Getting greener in your marketing

Since the early days, when all we were facing was a mere credit crunch, before things lurched into a global financial crisis and we tumbled headlong into recession, there have been concerned mutterings in the media about the climate change issue taking a back seat. Worries that the green initiatives stemming from the global environmental crisis will be forgotten as businesses and individuals alike focus on cutting costs to see them through these difficult times. This is not entirely surprising, but does being environmentally conscious have to cost you money and is cost cutting really the only way forward through these difficult times?

Most marketing communications departments have something in common: the amount of expensive printed collateral that becomes outdated and gets sent to the skip or, at least we hope in this day and age, the recycle bin. Not only does this lose your business money, it’s not very planet-friendly either. Surely it would be better to ensure careful planning of your requirements and print just enough to cover what you need?

Instead focus on enhancing your company website, which doesn’t require any printing so is automatically a greener marketing tool. Whether you’re marketing to consumers or businesses, the onward march of online, digital and interactive marketing cannot be ignored and may be the key to your company surviving a recession.

With around 65% of UK households now having internet access¹ and 77% of adults searching for product information online at least once a month², freeing up cash to focus on your online communications seems a sensible way to go. If you don’t invest in your site you may find that you’re getting lost in the crowd online and are ignored by the search engines, who are new-content hungry and don’t want to send people to sites where there’s never anything going on.

Investing in email campaigns is also a much more environmentally friendly way of talking to your potential customers. And with only one in four recipients deleting promotional emails without reading them³, if the content is relevant and engaging your chances of the reader following your call to action are high.  Also, digital marketing can always be bang up to date and you don’t have to pay any postage costs.

So, although you obviously do need to have some printed promotional materials, printing only what you need and considering other methods of marketing will not only be kinder to the planet, but may well help you to communicate better with your customers at a time when relevant marketing will be integral to helping you grow your business.

But now that you’re going to be printing less why not increase your green credentials even further by making sure that what you do print uses paper that’s recycled or from sustainable, well-managed sources. Ask your printer about paper that carries the Forest Stewardship Council⁴ (FSC) logo as this is the only forest certification system supported by environmental groups. All FSC products are independently certified to assure consumers that they come from forests that are managed to meet the social, economic and ecological needs of present and future generations.⁵

If you try to market with sustainability in mind, when the recession is over and green issues come back to the forefront of everybody’s minds, your company will be able to further differentiate itself from competitors with your long-term commitment to environmental responsibility, which was maintained no matter what the global economic situation.

Call ifour design agency on 01892 541111, or pop into our office (near Tunbridge Wells, Kent) , to find out how your business can get greener marketing.

References
1. Source: National Statistics Omnibus Survey; Northern Ireland Omnibus Survey
2. Source: Forrester's European Technographics® Online Media, Marketing, and Retail Survey, Q3 2007
3. Source: Forrester's European Technographics® Online Media, Marketing, and Retail Survey, Q3 2007
4. http://www.fsc.org/
5. http://www.fsc.org/about-fsc.html