Will Green Marketing Bring You the Green?
July 08, 2008
Shelton Group shows environmentally-conscious companies how to increase their ROI on green marketing and boost sales.
By Jonathan Tannenbaum
In a country infatuated with excess, businesses seeking to help the environment face an up-hill battle. While corporations today have seen going green as a way to gain consumer loyalty, many consumers view these green initiatives as the pet cause of hypocritical elitists. Countless others express interest but maintain a wasteful lifestyle. Shelton Group, a Tennessee-based advertising agency, focuses on this area of concern, helping environmentally-friendly companies attract more customers with in-depth strategies in their recently released study entitled "Eco Pulse."
The survey, which polled over 3.5 million people to determine effective marketing ideas for green companies, reflects U.S. age and educational obtainment percentages and makes clear that most consumers set aside environmental considerations. When asked if personal comfort, convenience or the environment took priority, only 31% of respondents chose the environment. The study also documents how relatively few people expressing support for the environment actually choose products on the basis of a company's ecologically-sound practices. Most of these people, despite their professed concern, continue to purchase brands out of habit, even if those brands show indifference to environmental causes.
"Folks who talk up their green purchases and lifestyles at a cocktail party really aren't doing as much as they say they're doing," acknowledges Suzanne Shelton, CEO of Shelton Group.
Faced with this reality, businesses would be well served demonstrating how people's self-interest often coincides with a green life-style. The report recognizes that most people prioritize personal gratification, and assume supporting the environment entails sacrificing their own quality of life.
Green's ROI?
But if consumers are more interested in themselves than the environment, is there any profitability in going green? Lee Ann Head, Shelton Group's director of research, advocates taking a pragmatic approach. She says that corporate marketing strategies "need to go beyond green for green sake. To really be effective, it has to be, 'What's this doing for me?' Don't assume the number of altruistic drivers is larger than it really is."
Unfortunately, the report indicates that businesses frequently fail to make this kind of hard-headed appeal, instead highlighting company-practices that consumers greet with indifference. For example, companies frequently tout their use of carbon credits, a decision most consumers know very little about.
"You have to talk in laymen's terms. Talk about specific ways you’ve diverted from landfills … Talk about your CO2 emission reductions. Say that CO2 is the primary contributor to global warming," says Head.
Similarly, companies should avoid campaigns that place direct responsibility on consumers. Most people resist any notion of personal accountability, Head notes. And while a majority of Americans express concern over global warming, most deny it's a manmade phenomenon.
"Ultimately," Head says, "the message shouldn't be about climate change, it should be about helping you and your family, the secondary benefit is what you're doing for the benefit of the world at large."
Sales & Marketing Management Magazine
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