Embracing Sustainability: The Rise of Green Marketing in the Modern Business Landscape

Marketing is a great tool to increase awareness of one’s product or service as well as establish oneself as a trustworthy and reputable brand in a chosen field.Marketing includes everything from market research to advertising.In a broad sense, we can say that marketing is not just about selling your products and services but also about understanding the needs and wants of your target group and then designing or creating content to meet those needs or desire

Marketing have 5Ps of Marketing.

5Ps of Marketing

1. Price
2. Product
3. Promotion
4. Position
5. Target Market People

Today, traditional marketing is in a transition phase and is adopting new methods and concepts.In today’s world, environmental concerns are becoming increasingly important due to the necessities of the times, and marketing is also adopting those changes.The green marking is part of this change and Businesses are turning to green marketing.

Green Marketing…

Green marketing means selling a product or object by saying that the product is nature-friendly or good for nature.This means promoting an environmentally friendly product.In other words, we can say that it is marketing eco-friendly products that do not harm the environment and are also produced using an eco-friendly manufacturing process.In this way of marketing, the promoter or company proves that the appropriate product will save energy, is recyclable and will not harm nature and the environment.With such commitment and promotion, these products will attract end users who care about nature, earth or the environment.

Green marketing is also known as sustainable marketing or green marketing or environmental marketing.This means green marketing promotes sustainable and environmentally friendly products and services.It includes all of a company’s marketing activities that aim to create a positive impact or reduce the negative impact of its products on the environment.

Green marketing is few step ahead of traditional marketing. As we noticed earlier that the common principal of marketing is having 5 Ps whereas on addition of two more principal the green marketing is having 7 Ps.

7Ps of Marketing under Green Marketing

1. Price
2. Product
3. Promotion
4. Position
5. Target Market People
6. People Community
7. Planet

Thus, we can observe that green marketing is inclusive of people communities and planet along with main principles of marketing.

Goal of Green marketing

The green marketing is having

• Eco Friendly Process- It means that in the production process some modification initiated, and it causes to save natural resources as well as reduce the wastage and make them more ecofriendly.
• Eco Friendly Products- The product is not having negative impact or lesser impact on nature and it can be recyclable.
• Eco Friendly Packaging- Uses of less packing materials or eco-friendly materials which can be sustainable packaging it called eco-friendly packaging. The materials will be recyclable or biodegradable.
• Regulatory compliance- All around the world, the government are enforcing tougher environmental rules and regulations and business houses has to comply with that. This will not only help them to avoid legal issues but also branding their products and services in public domain.
• Long Term Sustainability- Eco friendly practices are having many benefits. it will not only help for sustainability of business but also help  sustainability  of planet.

Green Marketing Initiative by some corporate Houses in India:

We all know the brand “Starbucks Coffee”.Thiscompany has taken a big step in this direction and completely eliminated plastic straws.In its green store initiative, the company commits to using 30% less water and 25% less energy, thereby taking a step towards environmentally friendly products and services.

TATA is famous for its natural approach.Electric vehicle manufacturing by TATA Motors, contribution to solar and wind energy production by TATA Solar, environment-friendly fertilizer production by TATA Chemicals are some of the initiatives .TATA Group stands out as a leading company in India that is adopting green marketing practices across many sectors and thus serves as an inspiration for others to initiate such moves.There was even a Facebook campaign by the TATA group to encourage people to plant trees.

Another major company, Adani Green Energy, recently announced that it will invest around 2 lakh crore, which will enable the company to increase its renewable energy portfolio to 45 GW by 2030.Currently the company’s total renewable energy portfolio is about 10.90 GW.It is pertinent to mention here that the Khavda unit of Adani Green Energy is the world’s largest renewable energy park.Another arm of the Adani Group, Adani New Industries Ltd (ANIL), which makes solar and wind energy equipment, is also moving in this direction and has plans to spend over Rs 30,000 crore by 2030 to increase the existing capacity of wind turbines and solar powerenergy.

Green Marketing Initiative by Multinational Companies at worldwide:

In 2019, Apple launched the new Mac Book Air and MacBook Mini made from 100% recyclable aluminum.To popularize their products and initiatives, they created the slogan: “Truly innovative products leave their mark on the world but leave no mark on the planet.” This means that the product is recyclable and therefore has no negative impact on the environment.

Another big name is “IKEA” and under its initiative named “people and planet positive strategy”, it promotes solar and wind energy.About 90% of IKEA’s buildings are equipped with solar panels and the company encourages the use of renewable energy.

We can notice that green marketing is not limited to only few corporate house or big companies. Now a days whenever we are going to purchase consumer products like TV, Washing Machine, Washing Powder, Fridge, LED bulb, Air Conditioner etc. everyone talk and popularise the energy saving, water saving capabilities of the products and termed it in money value to attract the end users. Thus it can be said that the green marketing become more effective if it can be linked to that this product improve the lives of people by saving their money, safer for their next generation and safe to use

Under such initiative we might have noticed that everyone is contributing towards the environment friendly approach. During the festival of colours, we are adopting herbal colour and non-toxic colour which is really good for us as well as environment. During Ganesh Chaturthi, Durga Puja we bring idols of God and goddess which are made up of ecofriendly materials. Further uses of LED bulb reduced the consumption of electricity and generate less heat energy. Further the life cycle of these bulb is much more that traditional bulbs thus it is very much helpful to keep our environment safe.

Benefit of Green Marketing

• This will give and edge to services or product to stand out in the increasing competitive environment. The aware people will prefer to purchase such products or services even it is costlier than others.
• Reduce the negative impact of production on environment.
• Save energy, reduce the uses of natural resources and carbon footprints.
• Produce recyclable products.
• Long term sustainable growth
• Obtain higher revenue.

Precautions

It is advisable that while doing green marketing one should beware of things. one should not overstate about goodness of product because it is green washing. Green washing means making false claim about a product sustainability attribute. Whenever it is being noticed in the public domain it will be hard to sell the product and change the perception of the end user.

Role of Consumer

As a consumer our role and responsibilities are more. We need to encourage by buying the product of those companies who are making better product, reducing ways to eliminate toxic chemicals, reducing energy use and improving recyclability of products. We should switchover our uses from plastic bottles to stainless steel bottles, plastic carry bag to cloth or jute carry bags, fuel vehicles to electric vehicles etc.

Contribution of Bank

Our banking sector is also not exceptional of this and adopting in green marketing. Our huge customer base is now Gen-Z customer and they like banking at ease but not on the cost of nature. We promote uses of social media for banking, Digitisation of Product and services, Less paper work, customization of products and services in straight through process (STP) modalities so end to end process to be completed without or less use of paper.

Conclusion

Green Marketing is not just a trend but a necessary approach for business for sustainable growth.  It will be aligning the product and services in line of modern consumers and this way it will contribute positively to the planet’s future.