Green Marketing Can Cost Less
When marketers think “green,” they often think “more expensive.” Because green products tend to be niche products, they are produced in lower volumes and tend to cost more. It’s a common thought that only people who are seriously committed to environmental responsibility will pay more for it. But, when it comes to print marketing, the opposite can be true. Green print marketing can easily cost less. Why? Because green print marketing means marketing smarter.
Instead of mailing to everyone in your database, for example, you might select and target the top 25% of your customers. Or, instead of sending everyone the same 72-page catalog, you might create personalized four-page brochures that contain only information relevant to each person.
By taking this approach, you actually increase the effectiveness of your marketing while decreasing your carbon footprint.
Here are a few suggestions for “greening” your print marketing while decreasing your financial investment:
- Mail to a smaller, more targeted portion of your database each time.
- Eliminate unnecessary pages by personalizing communications with only the most relevant information.
- Cleanse and update your database on a regular basis so you are not printing and mailing to “undeliverable” addresses.
- Create a smart mix of media matched to the needs and preferences of your customer base. Don’t send a printed piece if your customers are more likely to respond to e-mail.
- Print on recycled paper. While recycled paper used to cost more than virgin, this is no longer true. Many recycled stocks are now competitive, if not lower in cost, than recycled paper. Plus, recycled paper uses significantly less energy to produce, reducing its negative environmental impact.
It’s not often you find a marketing strategy that provides you both bottom-line and environmental benefits. Done right, green marketing is one of them.