What this post is about
- Open communication creates transparency
- Aim for holistic views and reflect reality
- Avoiding bought seals or invented labels
- Take customers along on the road to improvement
National and global companies rely on innovation and clever marketing campaigns to convince customers of their products and services. However, there are areas that require less creativity and more reality - such as when it comes to portraying themselves as an environmentally conscious company.
Some brands are primarily concerned with polishing their image. To do this, they make use of superficial statements and imagery that promise a green future or even color the present.
So-called greenwashing is the direct route to bad press and negative comments on social networks. We will show you how you can rely on green marketing to stand out from the crowd in the market with social commitment instead. Here are our tips:
It Takes Transparency To Avoid Greenwashing
The only basis for a sustainable appearance and a green image is transparency. Anyone can make random claims and fitting statements, but few provide the necessary evidence. It is easy to provide data, facts, and figures that are neutral and without superlatives in external communications.
Environmental awareness is not a smart USP to focus on. Anyone who integrates savings through renewable energies or a greener manufacturing process can report on this neutrally and factually. Just according to the truth. Naturalness and honesty are honored, liked, and rewarded with loyalty by users.
Sharpening The View Of The Big Picture
No product is 100% green and rarely is everything fair - that's okay and can be communicated. Because true sustainability is difficult or impossible to achieve with our capitalist economic system (the opposite would be the circular economy).
It's clear that companies that offer resource-conserving products or particularly efficient services are already way ahead of other companies. However, no one should be under the misapprehension that the mammoth tasks of sustainability and environmental protection have been solved.
Items may have been resized and may be sold under demonstrably better conditions, but production in the countries of manufacture may still be "dirty.
Insights and attempts to improve are seen as transparency and weighted positively in customer perceptions. But it is important to show the steps that stand for a sustainable beginning, instead of immediately playing up as the savior of the world with greenwashing.
More Courage To Face Reality In Green Marketing
Imagery plays a big role when sustainability marketing campaigns are launched. Green meadows, colorful seas of flowers, and happy people with easy lifestyles are - according to many advertising experts - the epitome of green marketing. But one look outside the window is enough to know that this statement is wishful thinking.
Sustainability must be portrayed realistically and reflected in everyday life. Especially in social networks, people often refer to the ideal world presented in glossy pictures. You achieve more impact when real people pose for your company in real work situations and the manufacturing steps are depicted as they really are.
Fantasy Labels Harm Green Marketing
Seals and awards suggest that experts have gone to the bottom of advertising promises or quality features. However, in times when such figureheads are available for purchase, different rules apply. Only a few labels are truly independent and distinguish companies for their performance and efforts.
Purchased badges may spice up homepages and marketing materials, but on closer inspection, they are completely worthless. Buying these "tools" is not recommended! Rather, invest your green marketing dollars in value-added content and research supported by reputable experts. The will to deal with the topic longer and intensively will have a stronger effect than the quick insertion of a golden badge on your homepage.
Take Small Steps In Green Marketing
Take your time! Making the switch to green marketing is a steady process that can take several months. Allow enough time to review sustainable effects and projects internally before the external communications machinery kicks into high gear. Pitfalls can be avoided with calm and patience.
You'll also create more content if you rely on small PR tidbits to accompany your ideas and progress. No one will hold it against you if sub-projects fail or have little effect on your overall results. Anyone who has ever tried to align their own life exclusively with green factors knows: sustainability is a challenge - even more in business!
Summary
Acting greener means acting openly! With green marketing, you're betting on a long-term strategy that pays dividends to your image as a company. Greenwashing sounds more positive in its external communication at first but blatantly distorts reality. What customers appreciate is honest action and eye-to-eye encounters that result in a stronger bond.