What is Sustainable Marketing and Why is it Important?

What is sustainable marketing?

Sustainable marketing is the promotion of products, practices, and services in a socially responsible manner. Eco-friendly brands are famous for running sustainable marketing campaigns. The strategic goal of this advertising is to promote a mission rather than a service or product. The nature of sustainable marketing is brand positioning by actively supporting an environmental issue that has become widely talked about. This strategy humanizes your brand’s message and creates another reason for customers to choose your products or services over the competition. Sustainable marketing entails committing to the necessary initiatives to increase recyclable materials, reduce carbon emissions, and improve environmental conditions for the next generation.

The four main sustainable marketing strategies

As with all brand initiatives, consider how and why your brand could solve a particular environmental issue, especially in your customers’ minds. Define your goals regarding the necessary sustainable actions and use measurable results for how your products or services can make an impact. Below are the four main sustainable marketing strategies:

1. Have a greater purpose

Brands generally measure their success through profits. Although you must make a profit to grow your business, the term success takes on a different perspective in sustainability—one that has you evaluating your company by something more significant than profits. Promoting something bigger than your services and products that transcends any particular industry can benefit any brand. Define your social mission so that it’s clear to you. If needed, spend the time discovering what your social mission is and how your brand can further it.

2. Long-term value

Sustainable marketing isn’t a short-term strategy. Blogging and running business ads are good ways to generate leads, but what happens after your browser makes a purchase and turns into a customer? How do you create brand evangelists and build loyalty? Sustainable marketing examines ways to nurture consumers throughout their entire buying journey. Using education as a strategy, from your initial social media posts to after they make a purchase, is an excellent way to build loyalty. For example, a food brand can use social media to teach its audience about the importance of ethical farming and continue its messaging post-purchase by offering recycling tips on the packaging.

3. Know your customer

Traditional marketing takes advantage of the wants and needs of a target audience. Sustainable marketing cares about that, but it goes deeper into studying the values of their target audience and aligning their campaigns with them. Targeting deeply rooted values and emotional needs can help your brand win consumers who typically don’t think twice before purchasing.

4. Stay true to your mission

Any sustainable marketing campaign will eventually backfire if it’s not authentic. When a business fails to uphold any part of its sustainable mission, its consumers lose trust in the brand, making it challenging to get it back. You can use a holistic lens to ensure your brand is sustainable. For example:

Ensure you’re using sustainable resources to build and package your product.
Don’t associate with any brands that may conflict with your mission.
Your team’s actions should represent your view of the future.

While loyal customers and potential consumers don’t always expect perfection, they also aren’t fond of blatant deceptions. They value transparency and honesty. If your company falls short or you discover that one of your affiliates conflicts with your sustainable mission, share this news with your target audience and include your plans to correct it.

Sustainable marketing examples

As awareness of climate change grows, so does the idea of sustainable products, services, and practices. Many studies show that millennials, in particular, will pay more for sustainable services and products. In response, many businesses are switching to sustainable marketing practices to connect with this significant demographic. Below are some of these marketing examples:

Ethical sourcing

Ethical sourcing ensures that all materials come from sustainable and ethical suppliers. Some examples include:

Materials not sourced from environmentally sensitive areas;
Involving zero child labour;
Environmentally friendly production methods;
Fair wages and working conditions.

Sustainable sourcing can also help you build positive relationships with your suppliers and improve your reputation with your consumers. Your supply chain’s efficacy determines your company’s Environmental Social Governance (ESG) score, which is available to the public and is great marketing material when you have a high score.

Employee engagement

Sustainable marketing regarding matters that affect your employees is a great way to enhance collaboration and company culture. The employee engagement strategy can help raise awareness about sustainability initiatives and impact your company’s culture by fostering the belief that your organization values socially and economically responsible business practices. These initiatives can include:

Creating workshops where employees can learn about proper recycling methods and reducing energy consumption;
Forming green committees to discuss sustainable practices;
Creating car pools to reduce carbon emissions;
Dedicating one day a week to vegetarian lunches.

Green events

Consider hosting green events to promote your eco-consciousness and involve the community in your initiative. From sourcing your items locally to using eco-friendly materials like LED lighting, you show consumers how you reduce carbon emissions and strengthen your sustainable commitment.

Community involvement

Community involvement can look different for various businesses. However, you can incorporate the following strategies into your mission:

Raising awareness around green issues
Supporting sustainable agriculture practices
Sponsoring environmental projects
Local clean-up projects
Making donations to community organizations committed to sustainability

Reusable packaging

Reusing packaging is a popular sustainable marketing strategy encouraging consumers to return and reuse their bottles, jars, or cans rather than tossing them in the trash. This tactic can help reduce waste, increase customer loyalty, improve packaging sustainability, and cut consumer costs by eliminating the need to pay for new packaging.

Recycling and upcycling

Recycling and upcycling are great marketing strategies that allow companies to reduce their environmental impact while reaching out to eco-conscious consumers. Upcycling is turning an existing item into something creative to add economic and technological value. Recycling involves reusing materials, including plastic, metal, or paper, in products they initially weren’t intended for. Examples of each can be recycled paper used for a direct mail campaign or an upcycled item turned into a promotional giveaway. Your business wins on both ends, as it reduces waste, lowers your carbon footprint, and gains consumers’ trust with your sustainable efforts.

Brand partnerships

Brand partnerships are when two or more brands collaborate on innovative solutions or products sustainably. This partnership can share resources, like supply chains, distribution networks, and marketing tools, to combine their efforts and create solutions that can serve multiple markets and industries. Not only do they lower their marketing costs by sharing the burden, but they can also gain a greater consumer reach into each other’s target audiences.

Sustainable messaging

Sustainable messaging is a form of marketing where businesses integrate sustainable themes into their advertising. There are typically three ways to promote sustainable messaging:

Avoid language promoting unsustainable or irresponsible activities and behaviours.
Emphasize the importance of sustainability and its benefits through persuasive language.
Showcase your brand’s commitment to sustainability.

Sustainable messaging can engage a socially conscious audience while boosting your brand image and creating customer loyalty.

Digital media

Companies that use digital media can establish environmentally friendly marketing campaigns while saving on postage, printing, paper, and energy costs. Digital media also offers more flexibility and multiple channels for consumer-oriented marketing. Businesses that invest in this sustainable strategy can help the environment while gaining a competitive edge.

Charitable donations

Charitable donations are an excellent way to strengthen your image and gain visibility with your consumers. Sharing your passion can attract like-minded consumers and build relationships with your brand. Charitable giving campaigns often centre around a local, national, or international issue that resonates with the public and strengthens your message of corporate responsibility. Consider making tangible contributions to important causes while creating positive associations with your brand and consumers.

What is Sustainable Marketing and Why is it Important?