Our amazing planet has endured a lot, from oil spills to global warming. As Carl Sagan famously said, we need to “preserve and cherish the pale blue dot (the Earth), the only home we’ve ever known.” We celebrate Earth Day every year, but why not try to showcase what makes your brand eco-friendly throughout the entire year? If you have a sustainable product or service — let your audience know!
What Does It Mean to Be Eco-Friendly?
Eco-friendly advertising or marketing refers to selling products or services based on their environmental benefits. These offerings may be environmentally friendly in themselves, or their production process is somehow ecologically responsible. Eco-friendly advertising campaigns highlight these benefits and share them with your consumers. Here are a few tips that will help you create a successful, eco-friendly advertising and marketing strategy.
Focus on the Benefits
Think about what aspect of your product or service is eco-friendly. Are your materials locally sourced? Are they chemical-free? If your business has a “green” product or service, design your eco-friendly advertising campaigns around that aspect of your product. If your company manufactures sustainably, make sure to highlight that in your eco-friendly ads.
Think Locally
We are all busy, so it can be hard to find extra time to do more than work, spend time with loved ones, and fit in some rest.
While it’s said the more you volunteer, the more you’ll experience its benefits, volunteering doesn’t require a long-term commitment or take a considerable amount of time. Getting involved is an excellent opportunity to support local businesses and reduce your carbon footprint. Plus, you can cross promote your products or services, which is essentially a “free” public relations and eco-friendly advertising campaign in itself.
Support Environmental Initiatives
Donating to environmental organizations and communicating these efforts to your audience can go a long way in showing your belief in ecological causes. Environmental charities work to preserve and protect the environment and to promote ecological research, conservation, and appreciation.
Select charities that your business aligns with and collaborate in such a way to create eco-friendly advertising campaigns that will benefit both your business and the charity that you are looking to help. The charity may even have eco-friendly ads that you can co-brand and help bolster the legitimacy of your marketing efforts.
Always Be Transparent
With the environment being at the forefront of plenty of news stories, businesses are meeting more demand by regulators and consumers (especially millennials!) to be transparent in their environmental governance. It is essential that companies are environmentally transparent about both the good and the bad business practices they employ.
Get out in front of your competition and let your audience know about your green initiatives, but don’t exaggerate or hide negative news. If you are smart and honest with your eco-friendly ads, that transparency will foster consumer trust and recognition for your brand.
Look at Environmental Labels
Eco-labels like Energy Star and USDA’s Certified Organic are a recognizable way to let your audience know that your product is eco-friendly. Energy Star is a trusted symbol backed by the United States government that recognizes products for their energy efficiency, which helps consumers save money and protect the environment. Products that don the Energy Star logo have shown that they reduce pollutants and greenhouse gases caused by the inefficient use of energy.
USDA Certified Organic products have stringent production and labeling requirements. An example requirement is that organic products must not use genetic engineering or ionizing radiation. Organizations must also make products following the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances.
Become an Eco-Friendly Brand Today
As you can see it takes a great deal of work and proof to obtain eco-friendly certifications and recognition. Find an eco-label that exists in your industry and research the certification process. These certifications are a great way to verify the legitimacy of your product or service. Once you’ve gone through the effort of getting them, make sure that they are prominent in your eco-friendly advertising campaigns.
Eco-friendly advertising is a great way to show off your brand’s ethical practices, green products, and environmentally responsible processes. Always be genuine with your claims in your green marketing campaigns. Take the time to educate your customers. Let them know what actions you’re taking and what their ecological impact it will be. Successful eco-friendly advertising campaigns often leave space for your consumers and community take part in the fun. Don’t make it all about you, make it about them and the benefits to them.
If you need help developing a “green” marketing strategy for your brand, contact our professionals here at Bloom Ads. Visit our website to learn more about our advertising services or give us a call directly at 818-703-0218.
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