Green marketing and sustainability are things that businesses can no longer ignore. For the small business owner, it’s important to consider environmentally friendly and socially responsible acts in order to gain an edge over competition. And with millennials dubbed as ‘the green generation’, it’s more important than ever to make a change.
Here are some green marketing tips to help you connect with the millennial audience, gain their trust, boost brand awareness and grow loyalty amongst customers.
Do Your Bit in the Workplace
Sustainability starts from within your organisation. Supporting charities and helping to raise money for social or environmental causes isn’t the solution for long term change. Being eco friendly in the workplace is just as important. Go paper free, switch light bulbs for low energy LEDs, tighten up on energy consumption and promote recycling as much as possible. Not only is it important to market to customers, but you also need to work on your reputation as an employer, supplier or trade partner. This is the only true way of building a brand image with longevity.
Give Back to Environmental Charities
Supporting charities is a great way for brands and businesses to show that they care. This campaign by Yoox collaborates with swimwear label, We Are Handsome, to create a limited edition collection to help save the Great Barrier Reef.
A percentage of proceeds from all sales of swimwear are donated to the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. Not only raising awareness for the cause and highlighting the issues of global warming and its effects on our natural world, but also improving brand reputation with the eco-conscious.
They also worked with social media influencers to tap into new audiences in the online fashion community.
Put Planet Before Profit
Here we have an example of positive PR from a brand that chose to do the right thing when it came to trade partnerships. Lego had a 50 year working relationship with Shell, but since Shell announced plans to expand oil drilling to the Arctic, Lego took the side of Greenpeace instead with a protest video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhbliUq0_r4
The video encouraged viewers to sign a petition against Shell’s actions and resulted in the two brands ending their partnership for good. The ‘Everything is Not Awesome Lego video was the most watched video in Greenpeace campaign history, and helped to raise awareness about oil spills whilst boosting Lego’s reputation as a responsible organisation.
Go Carbon Neutral
Going carbon neutral is much easier for big organisations, but what about SMEs? Whilst small businesses may not have much environmental impact on their own, it’s important to remember that small businesses represent nearly half of the UK economy’s output. So every little helps with the UK’s carbon free targets.
Join the SME Carbon Trust Network and you will have access to a whole community of small businesses just like yours who want to reduce their emissions.