Sustainable and sustainability are buzzwords in our everyday life. We can hear them on the TV, read about them on the news and it is also part of our everyday conversations. More and more emphasis has been put on living a better quality of life while focusing on making and leaving the world a better place.
As a new generation grows and the mindset of people changes, the way they shop and use services will also be different compared to a few years ago. Nowadays, consumers pay more attention to choosing products from a sustainable source, are available in recycled and recyclable packaging, and cause less harm to the planet.
The shift in consumer behavior forces us to introduce changes in the ways businesses operate. Business owners are starting to realize that to keep their businesses afloat, they have to rethink their strategy and even make alterations to their products or services.
It is not enough to produce the perfect product that serves consumers’ needs but it also has to be manufactured in a sustainable, “green” way. This can include using less water during production, reducing the amount of plastic in the packaging, or getting the materials needed from a sustainable source.
But how does it change the way businesses market these products and services? What is sustainable marketing?
Sustainability marketing, or sometimes referred to as green marketing is when a business focuses on creating a marketing strategy with social and environmental aspects in mind. It promotes environmentally and socially responsible products, services, values, and mindsets.
The core part of sustainable marketing is to build relationships and communicate with the consumers in a way that stresses the importance of environmental and social impacts.
Sustainable marketing is made of multiple segments. As for any marketing strategy, profit is one part of it. The business needs to be viable and profitable to be able to keep going but it has to do it sustainably.
When a company integrates social and environmental impacts into its strategy, this is when we talk about sustainable marketing. Keeping sustainability in mind when designing a business strategy can have long-lasting positive effects on the planet. Moreover, reducing the environmental impact can also create cost efficiencies for the firms and businesses.
As we already established, sustainability is not only essential from a customer point of view, it is also crucial for businesses to embrace it.
But how can a business incorporate sustainability into its plan of action?
Let’s take a look and see the sustainable options in marketing.
Ensuring that the materials businesses use for their products come from a sustainable source is one way to be environmentally friendly.
No matter what business you provide, there are always ways to make the operation sustainable. As an example, one way to do it is by minimizing non-renewable energy consumption or protecting water resources.
The packaging of several products has gone through a change in the last couple of years. Businesses conceded that plastic packaging is not a way to go forward and efforts have been made to either reduce the amount of plastic being used or completely change the material of the packaging to something more sustainable.
For example, paper. Companies are testing new designs and shapes trying package design mockups for packing their products to become more sustainable as well. By eliminating plastic wrap and minimizing the product packaging, the amount of waste ending up on a wasteland will be reduced.
Besides design and production, businesses need to consider environmentally-friendly options for consumers to dispose of their products.
The options above are only examples. There are plenty of different options to make the business more sustainable. Reducing energy usage or donating to an organization whose purpose is to protect forests, for example, also helps. But even just choosing one of the options above and committing to it can make a huge impact.
The emphasis on accumulating goods that are unsustainable and most of the time unnecessary seems to change. The consumer interest shifted to purchasing less and supporting businesses that demonstrate strong ethics and are actively altering their ways to maintain sustainability. You can incorporate these suggestions into your business strategy in order to support sustainability and the planet.
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Mashum Mollah is an entrepreneur, founder and CEO at Viacon, a digital marketing agency that drive visibility, engagement, and proven results. He blogs at BloggerOutreach.io.
