How to do green marketing better

When it comes to reaching the consumer base many marketers have found cause marketing to be a big engager. Specifically, the green marketing cause. With so much attention in the news, schools and businesses about consumers becoming more conscious about the environment this should come as no surprise. Just how effective may be a surprise, though.

by Kristina Knight

According to a recent Environmental Leader and MediaBuyerPlanner study 33% of marketers find green marketing techniques to be more effective than 'normal' marketing activities. In fact, more than 80% plan to spend more on green advertising this year than last year; manufacturers plan to spend 'significantly higher' budgetary amounts on green efforts.

One interesting finding is that smaller businesses are spending more (26% of budget) on green marketing efforts compared to larger businesses (6% marketing budget). The majority of green marketing dollars are currently spent in the online marketplace (74%) with print (49%) and direct advertising (40%) also ranking high.

The study also found:

• 48% of marketers using direct marketing found green marketing to be more effective
• 43% of online marketers found green marketing to be more effective
• 59% of marketers use energy conservation as their ad message
• 54% cite changing ingredients/packaging/intended use as their ad message

About half of companies say they are in control of green marketing messages while 57% of public relations firms say they are in control of the message.

All is not rosy in green marketing, though. About 15% of company decision makers believe green marketing is not more effective, many of these decision makers are from companies with advertising budgets of between $10 million and $50 million.

Tags: cause marketing, Environmental Leader, green campaign, green marketing, online advertising