With so much competition across eCommerce platforms, emerging businesses need to be savvy if they want to capture space in their niche and the attention of prospective buyers. Promoting sustainability has become a fundamental business value that does increasingly resonate with consumers.
For small businesses eager to visibly grow and extend their online reach, aligning a marketing strategy with eco-friendly practices can be effective. Showing that you care will not only attract people who prioritise the environment, it can go some way to encouraging your target market to buy into your ethical and sustainable brand.
From highlighting where you source items from to offering responsible return policies, this article explores effective ways to attract customers and positively influence their eco-conscious buying decisions.
Why Does Sustainable Marketing Matter?
Consumers are increasingly making purchasing decisions based on environmental impact. In fact, studies show that 80% of consumers are willing to pay more for sustainably produced or sourced items. This is good news for start-ups in any industry designing a marketing strategy with green credentials that they are able to promote.
Meanwhile, for established companies like MPB who buy and sell used camera gear sustainably, belonging to a circular economy has become a valuable USP in their marketing toolkit. The core of their business centers on reusing items, minimizing waste and recycling electronics. By promoting these practices well, like-minded businesses can create a compelling narrative that also differentiates and strengthens their brand.
For small businesses, sustainable marketing isn’t just about attracting eco-conscious consumers—it’s about positioning your brand as forward-thinking and responsible to those customers whose loyalty might be based on these shared values. This approach can help to open doors to new market avenues, boost the potential for partnerships to develop, and attract investment opportunities from stakeholders who also prioritize environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors.
Empower Consumers to Buy Sustainable Goods
Individual consumer choices are a key component of creating and nurturing a successful circular economy. As a business, encourage visitors to your eCommerce site, social media channels, and in-store premises to understand how their purchasing decisions affect the environment. By marketing what an important difference your sustainable business is making you can empower consumers to buy into this movement, adapt their buying habits and be a part of the longer-term climate solution.
Reports do suggest that people are not necessarily naturally making the key connection between sustainability and the products they buy. These people have been described as the “Conscious Nonconsumers”, amounting to approximately 32% of all US consumers. While someone might have adopted an eco-friendly lifestyle, this might only come down to cutting down on their fuel consumption, using less plastic, or cycling rather than driving.
Small businesses have the potential to influence and explain to consumers how they can be more sustainable in their buying behavior. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) typically have shorter supply chains, creating less environmental impact, and can usually implement sustainable actions and innovations across their products and services a lot faster than larger organizations. Similarly, smaller enterprises are also more likely to implement sustainable measures, such as:
- prioritizing quality over quantity
- purchasing locally to reduce transport emissions
- organizing logistics with sustainable solutions
- extending product life spans through repair and maintenance
- choosing items with minimal packaging or recyclable materials
As a small business owner, making these conscious choices and letting your consumers know can encourage more consumers, and businesses, to adopt sustainable practices. When consumers feel their purchases contribute to positive environmental change, they develop stronger brand loyalty.
Weave Eco-Credentials Into Your Brand Message
There are multiple ways and benefits for promoting your commitment to climate-friendly causes in your brand messaging and marketing efforts. The most important aspect is to be honest and transparent as this will help to build trust with environmentally-conscious consumers. Clearly communicate your certifications, sustainable materials usage, and eco-friendly manufacturing processes across all marketing channels.
Additionally, your packaging choices will speak volumes about your values before the customer even uses your product. This includes explaining to buyers your use of eco-friendly packaging, biodegradable materials, and minimalist designs that reduce waste. You might also want to promote customer-friendly return policies that minimize waste, including digital receipts and reusable packaging for returns, or incentives for in-store returns that reduce shipping emissions.
Create Circular Economy Opportunities
If you have the resources and online visibility, plus it’s viable for the products you sell, consider setting up and publicizing a “repair shop or services”. By offering the option to mend and extend any products you sell, you demonstrate confidence in your quality while encouraging longer product use.
Likewise, product labeling offers a direct communication channel with customers. Use this space not just for required information but also to let consumers know about sustainable use, care, and disposal of your products. Create content marketing that focuses on simple and relevant ways for your customers to make more eco-friendly choices.
Sustainable marketing can be a successful move for small businesses. As you attract more eco-conscious customers, you gain the resources to implement more sustainable practices, which further strengthens your marketing position. In today’s marketplace, this alignment of values, actions, and messaging isn’t just good for the planet—it’s good for business.
