Reasons to love green marketing

March 2009

Why promote green products or the green credentials of your business? What’s in it for you, the marketer? Here are eight good reasons why you might want to embrace green marketing...

1. Increase your revenues

While there are few hardcore greens who buy products for their greenness alone, most people will buy green if it satisfies their other needs as effectively as non-green alternatives. The Co-operative Group values the overall ethical market in the UK at £32.3bn a year, and endless surveys show that people genuinely care about the impact of their buying decisions, including a UK/US consumer survey that brand consultancy Landor described as marking one of the most “complete and speedy revolutions in consumer attitudes ever seen”.

2. Satisfy your supply chain

Attitudes are changing in B2B markets as well as in consumer markets. Some companies are putting pressure on their suppliers to minimise the impact of their activities on the environment, and a survey from business technology company Brother reveals 81% of IT buyers would “sack a supplier with an environmentally unfriendly policy”. Being green makes sense from a commercial point of view when people further down your distribution chain talk about ‘traceability’ and ‘guilt by association’. A recent Ipsos MORI poll shows 92% of consumers think businesses should make sure responsibility continues along their supply chains.

3. Cut costs

‘Going green’ usually means wasting and consuming less, or operating more sustainably. On a simple level, you can save money and reduce carbon emissions just by encouraging staff to print fewer documents or switch off equipment they’re not using. Some organisations go further and completely re-engineer their manufacturing processes: instead of having to clean up their manufacturing waste, they save money by not creating the waste in the first place.

4. Gain a competitive edge

Green can help to give you a competitive advantage in your markets. Few people will buy a product just because it’s green, but there may be something about its greenness that determines it also has some of the qualities that genuinely matter to customers.

Philips EarthLight is a classic example. Philips found few people wanted to buy its light bulb marketed on green credentials alone. It enjoyed far more success when it relaunched the product as Marathon and emphasised its long life and cost savings.

And the success of organic and Fairtrade products shows us it’s possible to charge a premium for green products, as long as customers feel they are getting real benefits, like healthier or better-quality food.

5. Build brand value

In 2000, global energy company BP reportedly spent $200 million on repositioning itself as being ‘Beyond Petroleum’. Although this move failed to convince Greenpeace, who gave it a ‘Best Impression of an Environmentalist’ award, BP softened its messaging and has worked hard to live up to its new position. A review of brand strength shows that it gained over $3 billion in brand value from 2001 to 2005.

6. Get tax breaks and loans

There are tax breaks and loans available for businesses that decide to install energy- or water-saving equipment, buy cars with low CO2 emissions or commit themselves to green policies.

7. Do the right thing

Of course, green marketing isn’t just about making your customers like you (and buy from you) more. It doesn’t have to be a solely commercial ploy: changes made in the name of green marketing really can help to reduce carbon, waste and pollution.

8. Seize the moment

If you want to make your mark, now is the time to do it. Green is where it’s at: there’s a market for it, governments and investors are investing in it, and we’re finding creative ways to promote what it means for our clients’ companies, brands, products and services.

For more advice on how the environment might be able help your business, and vice versa, contact us. And watch this space for future articles.

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