Marketing "Green" to Consumers

The sustainable marketplace is growing exponentially each year but a large proportion of consumers still do not believe in the value of going green. Issues such as higher prices and long-term return of investment dissuade mainstream consumers from becoming “green”. In order to convey the value of a green product or service, marketers must exhibit both the direct and indirect impact of purchasing a green product. For example, organic foods are becoming more and more popular due to consumers understanding of the health and environmental benefits. The key to successfully marketing a green product is to educate the consumer so they may understand their the impact of buying a green product versus a traditional product. Whole Foods is a great example of this strategy. Educational displays are placed beside their products, to provide customers an understanding of why their price is higher and the direct and indirect benefits. As a result, Whole Foods has been highly successful. The focus for marketing green in the future is to engage customers to use their dollars in positive change beyond their immediate and local context.

Carrotmob

Check out this video to see how people can help a local business be more green.

charleston carrotmob represent. from Justin Nathanson on Vimeo.

Green Consumers?

One of the several books on my shelf that I have yet to read, but have skimmed several times is The Sustainability Advantage, by Bob Willard (printed on 100% post consumer recycled paper by New Society Publishers). I don't know if it's a book I'd recommend (I'll eventually be making book recommendations when I get around to reading more), but there are some interesting bits in the book I've picked out via skimming. The first one has to do with a classic 2x2 (business academics love these) dividing up the green consumer behavior market. Of course it's not his original idea, it came from the Sustainable Enterprise Academy at York University, but it's interesting none-the-less. Basically it divides green consumers along their willingness to pay and their activism and breaks down as follows:

• Green Consumers - high activism and high willingness to pay
• Green Activists - high activism and low willingness to pay
• Latent Greens - low activism, high willingness to pay
• Inactive - low activism and low willingness to pay

The numbers assigned to each group would be out of date by now (from Fall 2000) so no point in reporting, but it's interesting to note that nearly 2/3 were in the High Willingness to Pay categories. This goes along with many other reports showing consumers' willingness and interest in "buying green."

So my questions to you are: Is this a reasonable way to look at the market? How do you and your business look at the market? Do you target any of these groups and what success have you had?

By the way, this is the first of what will be specific business strategy-oriented posts meant to help green businesses in Charleston grow (one of my dream list items below). I'll try to do these about once a week. If any of these topics end up being really "hot", I'll try to set up something at a future networking event to delve deeper into the discussion.