building blocks of sustainable marketing strategies

8/8/2019 Building Blocks of Sustainable Marketing Strategies

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BUILDING BLOCKS OF SUSTAINABLE

MARKETING STRATEGIES

By

S.C. SIVASUNDARAM ANUSHAN, M.B.A, M.Com, M.Phil., 1

Dr. R. NEELAMEGAM, M.Com, PhD.,2

Today, smart businesses with long term growth perspectives realise sustainable

marketing means so much more than just appealing to the "green" consumer sector. They

realise sustainable marketing is integral to the success of business growth, and whole

business models are being re-designed to reflect the value of long term relationships with

people and our planet gained through sustainable marketing practices. This paper

provides guidelines for building a sustainable marketing strategy and the ways of

preparing a brand for a sustainable growth.

Keywords

Positioning, training, and People power.

1Research scholar,

SCSVMV Universi ty, KANCHIPURAM.

& Assistant Professor,

Department of Business Administrat ion,

V.H.N.S.N. College,VIRUDHUNAGAR- 626001.

2

Advisor, & EMERITUS Professor - AICTE,

Department of Management Studies,

Department of Management Studies,

V.H.N.S.N. Col lege,

VIRUDHUNAGAR- 626001.


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1.1. SUSTAINABLE MARKETING

Sustainable marketing essentially means getting better results using less

resources. "sustainable marketing means using strategies and tactics to effectively grow

profits, increase business efficiencies, speed up sales cycles, enhance customer loyalty

and improve employee attraction and retention - while using fewer resources. Sustainable

marketing ensures you meet your business objectives and give your customers what they

really need, with lower costs and less environmental impact. "I wish to share the 7 critical

elements for the development of a successful sustainable marketing framework.

1. Think Long Term

"Sustainability is about taking a long-term perspective of your business". "It

means more than the operational footprint of your business. Sustainable marketing is

about meeting your immediate business objectives - like creating a competitive

advantage, increasing revenue, retaining employees, establishing a 'green' corporate

image - while ensuring your efforts have the staying power to sustain long term results."

Long term relationships will build lasting value for your business, too. Sustainable

marketing involves building genuine, enduring relationships with your staff, suppliers,

customers, community and the environment.

2. Create a Sustainable Brand Position

Know your core values and your key strengths; then translate these into a brand

position that delivers real value to your customers. "By doing this," Ms. Anderson

explains, "you'll develop a brand position that exploits your natural competitive

advantages, that will genuinely appeal to your customers and that has the potential to

strengthen and grow. Using your brand position to guide you in your business decisions

will help you make quicker, wiser choices to support sustainable success."

3. Maintain Your Focus

Concentrate your marketing budget on one or two segments, and craft clear,

targeted messages that appeal to those specific customers. Stay focused on the defined

segments, and consistently repeat your marketing messages. You'll build brand

recognition faster, get a greater response with less expense, and make more of a return on

investment. You can then leverage your profits to broaden your marketing messages and

branch out into other customer segments. "Don't spread yourself too thin",Think about it


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this way: If you had a Rs.100 marketing budget, would you get better results spreading it

out and spending Rs.10 on 10 different customer segments, or staying focused on 2

segments and spending Rs.50 on each? Chances are you'll make a much bigger impact

and a greater return by concentrating on only 2 segments.

4. Actively Engage With Your Target Customers

Communication with existing and potential customers is a two-way activity in

sustainable marketing. When you build genuine relationships with your customers, you

will truly understand their needs, their motives and their desires. You'll be able to give

them what they want, talk to them in their own 'language', build brand rapport and attract

more business. One of the best ways to engage with your target customers is by 'hanging

out where they hang out'. In this digital age, that often means using the social mediums

they use and participating in their online communities. Sustainable Marketing Services is

currently helping some of their customers build brand equity and grow their customer

bases by building online forums and communities that embed huge value for their

customers' target markets. This is a long term, sustainable marketing strategy that uses

minimal resources to attract a large number of targeted customers.

5. Use Technology

As Sustainable Marketing Services is demonstrating with the development of

online communities for its customers, technology can be an effective tool in sustainable

marketing. Technology can be used to build strong relationships, improve collaboration

with suppliers and staff, get to market faster and reduce costs. Sustainable Marketing

Services is currently using technology to transition into being a paperless office, and it is

already reaping the benefits of easier collaboration, getting on the same page faster,

saving time and saving money!

6. Apply Genuine "Green" Certifications and Logos

"Consumers are looking for easy identification marks to give them confidence and

to help them make quick purchase decisions. Consumers want to make decisions that will

help the environment, but they don't always trust independent claims. If your

sustainability efforts are genuine and can be backed up by certifications or logos, use

them to increase consumer confidence and sales."


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7. Include Your Whole Workforce

One of the most effective methods of introducing and maintaining sustainable

marketing is by extending it to include your employees and your suppliers.

Asking your suppliers to complete sustainability checklists, like Walmart has

successfully done, establishes you as a concerned corporate citizen and helps build your

brand credibility. Motivating your employees to become sustainability ambassadors, and

giving them the tools to do so, increases employee satisfaction and retention.

1.2 TOP TIPS - PREPARE YOUR BRAND FOR SUSTAINABLE GROWTH

Having the best name, logo and advertising alongside all of your best efforts wont

compensate for having a weak brand. But, what is a brand and how can you build a

strong one? The tips presented in this article will offer you answers to these burning

questions and summarise the golden rules of powerful branding to help ensure your brand

is prepared for sustainable growth.

1. A strong brand starts with positioning

Your position is where your brand begins. Its the unique space in your customer's

mind that only your offering can fill. You need to determine and stake your position

before you develop the brand that will live there. Positioning is the process of finding an

unfulfilled want or need in your customers mind and then addressing that need with a

distinctive, unique and ideally suited offering. Rules to remember:

Your position must be open

Your position must be based on a unique point of difference, thats believable

and truly attractive to your customer

Your point of difference must be delivered with such consistency that every

experience they have with your brand reminds customers why they chose you and

will ensure their ongoing loyalty

2. A brand is a promise well kept

Brands are promises that your customers can believe in. Its the promise you

make about who you are and the unique benefits your brand will deliver. It needs to be

reinforced every time someone comes in contact with your business whether as a

customer, prospect, investor, employee, supplier, friend etc.Your promise is the pledge

upon which you stake the reputation of your brand. Its the expectation you must live up


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to every time people experience your brand, whether through advertising, promotions,

buying experiences, service encounters etc. A successful brand strategy results in an

accurate reflection of who you are and what you promise to those that come in contact

with your business.

3. Branding happens from the inside out

Your brand is a reflection of what you stand for. It must align perfectly with the

values and purpose of your business. If it doesnt, the identity you present to the world

won't synchronise with the identity residing at the heart of your business and your

customers will sense a lack of credibility, tuning out your marketing efforts as a result.

To arrive at a brand that perfectly reflects the essence of your organisation you should

begin the branding process by writing three essential statements:

Your vision statement

Your mission statement

Your brand statement

4. Consistency builds brands

Once you're clear about what you stand for, you're ready to deliver your product,

promise and brand experience with total consistency. Doing so will put the odds strongly

in your favour to take on and win against brands that shift with the wind, no matter how

visually polished their identities or beautiful their marketing materials.

You need to create a consistent brand that consumers can count on by:

Displaying a consistent look

Projecting a consistent tone

Delivering a consistent level of quality, as demonstrated through consistent

communication and consistent products and services

Be consistently true to the heart of the brand

5. People power brands

Brands are made or broken by human encounters that either advance or erode

your brands promise. Passionate employees and passionate customers in that order

power great brands. By developing clear brand understanding, enthusiasm and

commitment within your business be assured that customer understanding, enthusiasm

and commitment will follow. Great brand names, logos, promises and communication


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programs are essential ingredients for brand success and to attain future sustainable

growth. However, it doesnt end there. You need to develop brand champions.

6. Brands live in your customers minds

When people see or hear your name; they automatically conjure up impressions

and memories that determine what they believe about your business. Their notion may be

the result of firsthand encounters with your product or service, their notions may be based

on communications they've seen or heard i.e. your brochures, promotional materials,

advertisements, displays, signs, news articles, even your logo. Their notions may have

even been formed by listening to second hand recaps of other customers' experiences,

passed on by word-of-mouth or online. Your brand lives in your customers' mind whether

you intentionally put it there or not. Compelling branding is the way of making sure that

the brand image you have is the brand image you want!

7. Brand names unlock brand images

Your brand is a set of memories that are recalled when people see or hear your

name. Choosing the perfect name establishes your brand from the day it's announced and

it grows with your business and your vision as you reach into new market areas, new

geographic regions, and even new product areas.

8. Brand experiences trump brand messages

When it comes to branding, what you say pales in comparison to what you do.

When customers gravitate to one brand over its competitors their decisions are rarely

based on reactions to marketing messages alone. Instead, customers rely on their own

experiences. As we have discussed earlier, they choose and stay with brands that they

believe will keep their promise to them as customers, based on what they have personally

seen and sensed. To create a brand experience capable of moving markets and instilling

loyalty you should convey, reinforce and amplify your brand promise through every

encounter your customers could possibly have with your business.

Being the brand isnt just talk, its the key to branding success.

9. Brands need to start and stay relevant

To win and keep a coveted place in your customers mind; your brand must begin

and continue to be credible, competitive, current and relevant to customers wants, needs

and interests. That means you have to stay tuned to market conditions, consumer


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preferences and cultural trends not just when the brand first establishes itself but on a

regular basis as your brand matures. Markets and businesses change, when they do, the

brands that remain stuck in the past pay a high price in terms of credibility and

competitiveness. You must ensure you keep up with your customers no matter what

influences your businesses.

10. Brands are valuable assets

For most successful businesses in the world, brand is often the most valuable

single asset those businesses own. When companies with great brands are sold, the value

of the brand often accounts for as much as half of the sale price. But brand value also

translates into everyday economic benefit to you as a business. For example you can:

Offer premium pricing structures

Lower the cost of sales and promotions

Gain a much larger market share

Reduce the threat of competition

Offer greater employee satisfaction

Significantly increase recognition by customers, industry leaders, media,

investors and analysts

CONCLUSION

We hope that in sharing these 10 top tips we have given you some helpful

suggestions that will move you in the right direction for preparing a brand for sustainable

growth. A brand is a valuable asset that requires serious attention and consideration and

in so many ways can, when dealt with correctly, make a significant contribution to the

sustainability of your business and its growth.

Reference

1. Armstrong, Gary, and Philip Kotler // Principles of Marketing, 8th ed. Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1999.

2. Barney, Jay. Firm Resources and Sustained Competitive Advantage //Journal of

Management, 1991, No. 17 (1). pp.99-120.

3. Bharadwaj, Sundar G., P. Rajan Varadarajan, and John Fahy. Sustainable

Competitive Advantage in Service Industries: A Conceptual Model and Research

Propositions //Journal of Marketing, 1993. No. 57 (October). pp. 83-99.

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