it must demonstrate in practice that it has environmental responsibility. To identify green marketing strategies, actions usually have phrases such as our product does not harm nature of our products are 100% natural.

Green marketing refers to the development, marketing, and distribution of products designed to minimize negative effects on the environment, in response to consumer environmental concerns. Green marketing is situated in the field of corporate social responsibility of companies and responds to the social change we are currently experiencing. Today’s consumers care about protecting the environment and demand that ecology be part of the values of the brands with which they interact.

When Was The Idea For This Strategy Born?

Ideas of respect for the environment began to emerge at the end of the 1960s when the production volumes of artificial materials increased and the use of pesticides was questioned since they not only harmed people but also animals and animals. to the environment. In the early 1970s, the famous environmental organizations Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth challenged the idea that man is the king of nature.

The interest in preserving the environment also influenced the product market. The organic approach began to spread little by little: in the 1960s and 1970s, consumers began to pay attention to organic products, although, of course, they were far from modern organic marketing. In the 1980s, several green marks appeared. Among them, is the English cosmetics brand The Body Shop and the American supermarket chain Whole Foods, which began to create products with an ecological conscience.

Finally, in the 1990s, green brands gradually ceased to be a niche story. Green marketing or eco-marketing emerged, that is, the so-called promotion of environmentally friendly products or brands. Generally speaking, these products must be environmentally friendly or created through environmentally safe production. They must operate without toxic or ozone-depleting substances, as well as without excessive packaging, and use recycled or renewable materials.

What Are Green Marketing Strategies?

Sustainability can be found in all areas of the company. The same goes for green marketing or sustainable marketing. From quick tricks to fancy green campaigns, they allow you to employ different green marketing strategies. A simple strategy is to create green graffiti ie facades and billboards using moss, grass, and other plants. Here green marketing and lead marketing are connected, they save resources and efforts. At the same time, no chemicals such as paints or varnishes are used.

Another excellent green marketing strategy is the use of well-designed PDF catalogs, which not only look great but are also easy to search for important information. While physical catalogs are uncomfortable when locating a product. Thanks to them you can reach a greater number of regular and potential customers, without the need to use sheets of paper, ink, and printing. With this type of catalog, you save time, and money without negative effects on the environment.

You can also use marketing campaigns that focus on giving away certain products to your customers in certain situations. Pens, pendants, and the like are rarely used, and almost always discarded. Instead, give away an environmentally friendly product: personal care products made from natural raw materials, natural teas, organic spices, or other consumer products that are completely tailored to your target group. Surprise your customers with something really practical and ecologically friendly.

More Than Fashion

Ecological marketing is an innovative marketing strategy that applies to any place on our planet, and more than a fad, it is a trend that paints to grow and stay in the economic market.

In Mexico, for example, as in many other countries, the authorities themselves have taken radical measures to improve the environment. For months, several states in the country have banned the use of plastic bags. And if we talk about international brands, Toyota was one of the first car brands to bet on hybrids. This is a sector so questioned for its polluting emissions into the atmosphere, which is a great achievement of ecological marketing.

Nestlé has also focused its environmental strategy on its packaging, committing that by 2025 it will be fully recyclable.

The Concept

What is green marketing? The definition as such is that it is a set of commercial strategies dedicated to the sale of ecological products that contribute to lowering the pollution of our environment.  It was born due to the growing concern of different sectors of society around the world due to climate change, the increase in poor air quality due to greenhouse gases, and, in general, due to the need for a better ecosystem.

Ecological marketing is increasingly used by companies because it adapts to the trends and thoughts of a large part of the populations of many countries, both developed and developing. And the number of people who are looking for a healthy and sustainable life is increasing, so they are inclined toward companies with a profile with an ecological commitment.

But let’s get deeper into the subject: If the coffee shop you go to regularly offers you your favorite mocha in a plastic cup that would last for decades as garbage, or for the same price another one in a cup that could be recycled or degraded forever? a much faster way, which would you choose?

This question allows us to move on to the benefits of green marketing.

The Advantages

Among the advantages that green marketing can bring you, we can mention:

It improves the brand image and reaches target groups oriented towards ecological values. Today, many potential customers want to know that the products or services they have purchased do not have any negative effects on the environment. Above all, millennials want to identify with brands that are not only in business for profit, but also seek to make the world a little better every day. With green marketing, you can effectively convey these principles.

Create higher levels of loyalty. If you are willing to give back with your earnings, you will create more opportunities for people to support you. In other words, start by using solar panels in your company, it can be an expensive investment that will reduce your profit margin, but that contributes to conserving the environment. Additionally, if there is true ecological awareness in your company and it is perceived by employees, applicants, and customers, you are taking the correct steps for sustainable customer loyalty.

Increased profit margins. People are willing to pay more for a product when its value proposition is higher. Green marketing helps you achieve it. Since it allows consumers to contribute to the conservation of the environment through your efforts. As a company, you have to invest more in green processes, but customers will be willing to pay more for them, so the benefit does not decrease and in some cases increases.

Profitable Marketing

The ecological products and measures, with their respective campaigns and promotions, can suppose a greater outlay. But this increased spending ends up paying off because the demand for green solutions is increasing by leaps and bounds.

LOHAS (Lifestyle of Health and Sustainability) are people whose sense of social and environmental responsibility influences their purchasing process. They have a healthy and sustainable lifestyle, which is how the name given to them can be translated, and there are more and more of them and they spare no expense when purchasing environmentally friendly products.

If you put into practice ecological marketing measures, these consumers will be attracted, but if you do not commit to sustainability, then you will lose the possibility that these people will bet on your brand.

Green Marketing Examples

PepsiCo is one of the world’s largest food and beverage producers with annual revenues of more than $65 billion and a range of products that includes brands such as Quaker, Gatorade, Pepsi-Cola, and Frito-Lay. Over the past decade, PepsiCo has become a leader among energy and water conservation companies. PepsiCo’s sustainability efforts include working with farmers to monitor water use and carbon dioxide emissions to maximize yields.

Nestle has focused its environmental strategy on the packaging. The company is committed to making 100% of its packaging reusable or recyclable by 2025. Nestle’s main goal is to help its consumers reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 million tonnes by 2030. By 2025, the intention is to recycle 100% of organic waste (currently 80%). From 2030, Nestlé aims to process more than one million tons of plastic.

Ikea, for its part, uses many tactics and sources to manage waste and renew energy: 90% of its buildings have solar panels, it uses wind farms to generate power, it has planted millions of trees, and the company ships only 15% of their waste to landfills. Ikea has received numerous awards for its environmental sustainability efforts. She is recognized by Impact Company for demonstrating respect for human and economic rights, as well as for her contribution to the environment through regenerative efforts.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we can say that green marketing is a golden opportunity for companies to take advantage of the global trend in favor of the environment. The challenge for brands will be to build ecological products that reach the masses and succeed in replacing traditional market methods. It must be borne in mind that companies that assume a commitment to the environment will be better off than brands that remain on the sidelines of this trend.

We must also not lose sight of the fact that more and more governments are modifying laws and regulations for the use of ecological materials. Green marketing will soon not only be an economic market model that will bring success to many brands, but it is also set to become a long-lasting practice that will spread to more and more countries.