Consumers love environmentally sensitive businesses. You might think it’s a slam dunk for businesses to market themselves as green.
Well, yes and no. There are precautions to take. They include educating your audience on your eco practices.
Before you embark on a green marketing campaign, here’s a checklist of basic questions to ask:
1. Are you really green?
Merely supporting an employee carpool program doesn’t constitute green a green business. There’s certainly more to it.
Think accuracy and transparency.
If your green-conscious customers find out you’re giving lip service to being environmentally sensitive, you will be faced with a PR nightmare.
You will be accused of greenwashing – or lying in your marketing messages.
For instance, don’t use too-narrow criteria to define your environmental practices, fail to provide proof, and don’t provide misleading information.
2. Do you know what your customers really want?
While it would seem to be an automatic assumption, not all customers care whether you’re a green business. Some are more concerned about luxury or size.
It’s good business to be green. But in your branding, be sure to touch all the concerns of your target audience instead of just focusing on what your green value propositions should be.
If your green-conscious customers find out you’re giving lip service to being environmentally sensitive, you will be faced with a PR nightmare.
3. Do you use benefit statements to explain your feature statements?
Sometimes you have to super diligent in making your points; not all consumers will readily understand your messaging.
See to it they get it – your products and services are beneficial to their pocketbooks, families and the earth.
4. Are you a 100 percent green practitioner?
Don’t miss any opportunity to use green practices.
Oh, and don’t be mundane, trite or patronizing in your messages. Don’t give it lip service. Be careful how you portray your environmental messaging.
5. Do you spread the message?
Green practitioners who profit from being green should carry the environmental message to others. That means being vocal as a green advocate or engaging in environmental cause-related marketing.
Practice these principles and you’ll be on your way.
From the Coach’s Corner, here are more marketing strategies:
If Your Marketing Isn’t Working, Consider the 14 Possibilities — There are many reasons for marketing failure of a campaign. Here are 14 of the more important reasons.
10 Strategies to Shine and Make Ad Designing a Breeze -Designing simple banner ads without strategic planning no longer suffices. The click rates have declined significantly, especially in B2B. To shine in the clutter of Internet advertising, there are at least 10 tips to keep in mind. That’s true in your mobile or Web site strategies.
11 Tips for the Best Business Mobile Web Site — If you operate a retail business, it’s increasingly important for your Web site to be easy-to-use for mobile users. The use of smartphones and tablets is skyrocketing, especially among Millennials. Studies also show the majority of mobile aficionados use their devices to access the Internet.
“I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend?”
-Robert Redford
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