What is Green Marketing? Definition, Types, Ideas [With Examples]

When it comes to buying products on the internet, customers are becoming more aware of the products they buy. More importantly, sustainable practices are on the rise, meaning customers today closely evaluate their favourite company’s environmental impact. This is why most successful global companies are implementing green marketing techniques to adopt such new trends and, in turn, acquire new customers.

What is green marketing definition? Green marketing, in simple terms, is creating and advertising eco-friendly products. This enhances the brand’s image and allows the company to attract new customers while contributing to the well-being of nature. Providing environmentally sustainable products can make a brand stand out from its competitors. This is especially true as more and more people are becoming conscious of the environmental effects. 

Continue reading this if you want to understand what green marketing is. We’ll also go over some green marketing strategies. Lastly, we’ll provide some examples for green marketing to give you an idea of the wonders that it can do for your business!     

What is Green Marketing?

Green marketing is the process of using and promoting environmentally sustainable products and services. Additionally, it refers to a wide range of sustainable strategies and practices. Let’s take a look at such practices briefly:

1. Create environmentally sustainable products.
2. Come up with environment-friendly packaging ideas using recycled substances. 
3. Minimisation of greenhouse gas emissions while the products are manufactured.
4. Implement environmentally sustainable business strategies. 

With our planet experiencing the effects of climate change, green marketing is becoming more and more popular. A 2020 study shows that almost 77% of global consumers consider a company’s sustainability and responsibility towards the environment while choosing their favourite brands.  

Green marketing is typically more expensive than traditional marketing, but it does not mean that making profits is difficult. Especially due to the increased demand for such practices and market trends. The meaning of green marketing is to assimilate environmentally conscious practices and simultaneously improve the brand image by developing and showcasing eco-friendly products.

For example, the local workforce is generally more expensive than using cheap labour overseas. But it results in the production process having a much lower carbon footprint. Some companies even go a step further by allotting a portion of their revenue to environmentally friendly initiatives such as planting trees. 

Let’s go over the different types of green marketing strategies that are widely used in the market today.

Key Green Marketing Strategies 

Here are four green marketing strategies and techniques that marketers use to create a sustainable brand that helps our planet:

1. Sustainable designing:

 Using eco-friendly stickers on product packages is not enough. Paying attention to all of the details in different business sectors is necessary. For example, marketers and business owners should check in with the material supplier and the workers to use resources efficiently.

Additionally, businesses must limit the amount of waste that is generated. Green marketers must consider many factors that affect our environment to develop the best sustainable business model.  

2. Brand responsibility: 

Be ready to experience a lot of changes if you want to create a sustainable business model. Green marketing is reacting to heavy pollution and harsh climate changes. Being socially responsible can show customers that a company truly cares about the current state of our planet. 

3. Sustainable packaging system: 

In 2022, most of the world’s pollution will be caused due to over-usage of plastic materials. According to a recent study, almost 8.5 billion tonnes of plastic materials have been produced since the 1950s, among which only 9% were recycled. Consumers are becoming more conscious of the environmental impacts and avoiding plastic materials. Therefore consider creating packages that are made from either recycled materials or biodegradable substances. 

4. Right pricing: 

Environmentally sustainable products have a massive value in the market these days. It is such because of the more costs involved in creating a sustainable business model. Therefore, marketers must provide every little detail about the production process and other specifics to prove to customers the high price is justified. Remember that the bigger the brand mission is, the greater the chances of your business getting noticed for its inventiveness. 

Now that we’ve gone over some types of green marketing let’s go through some green marketing ideas. 

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Major Green marketing ideas

Several sustainable brands admit the fact that green marketing and sustainable business measures have allowed their company to attract new customers and make more revenue. However, businesses should still be open to new green marketing ideas and initiatives. Let’s take a look at some of them below:

1. Categorise eco-friendly products and feature them exclusively:

If a brand uses environmentally friendly practices such as coordinating with sustainable suppliers or using recycled materials from paper and electronic goods. The task of a green marketer here is to inform the public about it. This will allow a business to attract customers who believe in sustainability. For example, a shopper can easily find all the necessary information about the environmentally sustainable measures taken by Dr Scholl’s Shoes on their website.     

2. Using recycled material: 

Try to use as many recycled items as possible during production. Recycling involves refining various materials, and it aids in reducing water and air pollution levels. This ultimately results in lessening the effects of greenhouse gasses and their emissions. 

For example, Mush is an eco-friendly company from India that uses bamboo to create towels and other products. 

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3. Utilising email service to target customers 

Newsletters and email notifications effectively reach new customers and the target audience. Retargeting old customers through the mail is more accessible as it does not require any promotional flyers. This allows a brand to cut down on its usage of paper. Nevertheless, email marketing is more efficient in getting valuable feedback from customers.

Using tools like Sendpulse, you can send many emails and operate email campaigns for your existing customer base. They extend several features, like the drag-and-drop editor, which curates unique emails.     

4. Optimize supply and delivery system:

The vehicles companies use to carry and deliver goods and products make a critical difference to the environment. Spending to upgrade equipment and vehicles is innovative as it can significantly decrease the company’s carbon emission levels.

Several companies are optimizing delivery systems with electric vehicles. Several companies favour this as it reduces air pollution to a great extent. An efficient green marketer must use such examples for green marketing and feature these facts on the website to garner more traffic. 

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Examples of brands utilizing green marketing

Here are a few examples of some socially responsible brands that utilize green marketing to support a sustainable production system:

1. Starbucks

This multinational company is one of the very few companies that have advocated for sustainable production methods for a long time. This company uses solar power for all its electrical usage. Besides, they’ve started using eco-friendly materials in their outlets. This example of green marketing was loved and cherished by everyone all over the globe.  

Their next green marketing initiative is to make recyclable cups to decrease the amount of garbage production. Currently, Starbucks is working to implement a similar framework outside of the US. They aim to convert 10,000 stores by 2025. Additionally, they also run campaigns on various social media platforms to promote planting trees. The eco-friendly campaigns and the initiatives taken by Starbucks are the definitions of effective green marketing. 

2. Unilever 

Another example of a company that uses green marketing is Unilever, which has implemented several eco-friendly practices. Unilever utilises recycled materials. Almost 75% of the production waste is sent to recycling centers. They have a target to emit zero waste across the globe by the year 2039. Additionally, they have shown interest in reducing the levels of GHG emissions. 

By implementing such eco-friendly marketing measures, Unilever is not only boosting its brand image but also increasing environmental consciousness around the world. Implementing such green marketing strategies can attract new customers and increase sales. 

3. H&M:

H&M has made many changes in environmental policies and procedures to create a “Conscious collection’. This made them recognizable as one of the most environmentally responsible companies worldwide. They are famous for creating almost 50% of their clothing products from eco-friendly materials.

H&M also introduced a recycling program that allows consumers to return old clothes. Some of H&M’s clothes are created with recycled polyester and organic cotton.   

Finessing in Green Marketing–Where can I learn more? 

You can get a head start in green marketing with upGrad’s Master of Business Administration program, offered by Golden Gate University. 

This course covers all the important parts of business administration and green marketing. This extensive course allows students to become expert business administrators by the time they finish the course syllabus. Apart from providing a seamless and industry-optimized curriculum, upGrad also features a platform that provides career guidance, expert mentorship, and academic counselling. You can access all from a single course.     

Conclusion 

Are you still confused about the meaning of green marketing or maybe the definition of green marketing? We hope not. Green marketing is centred around modern ideas that are critical for our planet. It effectively reduces air pollution, animal cruelty, and other environmental concerns. Using green marketing will allow your customers to live responsible lives while protecting resources for future generations.