Eco Marketing, Sustainability, and Environmental Accountability
Eco marketing requires a true sense of responsibility and a complete buy-in to be effective.
Bringing eco-friendly promotional products into the mix of your promotional efforts entails commitment to draw in a considerable deal of positive reception and action from consumers. Your business can greatly benefit from eco advertising if you look at it beyond being a fad.
With the increasing number of people searching for eco alternatives to traditional promotional goods, authenticity in your purpose to help conserve the environment is key to differentiating yourself from the crowded marketplace.
Becoming an environmentally friendly business
The community and your customers are becoming more environmentally aware and educated.
An environmentally friendly business:
- operates in a sustainable manner, causing minimal damage to the environment and using renewable resources where possible
- considers where its supplies come from and how they are made—it will work with environmentally responsible suppliers and source materials locally to reduce its carbon footprint
- seeks to remove or minimise any negative effect it has on the environment
- considers the effect its products and services have on the environment
- limits unnecessary packaging and manages stock production to reduce waste.
Your business reputation, ability to sell products and services and attract staff may all be affected by the environmental policies and procedures that you have in place.
The benefits of an environmentally friendly business
Being environmentally friendly will have benefits not only for the environment but also for your business.
These benefits include:
- more effectively meeting the product and service needs and expectations of customers who value environmentally friendly practices—they will feel positive after purchasing products from a business that is proving to do no harm or minimises harm to the environment
- developing a positive reputation
- being more attractive to staff and business partners who value environmentally sustainable practices
- attracting new customers who are seeking environmentally friendly products and services
- creating innovative practices that positively affect the environment and can lead to increased sales
- having a competitive advantage over non-environmentally friendly competitors.
Being environmentally friendly also has cost benefits, including:
- the reduction of transport and packaging costs by using environmentally friendly and locally sourced resources and supplies
- the reduction of vehicle and operating costs by using renewable energy
- savings from becoming more energy efficient (e.g. less water and electricity usage)
- the money saved on waste removal through recycling and reducing waste
- the ability to attract more grants through, for example
- planning for changes to the climate
- reducing reliance on older, more expensive types of energy
- sourcing more local products and services
- the increased possibility of success in sustainable procurement tenders—your eligibility will improve if your business can demonstrate how it has or can reduce negative environmental effects of purchased products and services.
Let us look at some specific benefits of including the use of promotional products in your marketing plan.
- Boosts Brand Visibility. …
- Gains Customer Loyalty. …
- Strengthens Customer Relationships. …
- Budget-friendly Marketing Tactic. …
- Uplifts Employees’ Morale. …
- Acts as a Business Card.
Make your business environmentally friendly
Small businesses can work to be part of a circular economy where decisions and choices are made to eliminate waste and ensure resources are reused and recycled.
To make sure that your business is part of this economy, consider setting up an environmental management system within your business or discussing appropriate systems with your industry association.
Other ways you can make your business more environmentally friendly include:
- using products that reduce your reliance on natural resources (e.g. rainwater tanks, solar hot water systems).
- using products that are made from recycled material (e.g. office supplies made from recycled plastic, furniture made from recycled rubber)
- conducting an environmental impact audit to assess if any of your activities can be done differently (e.g. reducing air travel by holding conference phone calls)
- increasing the amount of business waste you recycle
- reviewing your business values—you should ensure that sustainability and environmentally friendly practices are reflected in them
- asking your employees, suppliers and networks for ideas or advice.
You should also understand the environmental obligations and duties that you are required to meet.