Sustainable Marketing: New Challenges and Opportunities
Photo by Diego PH
Environmental pollution has become one of the biggest global concerns of our time. If humanity goes any further past the point of no return, beyond possibilities for environmental restoration, the consequential demand for depleted resources will be our wake up call that has come way too late. For now, it is this growing lack of natural resources to support the world’s population that has led to the awareness that sustainable development moving forward is a must in every sector.
Biodegradable, eco-friendly, organic – these green branding concepts have rapidly burst into our lives and continue to gain momentum, forcing businesses to reckon with them. Today, a third of customers prefer to interact with brands for whom eco consciousness is more than just a phrase, but a core principle.
Luckily, many international organizations and businesses have begun taking aggressive action to combat the deterioration of natural conditions including changes within their own operations. As a result, restructured marketing can be used as a tool to reflect these changes to become a full-fledged herald of the brand's sustainable mission and convey this to as many potential customers as possible.
You’re probably thinking, what can I do and how can I do this– let's unpack this now.
New Objectives-Converting the Unconverted
When we start talking about marketing, we take for granted that the entire business structure has already made strides in pivoting towards sustainability. However, restructuring working and planning processes is a more complicated business than many realise.
Reorganization of production and, possibly, a complete restructuring of all processes in the company may seem a daunting task. It can be an added difficulty considering you may even have co-workers who would be content with the status quo.
It is important to remember, however, that a lack of determination to transition to sustainability can be fatal to a business. More adventurous competitors will easily oust an old believer from the market, showing clients their progressively impressive results. Nowadays, a sustainable approach to business often spells a number of other clientele- oriented novelties and benefits, since opting for sustainability requires a responsible approach to business. This isn't to say that non-sustainability believers should be sent packing, however, they should engage in the process to their opportunities so that they can get on board. If everyone is on board, then the results will be much faster.
Classic Marketing to Sustainable Marketing
Classic marketing has always focused on converting a person into a lead as a one-time operation. Further transactions and interactions were provided with the notion that if people liked the product, they would continue to buy it and no forces would interfere with this contact.
This approach is hopelessly outdated: generalizing all customers, it does not take into account the individual needs of people, or their approach to choosing a brand, or the fact that any competitor with the same product will easily lead the customer away. For example, offering the same product at a lower price.
Sustainable marketing, as a process of creating and exchanging value, should focus on conceptually:
value for the client and future generations;
the result of exposure and interaction of the product with the environment;
Example being Noah Miller, CEO of PhotoRetouchingServices.NET. Due to the subject of their business, they managed to follow these new marketing values with ease. A well- thought-out content plan for a blog, in which they published educational retouching articles for all levels - from a beginner to a confident user, gave people valuable and necessary knowledge from professionals in their field. Thus, customer confidence and the company's position were strengthened.
In addition to the blog, the niche itself was a success, the company provides processing and restoration of photos that are stored and passed down from generation to generation. Thus, this is a successful example, where value for the customer is created not only by the product, but also by the right content marketing.
We recommend that you pay special attention to the values that your company can give to the customers. You can do as Noah Miller did, seemingly making a mistake - teach his skills to his clients. But in the context of a longer period, a year or two, this gave a significant profit without unnecessary investments in advertising.
Above are the main points that should be covered, with many more needed to be taken into consideration. Of course, the company's profit is just as important and cannot be overlooked when making these changes to your marketing strategy. Detailed aspects throughout the entire life cycle of a product should communicate to the consumer how the production, use, and disposal of the product will affect nature and social relations.
Long-Run and Overall Strategy, Not A One-Time Campaign
The number of sustainability-oriented consumers is growing every year. About half of young people in the UK are reluctant to buy products that have negative impacts on the environment.
One problem makes it much harder to celebrate sustainability around the world: Greenwashing.
Unfortunately, many companies consider this to be nothing more than a PR campaign designed to instantly hit trends and get as many customers as possible who are concerned about the fate of the planet. The primary goal is to improve the image of the company, and sustainability remains just another marketing gimmick, which can be either launched or finished at will at any convenient moment.
This state of affairs has led to increased consumer skepticism about sustainability. Instead of building a competitive advantage and strengthening their brand over the long term, companies make things worse by turning customers against themselves with their white lies.
If you are serious about transforming your business and marketing without greenwashing, here is a list of the things you shouldn't do:
Never lie to the consumer in the name of likes, shares, and purchases. False information about the product will sooner or later come out into the open, causing irreparable damage to your reputation.
Don't talk about sustainability if it's not there. We have already said that an appeal to a client can only be formed when a solid ground has been prepared for this.
Doesn't treat sustainability as a one-time move. It must penetrate and permeate every department of your company, all employees must know about it, it must be clearly read in your mission, approach, and goals.
“Only under circumstances of having the real eco-soil on which your product has been grown, you get the right to talk about it on social media” – Head of Social Marketing at Adsy says – “Provide people with as much detail as possible about the production cycle, the impact on nature or, if you provide services that do not directly relate to nature, how your service will improve social relations and why you introduced it. The more information you have, the clearer it is to customers that you have nothing to hide."
Sustainability also provides correct and healthy communications not only with the client but also with other companies. Thus, it encourages partnerships. If a business does not have the necessary knowledge, practice, or resources to become eco-friendly, it can partner with non-profit or charitable organizations to help create joint goals to improve social relations, raise funds for a good cause, bring attention to burning issues or for other purposes.
For example, in 2018, the French brand Lacoste entered into a three-year partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to raise awareness of endangered species. The result of the operation was a limited edition collection of polos, in which the main emblem of the Lacoste – the crocodile – gave way to the featured threatened species. The number of polo with each animal corresponded to the number of those remaining in the wild according to official data. And it worked: the polos were sold out within 24 hours.
Conclusion
A focus on sustainability and playing by the rules of nature, not production, remains key to any modern meaningful business. The advantage of sustainable marketing is that, unlike the traditional one many still use, it does not attribute non-existent properties to a product, but tells the truth. Perhaps not all companies are ready for this right now, but sooner or later, everyone will have to face the sustainability movement.
Marie Barnes is a writer for gearyoda. She is an enthusiastic blogger interested in writing about technology, social media, work, travel, lifestyle, and current affairs.
Want to re-define your brand through sustainability? Schedule a risk-free call with us to begin.