Strategies for Stepping Up to Green Marketing

The bad news is that conventional marketing is out. The good news is, green marketing—or “sustainable branding,” if you prefer—is in. The old rules, those that have guided consumer marketing since the ’50s (think Mad Men), simply cannot effectively address the needs of today’s consumers. Times have changed!

Before we dive into green marketing strategies, let’s define marketing as a function and a practice:

Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.

Marketing is an integrated process that includes market requirement definition, business development, marketing communication, public relations and advertising.

So what, then, is “green marketing?”

Green marketing is NOT:

• Printing all your direct mail pieces on recycled paper that is printed with vegetable-based inks.
• Putting your product in a bottle or package made of biodegradable materials.
• Qualifying for a third-party “eco-label” like Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) chain-of-custody certified.
• Press releases announcing “green” initiatives like Zero Carbon or a new fleet of bio-fuel trucks.

Green marketing IS:

• Taking into consideration social and environmental affects of your product’s entire life cycle, from development to use and disposal.
• Understanding the relationship between your customers’ “green” values and principles and the products and services you offer.
• Making packaging choices that minimize the quantity of packaging and incorporate recycled, compostable, biodegradable and/or repurposed materials.
• Using marketing communication and promotional channels that reduce waste and redundancy, whether online or offline.
• Partnering across a wide range of collaborators and stakeholders to develop programs that address a wide range of environmental issues and social issues, such as workers rights and humane treatment of animals.
• Delivering your “green brand promise” through your products, packaging, promotions and all your corporate communications.

Green marketing—or sustainable marketing, if you wish—is an over-arching strategy that extends to all corporate functions, rather than a series of tactics. By taking a strategic approach, companies can incorporate social and environmental considerations into the corporate value system and avoid what has become, for many organizations, an ever-increasing tendency for “green washing.”