Sustainability in marketing is far from a buzz topic. For some, it forms a core part of their business practices, while for others, it is a moral obligation.
Regardless of how companies perceive sustainability in marketing, one thing remains true: it is a crucial aspect of any business that aims to thrive in the long term.
But what exactly does sustainability in marketing mean? And how can you even know your company’s carbon footprint?
In this Article:
- What is Sustainability in Marketing?
- How to Measure & Assess the Carbon Footprint of a Company
- Why is It Important to Evaluate Your Company’s Carbon Footprint?
- How to Implement Sustainable Marketing in Your Company
- How AI is Affecting Green Marketing
- Conclusion: Thinking More Actively About Sustainability in Marketing
- FAQs
Within our marketing bubble, we often tend to forget that our actions have a wider impact on the environment. And we don’t just mean the materials we use for promotional materials or the resources we consume in our offices.
Our overall business operations, including the creation and delivery of marketing campaigns, have a direct impact on the environment. Sending emails, posting on social media, and attending events all contribute to our company’s carbon footprint.
Let’s delve a little deeper into this topic and look at the ways in which you can gauge the sustainability of your marketing efforts and measure your company’s marketing carbon footprint.
Measure and track your marketing carbon footprint with our online CO2 Counter Tool. We can provide you with a personalised dashboard to accurately measure and track the carbon emissions from your marketing activities.
With this information, you can make informed decisions on how to reduce your environmental impact and implement sustainable practices.
What is Sustainability in Marketing?
In simple terms, sustainability in marketing refers to the practice of incorporating environmentally and socially responsible practices into all aspects of a company’s marketing efforts.
This includes…
- Considering the environmental impact of materials used for promotional materials
- Reducing energy consumption when creating and delivering campaigns
- Promoting sustainable products or services.
It’s certainly not limited to these examples, but they provide a good starting point for understanding where the scope of marketing sustainability lies.
A short email sent and received on your phone can produce 0.2g of CO2 emissions. If you think about how many emails you receive in a day, that number can quickly add up.
Now imagine the impact of thousands or even millions of marketing emails being sent out by a company every day.
When Mike Berners-Lee’s groundbreaking book, “How Bad Are Bananas? – The Carbon Footprint of Everything” was first published in 2009, many of us were seeing the phrase ‘carbon footprint’ for the first time.
Today, we know virtually everything we do in our lives has a measurable carbon impact.
And given that the UK’s CO2 emissions per head are at the higher end of the global scale, UK marketers must consider – alongside personal activities such as home heating and air travel – the environmental impact of their campaigns.
Read More: Why Email & Digital Activity is Not Always the Greener Option
How to Measure & Assess the Carbon Footprint of a Company
There are basically two ways of assessing your marketing campaign’s environmental impact:
- Measure the uplift in overall CO2 caused by advertising, which takes into account the increased number of goods and services we buy, or
- Calculate just the actual carbon released by the campaigns themselves.
The broader measure, called ‘advertised emissions’, is used by Purpose Disruptors, whose mission is to “catalyse the industry’s climate transition to align with the 1.5 degrees IPCC global warming target”.
They concluded that, in 2022, UK marketers were responsible for 208m tonnes of additional CO2.
We respect (but also have some concerns about) this measurement method as it assumes that the impact of advertising is all incremental, whereas in fact a great deal of it may just result in business being transferred from suppliers A to B.
That’s why we recommend calculating the actual carbon emissions of your marketing campaigns using a tool like our CO2 Counter Tool.
Using a CO2 Counter Tool for Accurate Campaign Measurement
A CO2 Counter like ours accurately measures the actual CO2 emitted by your marketing campaigns themselves, evaluating every possible channel, including:
- TV
- Social
- Outdoor
- And direct mail.
Our platform measures the scale of each campaign, the materials it uses, and the impact of both the distribution and consumption of advertising. This produces a smaller, but still extremely important, measure – one that marketers have much more power to control.
You can get access to our carbon emissions tracking tool by contacting us below:
Why is It Important to Evaluate Your Company’s Carbon Footprint?
Measuring and tracking your company’s marketing carbon footprint doesn’t just give you a nice moral high ground. It also has tangible business benefits, including:
- Cost savings: By reducing your carbon emissions, you can save on energy and resources, leading to potential cost savings for your company.
- Customer trust & brand loyalty: Consumers are becoming increasingly conscious of the environmental impact of businesses they support. By implementing sustainable practices and being transparent about your carbon footprint, you can gain the trust and loyalty of environmentally-conscious customers.
- Reputation management: In today’s digital age, any negative publicity related to a company’s environmental impact can quickly spread online. By actively working towards green marketing and reducing your carbon footprint, you can proactively manage your reputation and avoid potential backlash.
- Future-proofing: As governments and consumers push for more sustainable practices, companies that are ahead of the game in terms of environmental responsibility will be better positioned to adapt and thrive in a changing market.
How to Implement Sustainable Marketing in Your Company
So, with all of those benefits in mind, how can you start incorporating sustainable practices into your marketing efforts? This will, of course, vary from business to business, depending on size, industry, and budget. But here are some general recommendations and steps you can take…
Use a CO2 Counter Tool
The first step is to recognise how much CO2 your marketing is causing. If you’re in the planning stages of a campaign, say a spring sale, for example, you can use a CO2 Counter Tool to assess how much CO2 emission it will produce in the end.
You can look at each channel within your campaign, like emails or social media posts, and think about where changes could be made to reduce the overall carbon footprint.
For many businesses, the struggle in promoting sustainability comes from not knowing where changes can be made, and a CO2 Counter Tool solves that problem.
Consider Alternative Campaigns & Strategies
As part of your assessment, consider if there are alternative, more sustainable marketing campaigns that could be just as effective as your current plans but with less environmental impact.
For example, instead of sending out thousands of printed newsletters promoting a sale, could you promote it through email and social media instead? Could you create a more targeted email campaign instead of a blanket marketing approach?
Of course, you need to consider your target audience and what channels would be most effective for reaching them, but it’s worth considering the environmental impact of each option.
Partner with Sustainable Suppliers
Another way to reduce your company’s carbon footprint is by partnering with suppliers who prioritise sustainability.
This could include using eco-friendly materials for printing and packaging, choosing green energy providers, or working with companies with their own sustainable practices.
We collaborated with Net Zero Media, an Australia-based consultancy, to create our CO2 Counter Tool. They have a strong focus on sustainability and are committed to helping companies reduce their carbon footprint.
By choosing sustainable suppliers, you can not only reduce your own impact but also support and promote businesses that are working towards a greener future.
Promote Sustainability in Your Messaging
You don’t have to shout from the rooftops about your sustainability efforts, but incorporating it into your digital marketing messaging can have a positive impact.
You could create a dedicated landing page on your website that details the measures your company is taking to reduce its carbon footprint or include a small blurb in your email signatures.
Dotting a few social media posts here and there that highlight your sustainability messages can also go a long way in promoting your company’s commitment to the environment.
This should also extend to your internal marketing and communications – not just external-facing efforts.
Your employees, colleagues, and stakeholders are all key cogs in the business wheel, and their buy-in and support of sustainable practices can significantly impact your company’s overall carbon footprint.
How AI is Affecting Green Marketing
In the 2020 revised edition of his book,‘How Bad Are Bananas’, Berners-Lee updates all the figures (including from data centres) and introduces areas that are now part of today’s online marketing life, from Twitter (now X) to the Cloud.
With even more marketing technology advances, many fuelled by AI, coming down the track, the question all marketers need to be asking today is: are we ready to accurately measure and offset the environmental impact of all our marketing campaigns?
AI is increasingly being used in marketing to optimise campaigns, personalise content, and analyse consumer data. However, with all this data and automation comes a significant increase in energy consumption and carbon emissions.
Many AI models require large amounts of computing power, which ultimately results in more electricity usage. And with the rise of smart devices and the Internet of Things (IoT), there will be an even greater demand for energy and resources to power these technologies.
However, AI can also be used for the greater good to promote sustainability. For example, it can help companies predict customer behaviour and tailor marketing campaigns accordingly, reducing the overall waste of resources.
It’s a bit of a double-edged sword, but the key is to use AI responsibly and consciously consider its environmental impact when implementing it into your marketing strategies.
Conclusion: Thinking More Actively About Sustainability in Marketing
We’re seeing many more organisations being proactive in their efforts to become more environmentally conscious and sustainable.
If you want to measure your company’s marketing carbon footprint and explore ways to offset it, our CO2 Counter Tool is available for use. You can read more about our carbon counter tool or get in touch to request your personalised report.
FAQs
Jo is a leading expert in the field of marketing measurement, particularly in integrating marketing attribution and econometrics for holistic customer journey mapping and optimised marketing returns. Jo actively promotes best practices in media measurement and sustainable marketing within the wider business community. Jo co-wrote the marketing attribution book ‘The key to proving the true value of marketing’.
