Marketers—especially those who rely on direct mail and print marketing to reach audiences—are becoming more conscious of how they affect the environment. What can we do to reduce our ecological footprint? Should we stop sending direct mail postcards and printing marketing collateral altogether? No. We just need to learn about ways to reduce waste and make choices that benefit business and make less of a negative impact on the environment.
Here are a few things you can consider:
- Partner with vendors that use ‘green’ materials and processes and are chain–of–custody certified by the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council).
- Use a micro–targeted approach to marketing: define a specific goal/objective, target audience, location, duration, and response metrics before starting a campaign.
- Ditch the spray–and–pray method of direct mail marketing. Use a targeted list, segment based on specific demographic characteristics, and cleanse your list throughout the duration of your campaign.
- Reduce waste and storage costs by printing marketing materials on demand. Digital printing allows you to print only the quantities you need precisely when you need them.
- Use direct mail and/or print to capture the attention of prospects. Then continue to nurture relationships online via email marketing or through social media.
Some call this awareness and approach ‘green marketing’. Honestly, I think it’s more than just being respectful of our environment and its resources. These are simple steps you can take to market smarter. You not only reduce the negative impact on the environment, but you also get better results from your campaigns.
Learn how QuantumDigital is doing their part to conserve.
Posté par Luis Paez le April 14, 2010 – 5:43 pm
For those of you designing green print pieces or managing print marketing campaigns, the paper that you print on sometimes isn’t at the forefront of your mind – but increasingly it might be on the mind of your readership. According to a recent report, approximately 25% of consumers tell other consumers not to buy products because of a company’s poor environmental practices. As marketers, sometimes we don’t do a good enough job of communicating how environmental we actually are – and with printed campaigns, this starts with paper.
In order to address what some consumers believe is “greenwashing” (the practice of falsely portraying a product as green), every industry from Autos to Retail Food depends on third party organizations to provide credence to a company’s claims of environmental responsibility. Our company achieved chain-of-custody certification from the Forest Stewardship Council to provide some transparency to how we print and use paper. There are alot of aspects to this accreditation, from their website :
The intent of the FSC system is to shift the market to eliminate habitat destruction, water pollution, displacement of indigenous peoples and violence against people and wildlife that often accompanies logging. Just like other forest products, in order to use the FSC logo as an “environmental claim” on paper, the product must have flowed through the FSC “chain-of-custody” from the FSC-certified forest, to a paper manufacturer, merchant, and finally printer who have FSC chain-of-custody certification.
FSC is probably the largest of the independent certifications that one can get with regard to printed paper products. However, there are other organizations like the Sustainable Forestry Initiative with a long list of conservation supporters that endorse timber and paper companies like the one we use. These organizations exist to provide both transparency and a source of information to consumers, so why not help educate by mentioning that chain-of-custody responsibility which passes on to your brand (if you use a provider that is certified).
Besides the marketing benefit of mentioning this in a message – think about what this really means – that we can know we’re doing the right thing to both live in society and manage it sustainably.
From the look of things out there on the wild wild web today, you’d think everyone and everything has gone green (okay maybe it’s not that widespread, but I’m trying to write a relevant & timely post here). It is, of course, St. Patrick’s Day. Here are a few of the “greenified” logos I’ve seen so far:
You know, if this keeps up we might just as well rename St. Patrick’s Day “Green Day”. We could make it a national holiday and hold festivals across the country featuring everything from green vehicles to green tofu (does that seem as disgusting to you as it does to me?). The official music would of course be provided by Green Day. And just to keep it traditional, we could still have shamrocks, leprechauns and the like. So, what kinds of promotions or direct marketing tie-ins are you or your company doing this St. Paddy’s Day? Share with us!
Posté par Eric Welch le February 17, 2009 – 2:37 pm
We’re all looking for ways to cut costs, go green and boost efficiency these days, but the folks over at Design Can Change have really elevated this to an art form with their Green Paper Guide (PDF file… hmm, it’s actually red), Sustainable Design Checklist (PDF file… ooh, this one’s white!), and many other handy dandy downloads that can help you achieve your sustainability goals. But whatever you do, for Mother Nature’s sake don’t print them! Save a tree and view them on your screen… you know, the one with the big carbon footprint from leaving it on standby all night. The one that was made at that toxic chemical-spewing electronics manufacturer overseas. Energy Star® my eye. More like Death Star!
And speaking of outer space…
Once we clean up our act on the ground, we need to figure out what to do about the thousands of pieces of space junk orbiting our planet and stop those mysterious flaming objects from raining down on Austin, Texas. Anyone want to come up with a low-cost, sustainable cleanup operation? Wait, I know! We could build a fleet of space garbage trucks and call it the United Galaxies Sanitation Patrol! Get it?
Aw, come on! Am I the only one who remembers that show?
Posté par Eric Welch le February 3, 2009 – 2:11 pm
When I was young (and my heart was an open book…), I had not one, but two favorite colors; orange and green. As the years passed, I publicly switched my allegiance to blue—dumping orange completely, but always maintaining a secret fondness for green. Sometimes I’ll go for a nice teal as a compromise. Anyway, it got me wondering about how all those green initiatives are faring in the current economic climate. And more to the point, as marketers what should we be doing to lessen our environmental impact while preserving our financial sustainability? Hilary Bromberg, Strategic Director at egg, a brand communications agency located in Seattle, had this to say in her article “Ten Steps to Sustainable Marketing in an Uncertain Economy“:
People who have incorporated sustainability into their identities feel great about touting products in this space – it’s still so difficult to find great “responsible” products and services out there that conscious consumers tend to do a lot of talking within their networks about what they’ve found. And a great find reflects well on a person’s sensibilities and, crucially, their values – unlike purchases in the vast unsustainable space, which merely identify a person as a consumer. So master the digital space – start Twittering, develop a Facebook fan base, keep a transparent two-way conversation going with your core consumers (and cultivate evangelists whenever possible)…
Do yourself a great big favor and read her entire article. I’ll wait… hum da dee doo dum… All done? Good. While you’re at it, check out “Tools for designing green print” by Gail Nickel-Kailing, Managing Director of Business Strategies, Etc. Of course, my personal idea of going green has less to do with print and more to do with domes. Stick-frame homes are sooo last millennia.
