Today’s consumers expect more than just pretty packaging from product brands regardless of their industry or audience. Companies are embracing meaningful sustainability practices to serve a changing consumer landscape that includes environmentally conscious customers. At Savy, we help clients with their sustainable marketing goals. Over the years, we’ve witnessed how brands can successfully make eco-friendly choices. Here are a few ways a marketing agency can contribute to your sustainable marketing plan and the brands that are making a difference.
What is Sustainable Marketing?
According to HubSpot, sustainable marketing is “the promotion of socially responsible products, services, and practices.” It encompasses strategies like educating customers on industry-relevant sustainability. For example, a clothing brand could include information on ethical textile manufacturing. Another crucial element is supply-chain transparency and sourcing materials from ethical suppliers. A demonstration of this would be including a QR code on packaging that customers can use to view information about where the brand sources the packing peanuts, ink, and boxes for shipped orders.
It’s no longer enough to say that your product is recyclable. Today’s shoppers are wary of greenwashing and vague statements that pander to their concerns. And they are concerned. In a global survey of 30,000 people, 73% expressed a desire to reduce their environmental impact. With net zero goals looming and consumers eager to decrease their footprint, brands have a unique opportunity to reposition themselves in the marketplace and build a better future.
How Your Marketing Partner Can Help
With the market demand for sustainability soaring, this is a crucial moment for brands. If your company has robust, meaningful practices, then a marketing agency should capitalize on them. At Savy, there are a few ways we execute sustainable marketing.
Market & Competitor Research
We’ve discussed before the importance of research and data in creating an effective marketing strategy. Market and competitor research is especially pivotal when positioning your brand as sustainable because the standards are high. A marketing agency has the acumen to analyze consumer behaviors, keywords, and competitors to formulate an effective strategy.
Web Design
Most successful brands manage to incorporate eco-friendly features on their main landing pages while also including a dedicated “Sustainability” link in the website’s footer, and your website should be no different. The landing page for this link should be just as user-friendly and aesthetically pleasing as the rest of your site. The right marketing partner will employ images, videos, and infographics to display visual information to visitors.
Content
The copy on your sustainability page should address the following topics:
- Education about your industry’s environmental impact with honest content—remember, we want to establish your brand as different. To do that, we need to establish what is considered your industry’s standard, even if it’s harmful. For example, a commercial builder could describe how their industry contributes to unsustainable wood harvesting and marble mining or the average waste on commercial construction sites.
- The ethos and mission driving your company’s sustainability efforts.
Cabinet Health, a virtual OTC medicine and prescription delivery service, provides an excellent example of what strategic market positioning can do. They’re far from the only pharmaceutical delivery company. However, they cleverly differentiated themselves as an answer to their industry’s plastic waste and chemical supply problem. Their sustainability page also illustrates the design and content principles we outlined.
Social Branding and Support
A whopping 76% of people have bought from brands they found on social media. Your marketing partner should take advantage of these powerful platforms by posting visually rich content with information about your brand’s sustainability practices and parallel education about your industry.
Obviously, the most important ingredient in the sustainable marketing sauce is your brand’s genuine commitment to eco–friendly and ethical operations. Today’s consumers are quick to identify “greenwashing” and won’t hesitate to condemn companies that do so. If your business has a ways to go regarding sustainability, it’s best to acknowledge those deficits and explain which steps you’re taking to address them.
For instance, Patagonia recently called itself an “unsustainable” brand because there’s always room for improvement and progress. By rejecting the sustainable label, Patagonia proved that its efforts are anchored by integrity and not optics.
Brands That Are Coming Correct
Savy regularly works with clients who have green initiatives or features they want to promote. Here are a few of the clients we have helped with sustainable marketing strategies.
Farmlane/Embra
As a family-owned cannabis farm, Farmlane is vertically integrated with its Embra product line. Using sustainable agricultural practices, Farmlane is the single-source supplier for Embra products, circumventing the ethical complications of traditional supply chain models. Savy’s design and content team created a simple, clean website with graphics of their grow houses, staff, CEO, and harvests. With minimal pages and nature-focused aesthetics, their website acts as a supportive vehicle for Embra’s site.
Fix & Repeat
As a vegan restaurant, Fix & Repeat avoids the environmental and ethical pitfalls of the meat-packing industry. To reflect that, Savy created a brand voice, website, and content that embodies its mission statement, “To fix our customers’ health, the planet, and the community around us through delicious, plant-based food.” Fix & Repeat’s community and philanthropic focus is a powerful extension of their ethos and necessitated a dedicated presence on their site. The “Giving Back” page allows visitors to explore their non-profit donations and learn how the plant-based eatery supports local artists.
Self Evolver
This athleisure brand was founded by a licensed counselor who wanted to provide clothing that brings mental health awareness to fashion. To ensure their apparel aligned with their mindful messaging, Savy sourced a clothing manufacturer with sustainable textiles, manufacturing, shipping, and packaging. Self Evolver’s sustainable supply chain is explored more in the FAQ content so visitors can understand the footprint of their purchases.
Little Red Wagon Granola
As a female-owned business and handmade granola brand, Little Red Wagon uses sustainably sourced, local ingredients. Naturally, they needed sustainable packaging. Savy found a supplier with sealable bags made of recyclable material that worked well with our product designs.
As a digital marketing agency, we’re evolving alongside our clients. More and more brands are adopting environmentally conscious methods, which means we’re continually refining our marketing strategies to highlight those methods successfully.
Let Savy Help You With Your Sustainable Marketing Strategy
A brand’s sustainability profile is now a powerful market differentiator. At Savy, we ensure your packaging design, materials, and content are posed to keep you relevant in a marketplace increasingly attuned to environmental impact. Contact us to see how we can develop packaging and marketing that makes a difference and sets you apart from the competition!