Green Marketing Tips: 8 Steps You Can Implement Today
It seems 2009 was the green year of the decade. I see people getting more and more interested in the green marketing concept, and more articles than ever are coming up on how to “green” your business (inside and out). While some organizations are able to fully dive into green business strategies, most companies are still wrapping their heads around this concept, taking a step-by-step approach. This post is directed to these businesses.
How can you start implementing green marketing tactics on your workplace today?
1. Reduce your printing habits.
We live on a digital era and printing is rarely a necessity. Printed documents tend to find their way to a drawer, where they linger until they’re soon forgotten. Digital back-up solutions are very reliable nowadays and can fit every budget. I particularly like online-based systems, which provide simple, hassle-free interfaces – rendering the process of backing up your documents easy and intuitive.
2. Print on both sides of the paper.
This practice will save you 50% on both resources and money. A great way to guarantee you always print using the two sides of the paper is to configure your printing preferences, so this option is automatically selected.
3. Use recycled, post-consumer paper and vegetable or soy-based ink when printing.
There are many types of eco-friendly paper you can use, from treeless materials to 100% post-consumer paper. Read our green printing post on this topic. Although it was difficult to find eco-friendly ink until very recently, businesses – even small businesses – are now able to have their own vegetable or soy ink in their office.
4. Go digital when possible (and relevant).
This point goes hand-in-hand with our first tip. This is particularly true for trade shows: do you really need to print all those brochures? We find trade show materials just end up in the bottom of a goodies’ bag, which gets discarded as soon as the attendee gets home. We suggest our clients to print sample brochures to show at events, and then follow-up with the potential client by email, attaching the digital version of the brochure. This practice not only allows for a more personalized, relevant and effective relationship, but it produces less waste while saving you substantial money on the printing process.
5. Shy away from ineffective marketing programs.
This one may sound too obvious, but you’d be surprised how many companies still invest considerable money and resources in programs that simply don’t work. Critically look at your marketing strategy, identify what campaigns are not generating the expecting results and brainstorm how you can redirect that investment to programs with a smaller footprint – and better results.
6. Reduce product packaging.
Two years ago, when I was still working for a software company, I got a phone call from a very angry customer. Our product was sold at retail stores inside a double-CD case, although what was inside was only a code that enabled customers to go to our website and directly download our product. Yes, you guessed: the angry customer was simply revolted that she bought a relatively big package, just to find a piece of paper with a code, typed using afont size 12. Result: we reduced our product packaging to one-fifth of the original size, saving a considerable sum of money – and materials that would directly go to waste. If you must use packaging, assess how much you need it to make it effective, and opt for recyclable and/or recycled materials.
7. Use alternative sources of energy.
This step might take more investment in terms of time to implement. North America is blessed to have so several alternative energy providers nowadays. You can implement this on different levels, from simply switching to a server powered by wind or solar energy to fully source your entire energy spending to a sustainable energy provider.
8. Offset what you can’t reduce.
You’re probably aware of all the negative publicity carbon offsetting received a couple years ago. This was because some organizations used carbon offsetting as a “get out of jail free” card. This is not what we’re recommending. Our suggestion is to only recur to carbon offset providers when you’re done everything possible (for your budget) to reduce your carbon emissions. We’ve outlined the pros & cons of carbon offsetting, and identified the most reliable providers on the market on our blog post Offset The Carbon Emissions Of Your Marketing Program.
For further reading, we recommend:
5 Tips On How To Successfully Market Your Green Business
Green Marketing: A Sound Business Strategy
Avoiding The Greenwash: Best Practices For Small Businesses
