Turning Green into Gold
1. Determine your business objectives.
Just like any other marketing program, start with establishing your business objectives. What do you want to accomplish with your green initiative? Improve your standing in the community? Support something that directly affects your business? Connect with consumers to increase your traffic and sales? Make sure you clearly understand why you’re going green in the first place. If there isn’t a business case to support it, don’t do it.
2. Be authentic.
Nothing earns the wrath of consumers more quickly than a program that appears to be insincere or opportunistic. The environment is a major concern for many Canadians and they will not look favourably on any company that appears to be manipulating this strictly for their its gain. Make sure your initiative is authentic and any claims that you make are supported by facts. It is okay to use green as a means to sell your product, but be transparent about it. The consumer will respect you for it.
3. Know what part of green is most important to your audience.
If your audience is primarily teenaged male skateboarders, your green campaign will probably look a lot different than an initiative focused on new mothers. Find out what is most important and meaningful to your core audience and develop a campaign to support it. For example, teens may connect with a skateboard manufacturer’s initiative to help create a beautiful green space around an existing concrete skateboard park. In order to connect with its audience of new mothers, Pampers recently launched a “One Pack = One Vaccine” program that will provide tetanus vaccines to mothers and babies in developing countries. Both of these are good examples of carefully researched initiatives that make a strong connection with the advertiser’s primary customer.
4. Be unique.
A green marketing initiative shouldn’t be any different from any of your other marketing initiatives. It should be relevant, original and memorable. Almost every retailer now offers some kind of reusable shopping bag. If you are offering the same thing, put your own spin on it that will make it fresh. For example, if you are a fashion retailer, offer a series of reusable shopping bags that complement seasonal fashion trends. There are many great ways to create something that is both original and has the potential to generate some publicity for your business.
5. Don’t focus on yesterday’s news.
Don’t build your program on green initiatives that are now commonplace. The consumer isn’t going to be influenced by practices that they feel should now be a given for most companies. Promoting the fact that you are buying carbon credits, using energy saving appliances, and doing more recycling will shine a positive light on your business, but it isn’t going to do much to sway the consumer to change their shopping behaviour. You’re going to have to move beyond what everyone else is doing and dig a little deeper to find your own unique story.
6. Partner with other businesses.
Seek out other businesses or a charity partner. With so many organizations focused on green, it shouldn’t be hard to find a like-minded group with whom you can collaborate. The advantages of this are often a larger budget and increased manpower. A good example of a partnership in action is the Ontario LCBO’s current “Enviro Chic” promotion. The program features guest experts and product consultants who provide advice on hosting green parties, reducing waste and using organic products.
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