The world set aside a day to raise awareness on being greener and helping the environment. Protecting natural resources benefits everyone on the planet. Businesses should promote Earth Day by participating in activities and cheering on other companies’ efforts but they also should strive to reduce their own carbon footprint daily.
How Can Brands Promote Earth Day?
Source: https://www.earthday.org/history
The first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970. By 1990, it went global. Today, one billion people in more than 190 different countries celebrate Earth Day every April 22nd. With so many already involved and other consumers aware of the movement, companies have an opportunity to make a difference while drawing positive press.
Should you participate in Earth Day? Consider some of the top brands tapping into the environmental movement. Their efforts might inspire you to come up with some marketing strategies and efforts of your own.
Starbucks
Starbucks commits to reducing waste and wants to cut their carbon footprint and what they send to landfills by 50% by 2030. For Earth Day, they are launching a new initiative and encouraging customers to bring a clean cup to get 10 cents off per purchase. Customers also earn 25 reward stars.
Wayfair
Last year on April 22nd, Wayfair showcased the many eco-friendly items on their site. The goal was to teach customers how to add environmentally-friendly products to their homes. They also offered deals dedicated to the day.
BMW
On April 22, 2022, BMW released a video titled “The Future Finds Us.” It was the perfect promotional campaign for Earth Day as it showed what BMW imagines for the future with their vehicles and renewable energy.
The above are just a few examples of how brands might promote the day and help their own image at the same time.
Reasons to Promote Earth Day
You could go ahead and focus on spring or Mother’s Day instead of stopping to campaign for another day. Only you know what works best for your audience, but you might be missing out on some key benefits of green promotions if you don’t step up and at least try a few campaigns centering around the environment.
1. Increase Awareness
Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/1006502/global-population-ten-thousand-bc-to-2050
By 2100, the Earth will hold approximately 11 billion people, all of whom the planet must sustain. Your company can do its part to raise awareness and get more people on board with reducing waste and keeping the environment prestine for future generations.
Depending on your target audience, many of your customers may already be familiar with sustainability practices. However, you might also cater to a demographic that doesn’t know much about living green and have a great opportunity to educate them on why you’re passionate about Earth Day.
2. Change Your Operations
Use the day as an opportunity to revamp your operations and become greener. For example, if you use chemicals in some of your processes, assess how environmentally friendly they are. How much waste does your manufacturing or mailing process create? What can you do to improve things?
Investing in sustainability can be challenging. Look for others who’ve already figured out how to reduce their carbon footprint. Ask for input and advice to implement eco-friendly changes to your brand.
3. Connect With an Audience
Promoting Earth Day can help you connect better with your core audience. If many of your users care about creating a more sustainable future, they’ll also want to support brands sincere about making eco-friendly changes.
Think about how you can best connect with local and global users. For example, can you clean up a local park, start an ecosystem reserve or figure out ways to offer cleaner water to local wildlife?
4. Attract Top Employees
The younger generation cares about making a difference. They want to work for a company that stands for something. If you want to attract top employees, you have to show them you are passionate about changing the world and you want to bring them along for the ride.
You can even offer paid volunteer time off so your workers can spend time cleaning up local areas, volunteering for an organization of their choice or taking part in whatever initiatives you’ve started.
5. Encourage Brand Loyalty
Source: https://www.marketingcharts.com/brand-related/csr-228421
Around 73% of consumers say they want companies to improve conditions in their local communities. When you care about the things you customers care about, they’ll take note. Around 53% of people feel companies should do more to help with climate change.
A word of caution here–be authentic. Don’t pretend to care about the planet just so you can greenwash your promotional efforts. People have a tendency to see right through such games and it will give you a negative reputation in the industry.
Some Ideas to Promote Earth Day
If you’re convinced that embracing the day is a crucial part of your philanthropy, there are numerous ways to get involved. Here are some simple ways to celebrate Earth Day and get the word out.
- Collaborate with someone famous. Find a local or national celebrity and team up to shout about the day on social media.
- Clean up your space. One of the best places to start when you want to improve the environment is by cleaning up the area around your office. Pick up litter and plant trees.
- Implement an office recycling system. Start with paper and receptacles in break rooms. Small changes can make a big difference.
- Shop green. When you buy supplies for your office, bring in snacks for employees or hire people, look for companies that have the same eco-friendly philosophy you do.
- Buy second hand. Don’t go all out for brand new furniture when you can revamp used pieces and save the manufacturing process as well as a few bucks.
- Encourage employees to carpool or work remotely. Give them a chance to work from home at least a few days a week. Launch the new initiative on Earth Day 2023.
- Raise money for a green charity. Get everyone in the company involved in a fundraiser on the day and donate to an organization that helps the environment in some way.
Brainstorm with your employees and see what ideas you come up with that help you make an impact on the planet for the better.
Make Earth Day Every Day
Although choosing a holiday devoted to making an impact on the environment is a good time to start a new program or embrace promotions, you should choose to make your company greener consistently. It is only through ongoing efforts of companies to reach zero waste and zero carbon levels that the world will change and future generations feel secure that the earth will sustain us for many millennia.
About the Author: Eleanor Hecks is editor-in-chief at Designerly Magazine. She was the creative director at a digital marketing agency before becoming a full-time freelance designer. Eleanor lives in Philadelphia with her husband and pup, Bear.