In the 1990s, the dynamics of the development of the consumer market experienced significant changes. The policy of privatization, deregulation of the economy, economic integration and work globalization are the factors that require producers to set new market benchmarks. The traditional marketing, which is becoming more and more unacceptable from year to year for successful marketing activities of enterprises, also requires new approaches. The most urgent problem at the present stage of development of balanced production and consumption is the formation of demand and sales promotion, business planning taking into account environmental aspects. All this directly defines the main component of green marketing.
Only ten years ago, only the activists of the Green Peace movement, who fiercely defended the flora and fauna, were called "green." Meanwhile, green marketing emerged after the world learned about global warming and the greenhouse effect. Humanity begins to realize how fragile the world in which it lives is, how sick and exhausted is the nature that it mercilessly exploits.
The emergence of a green marketing for businesses and professional organizations contributed to two circumstances. The first is that marketers are constantly looking for techniques that would distinguish their product in a series of similar ones. The second factor is that in our time constant stresses associated with man-made disasters, terrorist acts, the introduction of the development of genetic engineering into the food industry and global warming, it is becoming increasingly difficult to live in harmony with nature. For this reason, consumers are trying to somehow protect themselves and their loved ones by buying goods without preservatives, dyes, stabilizers, wearing natural clothes, adhering to an active, healthy lifestyle.
What Is Green Marketing
"Green" or environmental marketing is a process of meeting the needs and requirements of society through the promotion of such goods and services that have a minimal negative impact on the environment at all stages of the life cycle, and are created with the minimal use of natural resources. Green marketing has its roots in social marketing. This is the point of view, according to which it is not enough to think only of customer satisfaction, marketing should take into account the interests of society as a whole. According to the theory of stakeholders, in determining the goals and strategy, everyone who is affected by the company's activities should be taken into account. This viewpoint has led to an intensification of the tendency of greening companies. "Green marketing" is interpreted as a company management process aimed at identifying, predicting and satisfying the requirements of customers and society while ensuring profitability and sustainability of growth.
Benefits of Green Marketing
Green marketing campaigns allow companies to get the following benefits:
- this will enhance the image of the company in society;
- this will promote the renewal of the products, its improvement, and ecologization;
- this will increase the chances of entering the premium segment and its further expansion;
- this will form friendly relations with public organizations and with state and local government bodies;
- this will give an opportunity to enter foreign markets.
In addition, there are economic benefits of environmental marketing:
- increase in revenues due to receipt of funds from the sale of goods at higher prices, because these goods are positioned as environmentally friendly, increasing the company's market share and improving the goods;
- reduction of costs - saving as a result of utilization, the sale of by-products and production wastes, as well as reduction of penalties for environmental damage.
Green Marketing Strategies
Norms of environmental marketing in a certain sense limit the entrepreneurial initiative, putting them in dependence on the socially-oriented social development and the need to preserve and improve the habitat. One of the main tasks of Green Marketing Strategies is compliance with the norms of environmental marketing, which provides them with leading positions in the market.
Strategy 1: Environmental Performance
In this case, firms are trying to reduce the costs and environmental impact of organizational processes. Most companies that work within this strategy do not try to advertise these processes since their main task is to obtain a competitive advantage by saving money through ongoing environmental activities.
Strategy 2: External Leadership
Unlike the first strategy, the company seeks to draw the attention of consumers and the public to the ongoing activities in the field of environmental policy. This strategy means that the company uses a competitive advantage, trying to gain a foothold as a leader in the field of environmental transformation and thus form or improve the corporate image. Such development is usually caused indirectly by the organizational process, ultimately affecting consumer buying behavior.
Strategy 3: Environmental Branding
Creating eco-brands allows you to separate from other company products and brands. There are three main arguments in favor of this process:
- consumers must realize the significant benefits of their purchase;
- for positive perception by consumers, information on the ecological differentiation of the product is provided;
- creation of barriers for imitation.
In this case, in order to be successful in the long run, it is necessary to introduce environmental innovations.
Strategy 4: Environmental Leadership at Cost
Selling products with a high price premium may be the only option for some companies that offer environmentally oriented products. In this case, the differentiation strategy can be the only way to allow the company to ensure the return of serious environmental investments in the modernization of the product. However, this strategy is possible only when target segments are available for companies.
Strategy 5: Protective Green
This strategy uses green marketing in response to the crisis, as a precautionary measure, or a response to the actions produced by competitors. The companies identified the segments of the "green" consumer market as potential consumers, which they can not attract at the moment, but a number of ongoing events allow them to improve the brand image as a whole.
Strategy 6: Dark Green
Companies take on significant financial and non-material obligations, investing in long-term processes for creating environmental products. These companies can significantly differentiate from competitors and gain competitive advantages through ongoing activities. Nevertheless, companies prefer to use the signs of "environmental friendliness" of products as secondary, highlighting other attributes of the goods, allowing them to get the most revenue.
Strategy 7: Extremely Green
These types of companies are based on comprehensive provisions of environmental marketing and values, so they try to fully take into account environmental issues in their business. They analyze the entire life cycle of the product and its impact on the environment, manage the company on the basis of quality environmental policy and orient their products and services for specialized market segments.
Thus, today, companies can implement many environmental marketing strategies. However, the main need to implement this approach is the need for comprehensive environmental protection from the side of both organizations and consumers.