Sustainable/Green Marketing Builds On Marketing to Women
Perhaps I’ve not been clear enough lately. Just as marketing to women really should not have been some hugely new concept when it started getting noticed a decade ago, so too should marketing to the sustainable consumer NOT be considered a whole new, hard to learn, concept. In both cases, the segment in focus – “women” or the “sustainable consumer” – mainly re-shape the conversation around what marketers have long pursued: reaching the marketplace’s core consumer most effectively.
My work is in identifying, studying – and sharing with you – NOT how things are so hip and new and excitingly (overwhelmingly?) different, but how various cultural trends, technologies and business developments are building on one another. In business, it is rarely, if ever, “out with the old and in with the new.” In this case, reaching the sustainable consumer builds nicely on top of the existing marketing to women framework, which built very nicely on top of existing excellent marketing research and strategies.
As I’ve noted in many previous posts, if you’ve been studying up on marketing to women over the past few years, you score! That market, and the more and more men who think like them now, actually has become a reflection of the emerging sustainably-minded market. And, that’s why you’ve seen my recent posts here and on HuffingtonPost, along with my VPR commentaries, start to lean so… well, green.
I could go on and on, but will stop (and just write more blog posts about it later). Co-authoring Don’t Think Pink (2004) was my launching pad for taking a deeper look at women, in particular. But, within the past few years, I’ve realized that what influences consumer purchases was never really about gender differences, per se. What influences consumer purchases IS ABOUT how women tend to think and the values they tend to hold – but men may well share in some of those. The idea is that “women’s ways” give us great clues into what drives the broader consumer market. And, now, “women’s ways” give us incredible insight into what is driving the sustainable consumer market.
Over the past decade, the extensive field of “marketing to women” experts and authors has been incredibly helpful in framing marketing in new and powerful ways. Today, “sustainable marketing” – or, frankly, the sustainable business model overall – overlays that excellent foundation of knowledge. It is really important to get sustainability, and the communication thereof, right – because in early 2010, the early mover advantage is still possible in a lot of industries.
Whew. I’m writing diatribes lately, but I really, really want you to hear what I’m saying! No longer are we marketing specifically to men, or women, or so-called green consumers. Rather we are identifying that which is important to a lot of human beings today, auditing our brands and taking new steps toward integrated sustainable business practices.
***
*Thanks to Rich Nadworny for putting the fire under me to write this post. And, if your company or industry is at a “what do we do now and why” standstill on sustainability, let me at ‘em (via speaking or content)!
