Green marketing Green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Thus green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising. Yet defining green marketing is not a simple task where several meanings intersect and contradict each other; an example of this will be the existence of varying social, environmental and retail definitions attached to this term. Other similar terms used are environmental marketing and Ecological Marketing.

History The term Green Marketing came into prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s.The American Marketing Association (AMA) held the first workshop on "Ecological Marketing" in 1975.The proceedings of this workshop resulted in one of the first books on green marketing entitled "Ecological Marketing".

The first wave of Green Marketing occurred in the 1980s. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reports started with the ice cream seller Ben & Jerry's where the financial report was supplemented by a greater view on the company's environmental impact. In 1987 a document prepared by the World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future

generations to meet their own need”, this became known as the Brundtland Report and was another step towards widespread thinking on sustainability in everyday activity.

Green Marketing Cases

Philips Light's "Marathon"

Philips Lighting's first shot at marketing a standalone compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulb was Earth Light, at $15 each versus 75 cents for incandescent bulbs. The product had difficulty climbing out of its deep green niche. The company re-launched the product as "Marathon," underscoring its new "super long life" positioning and promise of saving $26 in energy costs over its five-year lifetime. Finally, with the U.S. EPA's Energy Star label to add credibility as well as new sensitivity to rising utility costs and electricity shortages, sales climbed 12 percent in an otherwise flat market.

Car sharing services

Car-sharing services address the longer-term solutions to consumer needs for better fuel savings and fewer traffic tie-ups and parking nightmares, to complement the environmental benefit of more open space and reduction of greenhouse gases. They may be thought of as a "time-sharing" system for cars. Consumers who drive less than 7,500

miles a year and do not need a car for work can save thousands of dollars annually by joining one of the many services springing up, including Zip Car (East Coast), I-GO Car (Chicago), Flex Car (Washington State),and Hour Car (Twin Cities).

Introduction of CNG in Delhi

New Delhi, capital of India, was being polluted at a very fast pace until Supreme Court of India forced a change to alternative fuels. In 2002, a directive was issued to completely adopt CNG in all public transport systems to curb pollution.

Three Keys to Successful Green Marketing

1.Being genuine

It means that:-

a) that you are actually doing what you claim to be doing in your green marketing campaign andb) that the rest of your business policies are consistent with whatever you are doing that's environmentally friendly. Both these conditions have to be met for your business to establish the kind of environmental credentials that will allow a green marketing campaign to succeed.

2.Educating your customers Isn’t just a matter of letting people know you're doing whatever you're doing to protect the environment, but also a matter of letting them know why it matters? Otherwise, for a significant portion of your target market, it's a case of "So what?" and your green marketing campaign goes nowhere.

3. Giving your customers an opportunity to participate means personalizing the benefits of your environmentally friendly actions, normally through letting the customer take part in positive environmental action.

Let's put the three essential elements of a successful green marketing campaign together by looking at an example.

Suppose that you have decided that your business will no longer use plastic bags to wrap customer purchases. You know that the traditional plastic bag takes about one thousand years to decompose and want to do your part to stop the proliferation of plastic bags in landfills. You feel that this is the kind of environmental action that will be popular with potential customers and a good opportunity to do some green marketing.

Why Green Marketing?

As resources are limited and human wants are

unlimited, it is important for the marketers to utilize the resources efficiently without waste as well as to achieve the organization's objective. So green marketing is inevitable.

There is growing interest among the consumers all over the world regarding protection of environment. Worldwide evidence indicates people are concerned about the environment and are changing their behavior. As a result of this, green marketing has emerged which speaks for growing market for sustainable and socially responsible products and services.

Benefits of Green Marketing

Companies that develop new and improved products and services with environment inputs in mind give themselves access to new markets, increase their profit sustainability, and enjoy a competitive advantage over the companies which are not concerned for the environment.

Adoption of Green Marketing

There are basically five reasons for which a marketer should go for the adoption of green marketing. They are -1. Opportunities or competitive advantage2. Corporate social responsibilities (CSR)3. Government pressure4. Competitive pressure5. Cost or profit issues6. Green Marketing Mix

MARKETING MIX OF GREEN MARKETING

When companies come up with new innovations like eco friendly products, they can access new markets, enhance their market shares, and increase profits. Just as we have 4Ps product prices, place and promotion in marketing, we have 4ps in green marketing too, but they are a bit different. They are buttressed by three additional Ps, namely people, planet and profits.

A.     GREEN PRODUCT:

                              The products have to be developed depending on the needs of the customers who prefer environment friendly products. Products can be made from recycled materials or from used goods. Efficient products not only save water, energy and money, but also reduce harmful effects on the environment. Green chemistry forms the growing focus of product development. The marketer's role in product management includes providing product designers with market-driven trends and customer requests for green product attributes such as energy saving, organic, green chemicals, local sourcing, etc., For example, Nike is the first among the shoe companies to market itself as green. It is marketing its Air Jordan shoes as environment-friendly, as it has significantly reduced the usage of harmful glue adhesives. It has designed this variety of shoes to emphasize that it has reduced wastage and used environment-friendly materials.

B. GREEN PRICE

 Green pricing takes into consideration the people, planet and profit in a way that takes care of the health of employees and communities and ensures efficient productivity. Value can be added to it by changing its appearance, functionality and through customization, etc. Wal Mart unveiled its first recyclable cloth shopping bag. IKEA started

charging consumers when they opted for plastic bags and encouraged people to shop using its "Big Blue Bag"

C. GREEN PLACE

Green place is about managing logistics to cut down on transportation emissions, thereby in effect aiming at reducing the carbon footprint. For example, instead of marketing an imported mango juice in India it can be licensed for local production. This avoids shipping of the product from far away, thus reducing shipping cost and more importantly, the consequent carbon emission by the ships and other modes of transport.

D. GREEN PROMOTION

Green promotion involves configuring the tools of promotion, such as advertising, marketing materials, signage, white papers, web sites, videos and presentations by keeping people, planet and profits in mind. British petroleum (BP) displays gas station which its sunflower motif and boasts of putting money into solar power. Indian Tobacco Company has introduced environmental-friendly papers and boards, which are free of elemental chlorine. Toyota is trying to push gas/electric hybrid technology into much of its product line. It is also making the single largest R&D investment in the every-elusive hydrogen car and promoting itself as the first eco-friendly car company.

Green marketing is a way to use the environmental benefits of a product or service to promote sales. Many consumers will choose products that do not damage the environment over less environmentally friendly products, even if they cost more. With green marketing, advertisers focus on environmental benefits to sell products such as biodegradable diapers, energy-efficient light bulbs, and environmentally safe detergents. People buy billions of dollars worth of goods and services every year—many which harm the environment in how they are harvested, made, or used. Environmentalists support green marketing to encourage people to use environmentally preferable alternatives, and to offer incentives to manufacturers that develop more environmentally beneficial products. During the late 1990s, green marketing received a large boost when President Bill Clinton issued executive orders directing federal offices to purchase recycled and environmentally preferable products. Some industries adopted similar policies.

Examples of environmentally-beneficial products and services:

Paper containing post-consumer wastepaper Cereals sold without excess packaging Shade-grown coffee beans Cleaning supplies that do not harm humans or

environment Wood harvested from sustainable forests Energy-efficient light bulbs Energy-efficient cars Energy from renewable sources of energy such

as windmills and solar power

What Makes Marketing Green?

But you can’t really market your business or your product as green without managing how your company functions with respect to the environment. Green marketing can take many forms. For instance, you may market eco-friendly aspects such as:

Green products:

Companies producing products can do many things to improve the green factor of their offerings, including choosing sustainable materials, designing products to save energy and water, and making products that are less toxic and more natural than competitors’ goods. Greener products will also be packaged in an eco-friendly manner and will be made to be easily recycled or composted.

Sustainable marketing:

You’ll also want to ensure that the actual marketing systems you use are green, which is really distinct from your operational sustainability which focuses on manufacturing and production. For instance, when printing marketing materials, use 100% post-consumer recycled paper made without chlorine (called “processed chlorine free”) and printed using plant-based dyes (like soy inks). You could also investigate tools like green web hosting, carbon offsets for any marketing emissions you may cause, recycling any unused materials from billboards and signage, ecological packaging, and so on.

Environmental causes:

Any organization can choose to promote environmental causes. Nonprofits and NGOs will engage in green marketing to get the word out about their activities, but for profits can also suppose environmental causes by making donations and advertising for these environmental do gooders as part of a green marketing campaign.

Targeting Green Consumers

Knowing your audience is certainly a necessity if you want to have an effective environmental marketing campaign. In general, there will be at least three levels of green consumers in any industry. Deep green consumers are serious about their choices and will be looking for hard proof of the eco-friendliness of your claims. This group requires verifiable proof that you’re providing products and services that will truly benefit the environment. The second group includes people genuinely interested in helping the planet, but not as current on the biggest environmental issues. This group may also be less willing to pay a premium for your green offerings. The third group includes people who are either apathetic or antagonistic toward green marketing efforts.

Regardless of your target market, an eco marketing campaign should have several important factors in order to ensure long-term sustainability in the green space:

Your green claims should be genuine and verifiable. Above all, be transparent and explicit about any environmental claims you make.

Informed consumers are loyal consumers, so educate your consumers about the benefits of your product or service for the environment.

Make it possible for your customers to give back to the environment by choosing your service or product.

Great Examples of Green Marketing Campaigns

To give you a sense for some good green marketing campaigns, here are three exceptional examples of how eco-friendly messages can draw customers and profitability to your company:

Method: With a whole line of cleaning and personal care products, Method’s straightforward yet clearly green message has been hugely successful in gaining ground in these mainstream markets.

US Green Building Council: This organization which invented the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design building program for energy-efficient construction and renovations is now the leading standard for green buildings. They’ve effectively cornered the market as a green standard against which all buildings are now measured.

Toyota Prius: Their brilliant marketing campaign has brought them great acclaim and a huge boost in sales – they’re currently the leader in gas-electric hybrid vehicles. That said, their recent highway florascape ad campaign to celebrate their 2010 model – which will require daytime watering during drought season in California – while creative and beautiful is perhaps less eco-friendly than their vehicles.

Regardless of your company’s offerings, there are ways you can use green marketing to increase your profitability and enjoy greater business success if you’re willing to truly address environmental issues.

WHY IS GREEN MARKETING CHOSEN BY

MOST MARKETERS?

Most of the companies are venturing into green marketing because of the following reasons:

a. Opportunity

In India, around 25% of the consumers prefers environmental-friendly products, and around 28% may be considered healthy conscious. There fore, green marketers have diverse and fairly sizeable segments to cater to. The Surf Excel detergent which saves water (advertised with the message

—"do bucket paani roz bachana") and the energy-saving LG consumers durables are examples of green marketing. We also have green buildings which are efficient in their use of energy, water and construction materials, and which reduce the impact on human health and the environment through better design, construction, operation, maintenance and waste disposal. In India, the green building movement, spearheaded by the Confederation of Indian industry (CII) - Godrej Green business Center, has gained tremendous impetus over the last few years. From 20,000 sq ft in 2003, India's green building footprint is now over 25 million sq ft.

b. Social Responsibility

Many companies have started realizing that they must behave in an environment-friendly fashion. They believe both in achieving environmental objectives as well as profit related objectives. The HSBC became the world's first bank to go carbon-neutral last year. Other examples include Coca-Cola, which has invested in various recycling activities. Walt Disney World in Florida, US, has an extensive waste management program and infrastructure in place.

c. Governmental Pressure

various regulations rare framed by the government to protect consumers and the society at large. The Indian government too has developed a framework of legislations to reduce the production of harmful goods and by products. These reduce the

industry's production and consumers' consumption of harmful goods, including those detrimental to the environment; for example, the ban of plastic bags in Mumbai, prohibition of smoking in public areas, etc.

d. Competitive Pressure

Many companies take up green marketing to maintain their competitive edge. The green marketing initiatives by niche companies such as Body Shop and Green & Black have prompted many mainline competitors to follow suit.

BENEFITS OF GREEN MARKETING

Today's consumers are becoming more and more conscious about the environment and are also becoming socially responsible. Therefore, more companies are responsible to consumers' aspirations for environmentally less damaging or neutral products. Many companies want to have an early-mover advantage as they have to eventually move towards becoming green. Some of the advantages of green marketing are:

It ensures sustained long-term growth along with profitability.

It saves money in the long run, thought initially the cost is more.

It helps companies market their products and services keeping the environment aspects in mind. It helps in accessing the new markets and enjoying competitive advantage.

Most of the employees also feel proud and responsible to be working for an environmentally responsible company.

Marketing Strategies

The marketing strategies for green marketing include: -

Marketing Audit (including internal and external situation analysis)

Develop a marketing plan outlining strategies with regard to 4 P's

Implement marketing strategies Plan results evaluation

PATHS TO GREENNESS

Green marketing involves focusing on promoting the consumption of green products. Therefore, it becomes the responsibility of the companies to adopt creativity and insight, and be committed to the development of environment-friendly products. This will help the society in the long run. Companies which embark on green marketing should adopt the following principles in their path towards greenness."

Adopt new technology/process or modify existing technology/process so as to reduce environmental impact.

Establish a management and control system that will lead to the adherence of stringent environmental safety norms.

Using more environment-friendly raw materials at the production stage itself.

Explore possibilities of recycling of the used products so that it can be used to offer similar or other benefits with less wastage.

PROBLEMS OF GREEN MARKETING

Many organizations want to turn green, as an increasing number of consumers' ant to associate themselves with environmental-friendly products.

Alongside, one also witnesses confusion among the consumers regarding the products. In particular, one often finds distrust regarding the credibility of green products. Therefore, to ensure consumer confidence, marketers of green products need to be much more transparent, and refrain from breaching any law or standards relating to products or business practices.

CONCLUSION

A clever marketer is one who not only convinces the consumer, but also involves the consumer in marketing his product. Green marketing should not be considered as just one more approach to marketing, but has to be pursued with much

greater vigor, as it has an environmental and social dimension to it. With the threat of global warming looming large, it is extremely important that green marketing becomes the norm rather than an exception or just a fad. Recycling of paper, metals, plastics, etc., in a safe and environmentally harmless manner should become much more systematized and universal. It has to become the general norm to use energy-efficient lamps and other electrical goods.

Marketers also have the responsibility to make the consumers understand the need for and benefits of green products as compared to non-green ones. In green marketing, consumers are willing to pay more to maintain a cleaner and greener environment. Finally, consumers, industrial buyers and suppliers need to pressurize effects on minimize the negative effects on the environment-friendly. Green marketing assumes even more importance and relevance in developing countries like India.

Understanding Green Marketing

With the continuing rise in environmental awareness and concern, companies recognize that

it pays to be green. As well as acting in an environmentally responsible way, it is important for companies to communicate their green credentials.

What You Need to know what is green marketing?

There is a degree of confusion over the term “green marketing.” Some believe that it refers solely to the promotion or advertising of products with environmental characteristics such as “recyclable,” “organic,” or “environmentally friendly.” While these terms are widely used by “green” companies, green marketing is a much broader concept, one that can be applied to consumer goods, industrial goods and some services. Green marketing incorporates a variety of activities, including modifications to products, changes to the production and distribution processes, packaging changes, and modifications to marketing communications

Five simple rules of green marketing

1. Know your customer: If you want to sell a greener product to consumers, you first need to make sure that the consumer is aware of and concerned about the issues that your product attempts to address. (Whirlpool learned the hard way that consumers wouldn't pay a premium for a CFC-free refrigerator because consumers didn't know what CFCs were!).

2.Empower consumers:

Make sure that consumers feel, by themselves or in concert with all the other users of your product, that they can make a difference. This is called "empowerment" and it's the main reason why consumers buy greener products.

3. Be transparent:Consumers must believe in the legitimacy of your product and the specific claims you are making. Caution: There's a lot of skepticism out there that is fueled by the raft of spurious claims made in the "go-go" era of green marketing that occurred during the late 80s-early90s

4. Reassure the buyer:

Consumers need to believe that your product performs the job it's supposed to do - they won't forego product quality in the name of the environment. (Besides, products that don't work will likely wind up in the trash bin, and that's not very kind to the environment.)

5. Consider your pricing:

If you're charging a premium for your product - and many environmentally preferable products cost more due to economies of scale and use of higher-quality ingredients - make sure that consumers can afford the premium and feel it's worth it. Many consumers, of course, cannot afford premiums for any type of product these days, much less greener ones, so keep this in mind as you develop your target audience and product specifications."

How To Take Advantage Of “Green” Marketing

Capitalizing on the “Green” advertising revolution is currently a popular trend. By properly using buzz-words like “eco,” “Green,” “drinkable water,” and “the sun,” it’s possible to get environmentally-concerned people excited about a variety of products.

I’ve been observing “Green” advertising for a while, and I put together some tips for that company unsure about taking advantage of this highly profitable type of marketing.

Use Those Quotation Marks

Did you notice how I put “Green” in quotation marks up there? This is the most important rule for a new “Green” ad campaign to follow. Putting “Green” in quotes has a couple benefits. The first benefit is that it shows people that “Green” is a reference to the environmental movement and not the last name of some football player. Secondly, quotation marks make the word “Green” look like it’s sweating from the pure heat of the sun. And things that spend more time in the sun are automatically better than something that spends all his time indoors hunched over a keyboard listening to Our Lady Peace while his lifeguard neighbor has a car, slender calves, and a 401k.

Work In the Color Green

This might be hard for companies selling products that aren’t already colored green, but studies have shown that a green-colored product combined with environmental slang can skyrocket sales. For example, if your company sells lettuce, slapping “Green” on a lettuce ad might sell consumers who initially planned to just find a field full of grass.

Let’s try a visual example using a popular American product — Coke

Here’s how effective a Coke ad is with just the colour Green added

Flaunt the Use of Natural Ingredients

Environmentalists love products that use natural ingredients. Unfortunately, not many companies stress this in their advertising.

If you can answer “yes” to the following question, the product you produce already contains a natural ingredient.

At any time during the manufacturing of your product does your product come in contact with the air?

If you answered “yes,” you’re ready to go. Boom. Done Slap a “this product contains natural ingredient(s)” sticker on your ad so people think you save polar bears or use honeysuckle fronds or something.

Some people might think that listing air as a natural ingredient is cheating. Look, if you feel this way, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s hard to make stuff from natural ingredients. Ever try making a microwave out of bear-claws? First I tried real bear-claws, but the few that broke off in my torso after repeated harvesting attempts were no where near enough to construct a microwave. And do you know what a microwave made out of bear-claw pastries is? It’s a pile of pastries with the bowl of soup I tried to heat up wedged in the middle.

Don’t Forget Recycled Materials

Another great tip for successful “Green” advertising is to use recycled materials in your product or product’s packaging. “Green” conscious consumers love using recycled objects. There are some places in the country where you can drop a used Q-tip and someone will snatch it up before it even touches the ground. Please don’t try this with Q-Tip the rapper, as the results are completely different.

Green Business Case Studies

Companies known for proactive environmental policies can garner favor from customers, employees, regulators, the media, and others. Because of their reputation, they are able to reap benefits such as reduced pressure from activist groups and the media, increased ability to attract and retain high quality employees, improved community relations, enhanced brand image,

stronger customer loyalty, and increased appeal to socially responsible investors and portfolio managers.

Ben & Jerry's sustainable business practices have always been a key part of it's corporate image and its economic success.

Whole Foods Market, which was founded in 1980 as one small store in Austin, Texas, became the world's leading retailer of natural and organic foods by remaining true to its original commitment to stringent quality standards and sustainable agriculture.

Patagonia, whose mission statement includes using business to inspire and implement solutions to environmental problems, has parlayed this commitment into a successful brand of outdoor clothing for customers who care about the environment.

GE Ecomagination. It's no mistake that even though only a limited number of customers can purchase the seventeen products featured in its Ecomagination initiative, such as jet engines and locomotives, GE's advertising campaign is aimed at the general public. Why? To build trust in GE's brands.

McDonald's successfully changed it's packaging to limit environmental impact and went on to receive well-publicized recognition for its efforts from organizations such as the Audubon Society, Conservation International, Keep America Beautiful, the National Recycling Coalition, and the EPA.

Green Marketing Ideas for Your Business

There’s plenty of skepticism, but there’s also proof that ‘Thinking Green’ in business is not only good for the environment, but for business as well. Here are some easy to implement green marketing ideas your business can embrace:

1. Work from home allows staff to work from home more often. This will help provide added perks and could improve productivity.

2. Teamwork boost Company moral by setting a company wide goal of everyone working together to lower the businesses carbon footprint.

3. C02 friendly servers yes, today, you can reverse the impact of your websites by switching to C02 friendly servers. There are two providers that we know of in this field: one can be found, another.

4. Sustainable Packaging replacing your existing packaging with “green” packaging materials such as biodegradable. Or simply get creative by re-using old magazine pages. Yes it’s possible. There’s a shop in Lisbon, Portugal that is doing this – the wrong shop!

5. Transportation if your business relies on transportation looks at transitioning to environmental friendly vehicles. This bold move will most likely get the attention of your local or national newspapers.

6. Green Seal – assess the ‘Greenness’ of your products and apply for a green seal. In the US and Canada there are several NGO’s supporting green seal projects. We’re excited to share, a similar effort is starting here in

Portugal, and Chama is currently working with a partner to launch the initiative in the Algarve.

7. Get Your Brand out there – help your local community and customers reduce dependency on grocery store plastics. Invest in environmental friendly grocery bags with your brand, and give them away to customers for free…it’s free advertising!

8. Give Local Love. Receive Local Love – if you’re in the food business, look at ways to source local products even if they’re at slightly higher cost. In return, promote your goal of supporting local farmers and reducing your carbon footprint. You can start the transition slowly by having select products that feature seasonal and locally sourced produce.

This Is An Image Of Green Recycling

Green marketing pie is divided into three parts i.e.1) Public company and markets.2) Personal products and habits.3) Social brands and belonging.

Group Members

Roll No. Name13 Dipesh Gadda28 Siddhesh Parab30 Deepak Patil45 Atul Tripathi

SUBJECT

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY & GREEN MARKETING

Many firms are beginning to realize that they are members of the wider community and therefore must behave in an environmentally responsible fashion. This translates into firms that believe they must achieve environmental objectives as well as profit related objectives. This results in environmental issues being integrated into the firm's corporate culture. Firms in this situation can take two perspectives; (1) they can use the fact that they are environmentally responsible as a marketing tool; or (2) they can become responsible without promoting this fact. There are examples of firms adopting both strategies. Organizations like the Body Shop heavily promote the fact that they are environmentally responsible. While this behavior is a competitive advantage, the firm was established specifically to offer consumers environmentally responsible alternatives to conventional cosmetic products. This philosophy is directly tied to the overall corporate culture, rather than simply being a competitive tool. An example of a firm that does not promote its environmental initiatives is Coca-Cola. They have invested large sums of money in various recycling activities, as well as having modified their packaging to minimize its environmental impact. While being concerned about the environment, Coke has not used this concern as a marketing tool. Thus many consumers may not realize that Coke is a very environmentally committed organization. Another firm who is very environmentally responsible but

does not promote this fact, at least outside the organization, is Walt Disney World (WDW). WDW has an extensive waste management program and infrastructure in place, yet these facilities are not highlighted in their general tourist promotional activities.

GOVERNMENTALPRESSURE

As with all marketing related activities, governments want to "protect" consumers and society; this protection has significant green marketing implications. Governmental regulations relating to environmental marketing are designed to protect consumers in several ways, 1) reduce production of harmful goods or by-products; 2) modify consumer and industry's use and/or consumption of harmful goods; or 3) ensure that all types of consumers have the ability to evaluate the environmental composition of goods.

Governments establish regulations designed to control the amount of hazardous wastes produced by firms. Many by-products of production are controlled through the issuing of various environmental licenses, thus modifying organizational behavior. In some cases governments try to "induce" final consumers to become more responsible. For example, some governments have introduced voluntary curb-side recycling programs, making it easier for consumers to act responsibly. In other cases governments tax individuals who act in an irresponsible fashion. For

example in Australia there is a higher gas tax associated with leaded petrol

COMPETITIVE PRESSURE

Another major force in the environmental marketing area has been firms' desire to maintain their competitive position. In many cases firms observe competitors promoting their environmental behaviors and attempt to emulate this behavior. In some instances this competitive pressure has caused an entire industry to modify and thus reduce its detrimental environmental behavior. For example, it could be argued that Xerox's "Revive 100% Recycled paper" was introduced a few years ago in an attempt to address the introduction of recycled photocopier paper by other manufacturers.

Understanding the "Green" Movement in Your Marketing Efforts

Companies, cities and individuals are getting involved in the green movement. They are doing there part to keep the environment healthier by reducing humans' impact on the land, using recycled metals and nontoxic substances, organic gardening, adding more green space, building using environmentally friendly materials and more.

An increasing number of businesses are beginning to see it as a market advantage, especially when

you consider organic foods is one of the fastest growing markets.

Here are some reasons that organizations and businesses have moved in that direction:

Due to pressure from environmental groups, now the top 30 banks have stopped funding environmentally and socially irresponsible corporations and have become more "green."

Competition from other environmental activities pressures companies to change their marketing initiatives.

Levi's is introducing its 100% organic jeans this fall.

Nike is making organic sportswear and talking about becoming a responsible citizen. A growing number of retailers are experimenting with more environmentally sensitive and energy efficient stores.

McDonald's started serving Fair Trade Certified(tm) coffee in 658 of its restaurants in New England and Albany, NY. These locations switched 100 percent of their coffee products over to Fair Trade Certified(tm) organic coffee from Newman's Own Organics, roasted by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. They started this as a regional launch and with a goal of expanding it across the country.

Even more so, companies are starting to recognize that they need to be concerned with the triple

bottom line-how they make decisions based upon the economic, environmental and social impact.

Unfortunately, the majority of people believe that green marketing refers solely to the promotion or advertising of products with environmental characteristics. This is only part of the equation. Green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising

Here are some of the things you can do to incorporate the green movement into your marketing efforts:

When manufacturing your products - consider using recycled materials for packaging and incorporating organic fibers or other materials. Once you have changed the way you manufacture, and then make sure to make people aware that

your product packaging or materials are made using natural materials that do not harm the environment.

When renovating or building new - consider choosing alternative, environmentally sound building materials and using more insulation to minimize energy use. Make people aware that you're a company who practices socially responsibility.

Designate a place to recycle for both your internal and external employees as Staples does. They promote recycling programs at its stores for printer cartridges and consumer electronics.