Many companies in the UK are realising the benefits to being eco friendly. They are using the Green and Blue words to communicate the environmental benefits of buying or using their products. Firms such as VW and Ford use Blue and Eco in product names – a sure smokescreen – but how can you save money and sell more by jumping on the recycling bandwagon?
The current Government’s advertising campaigns about recycling more have made recycling mainstream – many households now have recycling bins, and the increased publicity about the benefits have meant that businesses can happily promote their green credentials and piggyback this wave.
Recycling is a trend. Correct, there is a massive trend towards recycling, and packaging is one area that firms are using to differentiate themselves and appeal to the new breed of environmentally conscious consumers.
Being careful with money is very trendy at the moment. Many people have changed their way of thinking about money and waste is uncool. So, this new breed is looking out for ways to save money on products and services they buy – many know that waste costs, so you can provide them with less packaging for example which they know costs them less – passing them the savings.
So, how can you use recycling to benefit your marketing effort?
* Try hard to show your customers that you are recycling, and actively asking them to be part of that. There are many footers you can use on email communications, and others for letters.
* When naming products try and use green, eco, blue words, this communicates that your products are geared around helping the environment – and is a massive current trend.
* Use the recycle logo. Where your product can be recycled, make sure you use the recycle logo, as this is a very positive communication -
How can you use recycling to reduce your costs?
* Often, according to leading Waste Management company 707 Limited, recycling is more cost effective than sending rubbish to a landfill site. Due to the increasing costs of sending waste to landfill, and the increasing consious effort of saving every last bit of rubbish from the general waste bin.
* If you ask you sometimes get! Why not link up with your suppliers and convince then to reduce the amount of packaging they send to you. This means you get less waste, and they save money!
* Move instruction booklets into digital formats. There is not much need to include multi-language instructions with products any more
* By using less packaging you can have the positive spin of “We have halved our transport costs” – this technique has been used by a number of supermarkets – using aero trucks with “We use an Aero Truck – saving you money and the environment” – sounds great and everyone wins!
Jonathan Ratcliffe is a promotional Consultant from Top Search Limited. He writes for many magazines on how to increase their promotional efforts using intelligent and cost effective tools.
