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For all the energy dedicated to the growth of the green consumer market, there's an enormous bias, both overt and unexpressed, against sustainable/responsible products.
People are predisposed to see greener as being more expensive and less effective. And in my mind, some of it is justified, with companies that lean too hard on the crutch of green, neglecting quality, durability and efficacy.
Though LOHAS evangelists would have you think otherwise (and I would like to think otherwise), there is still not a majority percentage of the population that actively, regularly chooses green in their purchases. At least, not without external motivation. They may have the expressed desire and passion (see: every study ever published on the habits of green consumers., but how do you turn that passion into action?
Definitely not by guilt. The surest path to resistance is to attempt to shame people into action. This is literally not sustainable marketing.
People also have a fear of separating from the flock, being dragged into knowing about and having to pay attention to issues they don't fully understand and more importantly do not directly impact their lives. At the risk of sounding overly cynical, dying polar bears and honeybees, though massively important, is not a way to get the average consumer's business.
Brand loyalty also cannot be dismissed, as the familiarity of a product can have a calcifying effect on people's ability and willingness to consider other options.
So what can you do as a green company to effectively compete with the other, often much larger and less-green competitors? Without the burden of the extra steps necessary to create a product sustainably and responsibly, traditional manufacturers are free to produce on a mass scale, freeing a much larger portion of their budget to dedicate to marketing.
It's simple, but perhaps not so simply done. Forget about green for a minute and focus on quality and/or price. Preferably both.
That's basic advice, but it's not always intuitive to those in the green space -- who rightfully view their unique market differentiation as sustainability. And depending on what you make, price parity is a potentially difficult proposition. But in order to even be on the radar of a large percentage of the population, it's an absolute must.
Thanks for a great post. I
Thanks for a great post. I think your point about interacting with potential customers directly is spot on. In addition to price and quality, people want to interact with the brands they like. Companies have an amazing opportunity to leverage blogs and social media as an affordable way to create relationships. Keeping with your example of Method, they do a really good job using content marketing tools like a blog, social media, contests and the "who's against dirty" community to keep it real with customers.
Couldn't agree with you more,
Couldn't agree with you more, Albe. The need to focus on the primary reasons why consumers buy products in the first place is so important I wrote a book on the topic — The New Rules of Green Marketing. Although polar bears and daisies may appeal to deep green consumers more apt to be motivated by altruism, today's more mainstream consumers require a balanced approach between meeting their primary needs coupled with the environmental reassurance that is now very much part of their purchase decision, albeit a secondary one and for logical reasons (consumers buy products to meet needs not to "save the planet".)
Your choice of Method is an excellent one. As I point out in the book (and they do a fine job of pointing out in their own new book, The Method Method), key to their success is providing efficacious products that are pleasant, even fun to use while making sure that the products are as safe as possible for people and planet. Exciting to hear about your new alliance with them!
Thanks, Jacquie. Your book
Thanks, Jacquie. Your book sounds very interesting and I look forward to reading it! I agree fully with your ideas, for the vast majority of consumers it all comes down to efficacy and prices. Everything else is tertiary at best. This is especially true (and I had hoped to touch on this in the post but it was getting a touch long-winded) in tough economic times, which appear to be here to stay for at least the foreseeable future. If a consumer is worried about paying the mortgage, car payments etc there is no way they will be willing to pay a premium for a more responsible product.