by Katie Leed
In this article, you will learn:
1) That Green Marketing is of genuine importance to your customer;
2) Ten steps you can take to become a more environmentally-friendly direct marketer.
Make no mistake about it, the environment is hot. Even fashion magazines such as Glamour and Vanity Fair have jumped on the band wagon providing tips to go green, and claiming “Green is the new Black” In a Study conducted by BBMG, a branding and integrated marketing agency, 87% of Consumers polled said they would prefer to buy from environmentally friendly companies.
If you're a direct marketer, what steps can you take to be more environmentally friendly? “Being environmentally friendly does not mean putting a stop to the use of natural resources," says Rob Young in Direct Mail and the Environment: It’s all about the Choice. "Environmentalism is about reducing our impact on the environment as much as possible by utilizing and reutilizing our resources more wisely.”
As environmental issues become more and more important to consumers, we as direct marketers must look for new and exciting ways to reduce our impact on the environment.
Here are 10 steps you can take to become a more environmentally friendly company.
1. Start a green initiative and get consumers involved. The credit card division of Citigroup recently launched a plant–a-tree program; planting a tree for every consumer that signed-up to receive electronic statements. After much success Citigroup has decided to launch the program in multiple divisions of the company.
2. Clean lists prior to mailing. Merge/purge data, maintain suppression lists and take advantage of list hygiene tools. A ‘clean’ list means less returned or undeliverable mail, less wasted paper and a higher response rate -- a win for the environment and the bottom line.
3. Decrease the amount of undeliverable/wasted mail by taking advantage of list hygiene tools. The USPS reports, “Over 41 million residential change of addresses are filed each year. In 2004, there were 1.3 billion mail pieces with incorrect primary numbers.” These changes of addresses can be overcome by understanding the importance of clean data. Various data houses and print vendors offer list hygiene tools; including National Change of Address (NCOA), delivery point validation, and CASS certification- assigning a zip +4.5 The costs of these tools and processes are overcome by the production savings.
4. Apply predictive models to identity customers and eliminate unresponsive consumers. Removing unresponsive consumers reduces waste and cost while increasing response rate.
5. Design your direct mail piece to reduce waste. Be creative; try new package designs, reduce the size of your package and print on both sides of the paper.
6. Respect Forest ecosystems by working with paper suppliers that purchase paper from recognized forest certification programs. Forest certification encourages the responsible management of the world’s forests by ensuring that forestry is practiced in an environmentally friendly way. “Forest Certification is designed to send a market signal to buyers that the products they purchase are from forests managed to particular environmental and social standards.”
7. Print on recycled paper and utilize biodegradable windows in envelopes. While this option may increase cost, it will create a positive customer affinity with the brand. In a study conducted by Pitney Bowes, “Sixty-eight percent of respondents said they would have a higher opinion of direct mailers if they used recycled paper and cardboard products.”
8. Look for vendors that share your environmental principals and offer more efficient production methods to reduce waste. Many companies are now offering electronic project management. This eliminates on press runs; saving time, paper and energy.
9. Produce mailers near the mail destination to reduce fuel consumption and cost to you.
10. Educate consumers about environmental issues and promote your company’s initiatives. Provide a recycling fact section in your monthly newsletter. Add the DMA “Recycle Please” logo to your direct mail pieces.
Being environmentally friendly does not require an overhaul of all marketing efforts, simple changes can help reduce our impact on the environment. Be creative when thinking about how you can go green.
Katie Leed works in Account Management at BKV, a direct response and interactive agency.
© 2008 The 60 Second Marketer
