One of the biggest cones of industrial growth is climate change. Now people are becoming more ecologically aware and prefer buying from eco-friendly brands. Therefore, businesses are also getting more eco-aware due to customers’ contemporary preferences.
Brands that follow eco-friendly practices build a good brand image. The eco-friendly practices include branding strategies that aim to make a brand ecologically conscious in every aspect. In this blog, we will discuss a few eco-friendly branding strategies that can help you build a good brand image as an eco-conscious brand. Read More!
1. Switch to Custom Eco-Friendly Packaging
Eco-friendly packaging works as one of the effective branding strategies to support your brand’s go green mission.
Eco-friendly sustainable packaging is one the best types among paper packaging options. The reason is that it is made from kraft paper which is sourced from wood pulp.
This makes kraft packaging ideal for eco-conscious brands. Kraft packaging is not only strong and eco-friendly but also visually appealing due to its natural rustic charm. Other than this, you can also opt for plant-based plastics, mycelium packaging, edible, and water-soluble packaging.
2. Conduct Ecological Awareness Seminars
As you are at a stage of adopting eco-friendly practices for your business, therefore, you should consider spreading awareness programs. You can conduct seminars and workshops to educate your customers and staff about your green initiatives. This approach works as an eco-friendly branding strategy for your business.
In these brand awareness programs, you can encourage your staff to share their unique ideas to reduce carbon footprints and consider their suggestions. You can also conduct surveys among your customers to know about how your brand can improve to reduce environmental impacts.
3. Collaborate with Sustainable Businesses
You have to articulate your brand’s green mission statement, environmental goals, and eco-friendly practices before you collaborate with eco-conscious businesses. Green marketing plays a significant role in it as you can consider making modifications to your products and their manufacturing processes. This way, you can even make paid collaborations with ecologically conscious businesses.
When you collaborate with eco-conscious businesses whose values align with your brand can help enhance your brand’s credibility. If a brand is making the same products as yours with sustainable practices, exchange the ideas of green practices of doing business. The ultimate goal is to save the environment as a brand through collaboration.
Turn your rival into a collaborator to achieve environmental sustainability goals as it will help build a good brand image for both brands that collaborate. One of the best examples is how the collaboration of Allbirds with Adidas released the sustainable 2.94 kg CO2e sneakers which created a buzz. They are still teamed up to create a zero-footprint shoe.
Another great approach is to find influencers who care about sustainability. To get in touch with sustainability influencers and get them to talk about your brand, you can send them
branded PR boxes to ensure they see your dedication to the environmental cause and share your efforts with their followers.
4. Donate to Eco-Friendly Environment
Another excellent eco-friendly branding strategy is donating to organizations working for a better environment. It could also be considered as a collaboration between your brand and those organizations that work on green initiatives. These donations can be used for purchasing and planting more plants for a healthier environment.
Some organizations aim to work on renewable energy resources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Donations to such organizations also help build a good brand image. When you invest or donate for a better environment, such organizations give your brand credit which can also work as word-of-mouth marketing for your brand.
5. Implement Circular Economy Model
Moving forward to the next eco-friendly branding strategy you can consider for your brand, which is the circular economy model. This approach helps reduce environmental waste to keep the environment secure. In this model, the approach focuses on extending the life cycle of a product which involves sharing, reusing, repairing, and recycling.
Around 80% of environmental impacts are determined during the design phase of a product. This approach also helps slow down the use of natural resources. You can also introduce new campaigns of leasing, reusing, or renting your products. For example, if you run a clothing line, you can introduce a go green campaign by offering dresses for rental basis to rescue environmental waste.
Many reputable brands have been following the circular economy model to ensure environmental sustainability. For example, Unilever’s waste-free world program, H&M's sustainability strategy, and The Body Shop’s recycling program. Moreover, different countries are also contributing to sustainable development such as Germany through the Pfand system, Spain’s reverse sale system, Australia’s Envirobank, and Brazil’s Ecoelce.
6. Invest in Carbon Offsets
This is another effective eco-friendly branding strategy to build an ecologically conscious brand image in which you invest in projects that compensate for emissions released by different sources. These projects could be methane capture, renewable energy, reforestation etc. Investing in carbon offsets benefits both an individual and a business. Measuring carbon footprints will help you invest in carbon offsets accordingly.
You have to calculate the direct and indirect emissions released by your business. Direct emissions are those that are from sources owned by your business directly such as emissions from fuel used in transport or machinery and emissions from refrigerants of air conditioning units. Indirect emissions are released by sources not owned by your business directly but used for your business operations such as waste disposal, business travel, transportation and distribution etc.
You can use a carbon print calculator or get professional assistance to get an accurate number of carbon footprints of your business. After that, you should set some measurable carbon footprint reduction goals and reduce them over time by adopting eco-friendly business practices. Ensure there is transparency in the projects you invest in for environmental development.
Conclusion
Considering contemporary consumer preferences and environmental threats, adopting eco-friendly business practices is becoming a need for every business. Still, there is a behavior gap among customers that is also a challenge for branding strategy makers. Consider how persuasively you can fill that gap among customers when making eco-friendly strategies. Thus, this blog has highlighted some effective branding strategies whose successful implementation can add green values to your brand, among customers, and build a good brand image.
