In recent years, the concern people have for the environment has grown. Climate change has become an issue that affects the lives of everyday people, which changes how they view brands.
People used to look for brands that produced products they liked. Now, those products have to be attached to a brand that cares about the same issues they do.
The major concern people have is that big brands and companies have a much larger impact on the climate than individual people combined. The only way they can find out which brands have gone green is through environmental marketing.
If you’re not sure what environmental marketing is, read these eight easy tips. They’ll help you make environmental marketing work for your brand so that you can have a larger presence in the green community.
1. Be fully committed
It’s not enough to put out a commercial or other kind of ad that says your company wants to help fight climate change. It isn’t even enough to say that you donated to nonprofits that help the earth. When people read about a business that’s going green, they don’t stop there. They investigate further. If the company doesn’t have overall green policies or mission statements, it isn’t enough.
The first thing you have to do to make environmental marketing work is to be fully committed. Take a step back and analyze how your company can go green and where it does the most damage to the earth. After you change those actions, your environmental marketing will have much more standing with your audience.
2. Get the community involved
The next step your brand can consider is getting the community involved. Major green brands often advertise things like how they plant one tree for every purchase. While you may not be able to take on a project of that scale, it could be even better to work within your target audience.
Take a moment to look up highly rated charities to find out which ones are the best to donate to. Then, search for green charities around where your brand is located and get your team members involved. Give everyone a paid day off to go volunteer, and then include it in your next marketing campaign so that your audience knows you care.
3. Explain How everyone can help
You’ve changed your business practices and joined up with green charities. Now people will want to read what you’re doing and why it’s making a difference in the climate change fight. This is where content marketing is important. You can use green content marketing that focuses on environmental issues. Go in-depth about what your green efforts are and why they matter to your business.
4. Go digital with everything
Another issue brands face is that they’re still using printed materials for ads and other marketing efforts. As much as possible, you should go digital with everything. Any ads that run in print can be minimized if not entirely stopped. Going digital means your brand will no longer waste paper and other resources that aren’t sustainable.
5. Minimize your online footprint
While going online with your marketing will dramatically reduce your business’s carbon footprint, it won’t fully eliminate it. There are 75 million online servers all over the world connecting everyone to the internet, and 90 percent of them run on fossil fuels. Help minimize this use of unsustainable fuel by targeting which online marketing campaigns are the most effective. Limit your online presence to only what pulls in the business or provides the most exposure.
6. Update your product
Consider what product your brand creates. How eco-friendly is that product? Ask yourself these questions to determine how green your products really are:
· Are they free of toxic materials?
· Are they made with reusable materials?
· Are they manufactured with green practices?
· How much excess waste is created when the product is made?
These are some great starting questions to help you analyze if your product is truly green. A green product reinforces that your brand cares about the environment beyond your marketing campaigns.
7. Make it your identity
Consumers can recognize when a brand actually believes in something and when they’re just jumping on the bandwagon of a social trend. All they have to do is give a company a quick internet search to see if they believe in what’s being said.
Make your eco-friendly marketing part of your brand’s identity. Come up with a green mission statement and then identify how your brand plans to achieve that mission. All of your green efforts can then point back to something your brand stands for rather than just something you may be doing to reach a larger audience.
8. Become a leader
How do your competitors stack up against your green efforts and products? Are you up against companies with similar goals, or do you stand out in your field?
One last, big effort brands can make with their green marketing is to establish themselves as a leader. Consumers will form even more trust in a brand if they know you’re researched, passionate and respected within your field.
You can become respected as a leader by targeting the audiences of your competitors and pointing out the green differences between the two brands. You can also form a plan to be the brand in your field that has the most green “firsts,” like the first brand to regularly donate to a major charity or the first brand to go out in the community and volunteer frequently.
Think outside your marketing
There’s a lot of effort that has to be put into marketing to make it work. Your brand may already have a team that’s worked hard to market for you in the past, but green marketing is an entirely different strategy.
For green marketing to work, you have to think outside your marketing. Try to get involved with your community, come up with a green mission statement and learn how to be the eco-friendly leader in your field.
If your target audience can see that you’re putting your words into action, your green marketing will pull in more consumers and a broader loyal audience, so don’t wait!
