Marketing and environmentalism can go hand in hand. In fact, one often benefits the other: being an environmentally-friendly business can improve your reputation and win over eco-conscious customers, while also helping to educate less eco-conscious customers about various environmental issues and help them lower their carbon footprint.
All in all, it’s good for the planet and your business. But just what are some green marketing ideas that you can adopt? This post lists 10 marketing strategies to consider that could have environmental benefits.
Sustainable packaging
Packaging is necessary to protect products from damage. Well-designed packaging can also help your product stand out on the shelf. Unfortunately, many forms of packaging can be harmful to the environment due to their incorporation of single-use plastic. Such plastics can take hundreds of years to break down, and end up releasing toxic microplastics into the soil and water once they do eventually degrade.
If you can avoid using plastic in your packaging, do so. Cardboard is the perfect green solution for many forms of box packaging. It can be made from recycled wood, and it is recyclable and biodegradable. Other biodegradable plant-based materials like bamboo, seaweed, jute and cornstarch can be used for packaging such as protective filler and tote bags. When you require more heavy duty packaging, consider traditional materials like glass and steel that can be recycled.
Reusable bags
Single use plastic bags are one of the worst forms of disposable plastic. Many end up in landfill sites, where they can take 300 years to degrade. With 5 trillion bags being produced every year, the bags just keep piling up at a rate that is impossible to deal with.
Fortunately, many companies are switching to reusable bags – with some countries and US states bringing in disposable plastic taxes or outright bans to prevent the use of single-use bags. This is helping to slow down the production of disposable plastic bags. Reusable plastic bags aren’t just better for the environment, but can promote customer loyalty. Printing your logo or company name on the side can also help these bags serve as advertisements and remind customers of your company whenever they use them.
FSC® certified print advertising
Print advertising (such as flyers, leaflets, posters and catalogs) is seen by some people as harmful to the environment, as it requires cutting down trees. However, a lot of the materials used in print advertising today come from sustainable forests, where felled trees are instantly replaced with new trees.
Of course, it’s important to check whether a print advertising company does use paper from a sustainable forest before conducting a print advertising campaign. The likes of this leaflet printing company clearly states that its paper is FSC® (Forest Steward Council) certified – this means that it comes from a sustainable forest where trees are replanted and wildlife is preserved.
Non-plastic promotional products
Promotional products are small freebies such as pens, notepads, mugs and t-shirts that are given out for promotional purposes. They often contain a company’s logo or contact details, and can serve as souvenirs that remind customers of a company whenever they use them.
Unfortunately, many promotional products used to be made from disposable plastic. However, this is changing – and nowadays many promotional products are made from recyclable or biodegradable materials. This includes bamboo ballpoint pens, jute tote bags, compostable cups, reusable metal straws and recycled card notepads. Such products can be given away at events or thrown in as free extras with products without causing environmental damage.
Sponsored clean-ups
Sponsoring environmental projects can be a great way to both make a positive environmental impact and promote your business. Local clean-ups are one option you could consider. This involves voluntarily cleaning up a local area such as a park, beach or river. Removing litter can help to protect wildlife and reduce plastic pollution. Plus, it makes your company come across socially responsible – making you more endearing to customers.
There are many different ways in which a sponsored clean-up can work. You and your employees could carry out the clean-up, or you could ask members of the public to help volunteer. You could provide free clean-up equipment and potentially even food and drinks to volunteers. It may also be possible to raise money for an environmental charity alongside the clean-up. You can then promote the clean-up on social media, via your site, via email or via posters and flyers. You can also share photos and videos of it when it takes place.
Sponsored tree planting
Another environmental project that you could sponsor is tree planting. The benefits of tree planting are numerous – they help combat carbon emissions, provide a home for wildlife and can even be used as a natural sound barrier to reduce noise pollution.
You could donate some of your profits to planting trees. Alternatively, you could get customers involved in raising donations – either asking for donations or letting customers know that some of the proceeds from certain products and services go towards tree planting. You could work with a tree planting charity that has access to land, or you could plant trees on land you own. Information about this tree planting project can be shared via various marketing platforms, which could include photos and videos of the trees you’ve planted.
Environmental awareness videos
Video content is one of the most engaging forms of content. One unique way to use videos could be to educate customers about environmental issues. This should ideally be an environmental issue that your company is taking steps to combat – such as reducing single-use plastics, reducing vehicle emissions, recycling, reducing litter or eating less meat (if you’re a vegan restaurant or vegetarian food producer).
Such videos could take the form of an animation, or you could use live video such as interviews with people or videos showing environmental damage up close. A professional video development company can work with you to produce them. You can share these videos on social media, on your website or via emails. You can choose to promote your product within the video, or you could keep your product out of it. Either way, if the video is being posted via your official company channels, it will build brand awareness. Trying not to make it too promotional could help to make your message more genuine and may actually be better for your reputation.
Green business/influencer partnerships
It’s also possible to partner with green businesses or green influencers. Working with these companies can boost your public image by showing that you care about collaborating with people who are eco-conscious.
Partnering with green businesses could include using green suppliers, selling your product via green retailers, cross-promoting with eco-friendly businesses or coming together with another business to provide an environmentally-friendly joint product/service. Influencers meanwhile are people who have a large social media following. You can sponsor these influencers to promote your product or service. By working with influencers who talk about environmental issues, you can donate money to their continued efforts.
PVC-free vinyl wraps
Vinyl wrapping is a common way of printing brand colors, logos and company information onto vehicles. It can essentially turn your company vehicle into a moving billboard. Unfortunately, standard vinyl wraps use PVC – while this material can be recycled, it is often disposed of with general trash and is not eco-friendly to produce.
PVC-free vinyl wraps exist and are much more friendly to the environment. Such vinyl wraps are just as durable as standard ones and print quality is usually just as good. Choosing one of these vehicle wrap options could be a good option if you want to advertise your business using your vehicle, but want to limit plastic use.
Speaking of vehicles, choosing more fuel-efficient vehicles could also help to reduce environmental damage – and in some cases could also be good for your reputation. Electric cars in particular can help to make your brand look great by showing that you’re dedicated to reducing emissions.
Digital marketing
It’s worth noting that digital marketing is largely non-harmful to the environment. Many companies have made a statement out of rejecting traditional direct mail and switching to entirely email-based mailing lists. This reduces paper consumption and fuel emissions produced when delivering mail. Web conferences can also be an eco-friendly alternative to physical conferences – attendees don’t have to travel to them, which can cut transport emissions.
The benefits of using these marketing mediums is something you can advertise. However, it is important to realize that some digital marketing strategies can still have a negative carbon footprint – and that it is not always better to go digital. Apps and websites still require servers to run, which can often use a huge amount of energy. Green website hosting services powered by solar panels and wind power are a solution to this, but may cost more to use than some standard servers. Meanwhile, digital marketing methods like creating cryptocurrencies and NFTs should be avoided if you want your company to come across green – this is because mining cryptocurrencies requires huge amount of energy, which in turn can produce a lot of carbon emissions.
Also Read: Elevating Your Practice: Innovative Law Firm Marketing Ideas
