Should sustainability marketing be used today?
In 2021, small businesses must adapt to a changing business environment. More and more businesses are pushed to implement sustainability tactics. As a business becomes more technologically advanced, what must it do to adhere to an increase in sustainability demands by their customers? Yes, if you didn’t know there is a demand for sustainability by customers today.
At Turnstone Think Tank, we dive deep into how sustainability plays a role in business marketing, operations, and finances. We found that as society moves forward businesses are the first sector that is required to adapt. We also found in times of economic uncertainty that sustainable businesses are the most resilient and profitable. Customers want their money making a difference in the world.
It is the value and beliefs systems of the individuals that determine their purchasing behavior. Take Patagonia, as business leader to follow in 2021. Their main business marketing strategy is sharing with their customers how much they are giving back to Environment, Social or Governance (ESG) issues. Patagonia’s brand is based on environmental sustainability and providing support to environmental non-profit organizations. Patagonia not only provides a high-quality product, but influences customer behavior and improves marketing by deploying a self-imposed 1% tax. Learn more about their 1% tax here.
Patagonia’s customers display two types of behaviors: egotism and altruism. These two types of behaviors affect the brain in very similar ways. By paying money with the expectation of receiving something in return (egotism) there is an instantaneous release of dopamine, and the same goes with giving without any incentive (altruism). There is a major difference with how altruism affects our state of mind. In this article, it is made clear that compassion training or repeated giving without the expectation of receiving anything in return improves mental health. This behavior could, “improve personal well-being, stress-related immune responses, and increase prosocial behavior towards others’’ (Paccione 2).
A deeper understanding about altruism, allows businesses to capitalize by influencing the state of mind of their customers. People all across the world strive for an elevated state of mind, and by reinforcing this within the structure of the business provides a competitive advantage in an e-commerce environment.
How will your business open the walls of the funnel?
Find out what sustainability highlights resonate with your customers through sustainability marketing!
Any type of strategy that your business uses to improve sustainability should be delivered to your customers through marketing. Marketing is the act of learning what your customers’ needs are. Today, there are many tools to develop insights into the performance of your marketing strategies. The marketing plan has to be adaptive and change with what you’re learning about your customers’ needs.
Turnstone calls on businesses to add to their marketing plan a sustainability highlight. This highlight can be an advertisement campaign that demonstrates how your business is using less water in their product manufacturing process or as simple as reusing cardboard boxes.
A main strategy at Turnstone Think Tank is developing cohesion between marketing and sustainability practices of small businesses. Now more than ever, transparency is the key to sustainability marketing. To improve transparency, your business should create graphics and videos that clearly exemplify sustainability tactics. Use content to drive customer engagement and bring about a positive impression on customers.
Start to gain support from customers, and advocates for your business. Sustainability is on the hearts of everybody nowadays, and it is your job as a business owner to learn what sustainability tactics your customers need by exploring the realm of marketing!
