Does Your Company Practice Green Marketing?

Indeed, just what is green marketing? Does it refer to any organization that simply does its marketing in an ecological way? Or does it mean a company has adopted eco-friendly behaviours across the organization?

As one of my colleagues stated in a previously published blog post : «The relationship between marketing and being green has never been simple. The objectives of these two disciplines are often in conflict on several levels: ideological, cultural, and in terms of profitability. Marketing seeks to increase sales, to encourage consumption, to always favour MORE, whereas green implies reducing pollution, reducing environmental impacts reducing consumption, and basically to make do with less.[i]»

At Exo Marketing, green marketing means to practice marketing in an ecological fashion. It’s why we favour Inbound Marketing: formulating strategic content, identifying and following influencers on Twitter and LinkedIn, or evaluating the SEO of your website are all good ways to go green. We can also lessen the environmental impact of your Outbound Marketing (printed direct marketing pieces, leave behind brochures, etc.) by choosing recycled paper and utilizing production techniques that are more environmentally friendly. As everyone knows, green marketing goes along well with today’s values. What’s more, at Exo we practice eco-friendly habits. For example, we effectively recycle over 50% of our trash. We also avoid unnecessary printing and the company gives us the option to telecommute.

Many companies have adopted eco-friendly practices across their organizations. Indeed, organizations that have implemented ISO 14 006, which covers the reduction of the environmental impact of producing goods and services, are guided in their approach. This ISO standard provides organizations with various benefits [ii] :

• Economic advantages, among other things: improved competiveness within their market, increased cost savings, and increased opportunities to attract financing and investment;
• The promotion of innovation and creativity, and the identification of new methods of doing business;

• Reduced risks in terms of legal liabilities, thanks to a reduction in environmental impacts;
• An improved public image;
• Greater employee motivation.

Note that many companies in Quebec have implemented eco-friendly practices on their premises. The past several years have witnessed more and more packaging made from recycled materials. In fact, according to a survey from Pro-Carton[iii], 64% of respondents affirmed that packaging must be made from environmentally-friendly materials and over 55% of people surveyed believe packaging should contain as little plastic as possible.

Is your company ready for green marketing? What is your opinion on the subject?