A Complete Guide on Green Marketing, Its Importance & Benefits

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Avantika Bhardwaj

Apr 22, 2021 — 9 min read

When today everyone is trying to shift from conventional methods of marketing, which were not quite environmentally friendly, more and more customers are not only becoming environmentally conscious but also responsible for nature. The term Green Marketing became prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. According to a study by Unilever, 33% of customers are choosing to buy from brands based on environmental and social impact.

This has resulted in opening up a new domain of marketing as there’s a billion opportunity for brands that make their sustainability credentials clear. This new domain is Green Marketing. In this article, we have provided a complete guide on Green Marketing, Its Importance & Benefits.

What is Green Marketing?
Objectives of Green Marketing
Best Rules of Green Marketing
Importance of Green Marketing
Benefits of Green Marketing
3 Great Examples of Green Marketing
What is Green Washing?
FAQ's
Conclusion

What is Green Marketing?

Green marketing is the process of promoting products or services which are eco-friendly. These products or services may be environmentally friendly in themselves or produced in an environmentally friendly way.

Basically, green marketing refers to the process of buying and selling of products and services based on their environmental and social benefits. Such a product or service may be environmentally friendly in itself or produced and/or packaged in an environmentally friendly way. Thus, this domain of marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including:

Product Modification
Changes to the production process
Packaging Changes
Modifying Advertisings
Manufactured in a sustainable fashion
Not containing toxic materials or ozone-depleting substances
Produced from recycled materials or able to be recycled
Made from renewable materials
Not making use of excessive packaging
Designed to be repairable and not thrown away

One limitation that lies beneath all of the marketing stuff is that green marketing is typically done by companies that really are working around the notion of sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. Because of this reason more and more industries and corporates are making an effort to implement sustainable and green marketing practices.

The interesting part comes here when customers are becoming socially and environmentally aware about the red alarm that nature gives us every year. It’s high time when people at large levels should realize that every time rules and laws are not going to make situations easy and okay. Businesses are now implementing to demonstrate a high level of social responsibility can increase brand loyalty among socially conscious consumers.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) held the first workshop on “Ecological Marketing” in 1975. The proceedings of this workshop resulted in one of the first books on green marketing entitled “Ecological Marketing”.

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Objectives of Green Marketing

Green Marketing, just like any other form of marketing, touches every aspect of a business, from production to packaging to advertising, and in the end Public Relations (PR). It focuses more on profit through sustainable development. Contrary to one belief, that it just focuses on eco-friendly ways of marketing. The answer is big NO! It just not focuses on sustainable ways of promoting green products, but also works on how to sell these products to earn the most profits.

The key barrier to sustainable business practices, such as green procurement, is the short-term cost. Going green will typically cost more upfront, but generate great rewards in the long run. Although, it’s crystal clear that green marketing carries those potential buyers who will review a product or service’s ‘greenness’ as a base of their buying decision, and this will also benefit our environment.

Best Rules of Green Marketing

Customers should be aware
Reassure the buyers
Transparency about the claims
Reconsider Pricing
Customer Participation

Importance of Green Marketing

We are well-versed with the fact that increasing the population and over-production of products have been polluting the natural environment for the last two decades. There is growing interest among people around the world regarding the protection of natural environment. People are getting more concerned about the environment and changing their behavior for the protection of the environment.

Green marketing out there is not only meant for nature but it’s always going to benefit the company in the long run.

1. Access to New Markets

The new culture of buying organic and eco-friendly products has ultimately shifted the focus to the new domain of marketing i.e. green marketing. A completely new market of green consumers who are out there to buy green products than non-green products.

2. Positive Public Image

With the campaign of “Go Green”, can make your customers feel that the company has a responsible outlook towards natural resources. This makes the customer think that since the company is aware of the current scenario, then it also motivates them to adapt with eco-friendly and clean habits. All this results in a good image of the brand in the eyes of existing and prospective customers.

3. Economic Advantages

Going green is like a reduction in waste which equals lower operating costs and more savings, both environmentally and economically. Eco-friendly business equipment and practices such as – low-wattage or LED lights, use of natural lighting, water conservation policies, mandatory recycling and hybrid company vehicles save money on utilities, fuel, and office supplies. This generates instant cash flow.

4. Sustainability and Efficient Use of Resources

Adapting a green and eco-friendly lifestyle is all about sustainability. This sustainability transforms into profits in green sectors with secure futures. Since there is no limit to human needs and demands of resources is reversely proportional to the current availability of resources. Greenmarkets need to facilitate consumers by consuming resources efficiently.

The future-safe markets include biomaterials, green buildings, personal transportation, smart grids, mobile applications, and water filtration.

5. Competitive Advantage

Going green always adds up your consumer-base, undoubtedly. This factor gives you a competitive advantage among other companies in the same marketing line. This, also, sets an example in front of society, that how eco-marketing can transform society. Because companies that are adopting green marketing techniques gain a more competitive advantage over other companies that are not conscious of such techniques and the environment.

Benefits of Green Marketing

It ensures sustained long-term growth along with profitability.
It saves money in the long run, though at first prices might be high.
It helps the companies market their products and services keeping the environmental aspects in mind.
Most of the employees also feel proud and responsible to be working for an environmentally responsible company.

3 Great Examples of Green Marketing

Hershey

The iconic chocolate syrup brand has reframed its brand image to include green marketing ideas as an important ingredient. It is ranked among the top ten environmentally-conscious companies in the U.S.; where it has done more than just following eco-friendly trends. The company which owns a hotel and amusement park in Hershey, PA, has made embracing environmentally-friendly practices- the main priority - so much so that they’ve set a goal to reduce greenhouse gases from their own missions by 50% by 2025.

IKEA

The Swedish furniture giant is not only producing reasonably priced and well-built furniture sets with homewares too. IKEA is highly committed to its green initiatives. It has produced the majority of its products using only bio-plastic, which was sourced from the sugarcane industry. This sort of change is expected to save roughly 75,000 barrels of oil a year.

Hindustan Petroleum

This huge company owns a massive e-waste recycling plant, where enormous shredders and granulators reduce 4 million pounds of computer detritus each month to bite-sized chunks the first step in reclaiming not just steel and plastic but also toxic chemicals like mercury and even some precious metals. The company takes back equipment from any company, and there is no such constraint. In fact, its ow machines are totally recyclable and it did cut the energy consumption by 20%.

What is Green Washing?

Greenwashing is also known as Green Sheen. It becomes curious like, what is it now? It is one such practice when you promote the deceptive perception that the product is green even when it is not. When self-aware customers buy products labeled as eco-friendly, then on that pretext they are being ditched. The point here is, that it’s still harming the environment but here, the company is responsible, who sells products on a false pretext.

Just merely adding the terms ’green’ or ‘eco-friendly’ doesn’t make it one. Using manipulative texts or imagery in the communication messages which give a hint to environmental friendliness could be greenwashing too.

Here’s a bit of strict advice not to use greenwashing or promote your product as environmentally friendly when they’re not because that will not only hamper your consumers’ trust but could also lead you to pay fines in the consumer court. There have been numerous business casualties that have made half-hearted attempts to embrace a green culture, only to crash and burn in the process.

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FAQ's

What is Green Marketing and its importance?

Green marketing is a marketing philosophy that promotes the production and selling of pure (eco-friendly) products with the protection of ecological balance. Green marketing raises the voice against production, consumption, and/or disposal of such products that anyway harm consumers, the society, and the environment.

What is Green Marketing example?

Green marketing is the marketing of environmentally friendly products and services. For example, products made locally in North America tend to be more expensive than those made overseas using cheap labor, but they have a much smaller carbon footprint because they don't have to fly across the globe to get here.

What are the elements of green marketing?

The elements of Green Marketing includes these points as mentioned below-

Promoting the environmental attributes of products;
Introducing new products specifically for those concerned with energy efficiency, waste reduction, sustainability, and climate control, and
Redesigning existing products with an eye towards these same consumers.

How does green marketing work?

Green marketing is essentially a way to brand marketing message in order to capture more of the market by appealing to people's desire to choose products and services that are better for the environment.

What are the disadvantages of green marketing?

Green products require renewable and recyclable material, which is costly.
Problems of deceptive advertising and false claims.
Requires a technology, which requires huge investments in research and development.
Majority of the people are not aware of green products and their uses.

Is green marketing effective?

Green marketing has been an effective tool regarding the need for all of us to be more aware of how our lifestyle has impacted our environment. We have damaged our streams, rivers, and oceans, and the air that we breathe.

Conclusion

Effective green marketing requires not only the ability to communicate a green message, but also the ability to research, analyze, plan, and coordinate the diverse components of that message in a profit-driven business environment. A good marketing program can equip you with the skills and knowledge you need to accomplish these tasks.

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