Green marketing

Introduction:
Green marketing is the recent buzzword ruling the corporate world in the era of Globalization; corporate responsibility is no longer merely responsible about local Labor issues, pollution control, or energy efficiency. The consumers of today are more conscious about protecting the environment they are enlightened consumers and are known as green consumers. The success of the companies practicing green marketing has drawn the attention of the corporate, policy makers and most importantly the consumers. Green marketing is environment friendly sustainable and socially responsible marketing. Broadly green marketing involves developing the good quality products which can meet consumer needs and wants by focusing on the quality, performance, pricing and convenience in an environmental friendly way.

Meaning of green marketing:

Green marketing refers to the process of selling products and/or services based on their environmental benefits. Such a product or service may be environmentally friendly in itself or produced and/or packaged in an environmentally friendly way. The obvious assumption of green marketing is that potential consumers will view a product or service's "greenness" as a benefit and base their buying decision accordingly. The not-soobvious assumption of green marketing is that consumers will be willing to pay more for green products than they would for a less-green comparable alternative product - an assumption that, has not been proven conclusively

Definition
According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Thus green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising. Yet defining green marketing is not a simple task where several meanings intersect and contradict each other; an example of this will be the existence of varying social, environmental and retail definitions attached to this term. Other similar terms used are Environmental Marketing and Ecological Marketing.

Importance of Green Marketing: A major concern on ecological impact of industrial house on environment has been surfaced on marketplace also not only the relation between human, organization and natural environment being redefined, but the implication thereof are being interpreted; because of these, new perceptions are being formed or re-evaluated on issues like environmental friendly products, recycle ability, waste-reduction, the cost associated with pollution and the price value relationship of environmentalism. A direct result can be seen in developed and developing countries where Govt. became more strict in imposing regulations to protect environment; at the same time, the consumers of those countries are being more and more outspoken regarding their needs for environmentally friendly products, even though they have to pay a higher premium for such products. The consumers were determined the fates of a company, green marketing imparts a proactive strategy for companies to cater the market by imparting nature-friendly products and services which otherwise reduce or minimize any detrimental impact on environment. A green- marketing approach the product area which promotes the integration of environmental issues into all aspects of the corporate activities; from strategy formulation, planning, re-engineering in production process and dealing with consumers. To remain competitive with the challenge thrown by the environment protectionists the companies have to find answer through their marketing strategies, product service redesign, customer handling etc. in this endeavor the companies may go for new technologies for handling waste, sewage and air pollution; it can go for product standardization to ensure environmentally safe products; by providing truly natural products. Life cycle reassessment focuses on environmental consideration in product development and design, including energy and material inputs and out-puts in production, consumption and disposal of products.

Steps and process of green marketing:

Following are the steps and process of green marketing:

Be honest:
To rebuild public trust, companies must create the true environmental impact of their products and their attempts and many need to address historical concerns about specific products or operations and another key thing we must do in sustainable marketing is being genuine. This means we must tell the truth about the products. And should not tempt to use sugary words just to impress the customers because a large number of them will confirm what we claim is true. Customers know that there is a direct link between green products and their health as well as their surroundings. So we should ensure that what we claim is true. If we are offering green services, all the facts must be at our fingertips so that we do not contradict the truth with people will want to confirm issues before they can full trust on maters to do with health.

Build better products:

Consumers will not think better of green products until the companies make them equal to or better than, their conventional alternatives. There is no surprise in it most people value performance, reliability, and durability much more than ecological soundness, making the entire business outfit a living example of corporate sustainability. This means the different departments must operate under sustainability concepts so that there will be a harmony in the business. They should Ensure that stake-holders in the business must know our green policy so that they too can adopt. Living green every step of the journey is an indirect form of sustainable marketing.

Educate consumers:
The consumers are largely unaware of green products; business that sells must see itself first as an educator, not a sales machine and must Educate potential clients on the importance of green products. People will not buy something until they discover the

benefits of it. This is very true in green marketing. The biggest mistake can be made in green Business is that assuming everyone knows everything that is, green products are preferable to non-Green because most non-green Products tend to be cheaper, which tempts people to buy them more. Educating the buyers on the long term effects these products have, falling ill and having to spend a lot on treatment; and depleting natural resources also.

Bring products to the people:

Having decided to buy green products, many consumers encounter a problem in finding them because manufacturers dont keep up with there demand or advertise they products because wholesalers and retailers dont stock them or display them prominently. Products that require green marketing can be categorized into two: those are environmentally-friendly and those packaged in environmentally-friendly ways. The Sustainable marketing demands that how we create awareness for different products and the positive impact that it has on the environment. environmentally-friendly packaging is made up of recyclable casings, which can be remake into new products. Alternatively, they could be biodegradable and so are able to regenerate back to the soil.

Effects of green marketing:

1. The firms working in the direction of green Marketing have to encounter a number of problems. First of all the firms must ensure that it moves in the direction which will not create any confusion in the mind of consumers or industry and do not break any of the regulations or laws dealing with environmental-marketing. Companies green marketing claims must* * * Clearly state environmental benefits explain environmental characteristics Explain how benefits are achieved; comparative differences are justified;

* ensure

* ensure negative factors are taken into consideration; * only use meaningful terms and pictures. 2. The firm may face that those companies modify there products due to Increase customers concern must aware about the fact that customers perceptions are some time not correct. For example: when paper pack and jute bag were replaced by the synthetic pack for the sake of saving the trees the result became more environmental fatal.

3. When the firms attempt to become socially responsible, they may face the risk that the Environmentally responsible action of today will be found harmful in near future. For example some companies manufacturing refrigerators, air-conditioning machine have replaced environmentally harmful CFCs (chlorofluorocarbon) with HFCs (hydro fluorocarbon) which in later revealed is also a green-house gas. Some firms now shifted to DME (diethyl ether), which may also harm the ozone layer. So we can see that with the limited scientific knowledge at any point in time, it may be impossible for a firm to be curtained that they have made the correct environmental decision. some firms like cocacola and Walt Disney World (WDW), are working as a socially responsible company without publicizing their endeavor.

4. Reacting to competitive pressure can cause all followers to make the same mistake For Example: Mobil world renounced engine-oil manufacturing company, claims for it biodegradable plastic garbage bags. But the condition under which it become biodegradable is not allowed by natural processes. For this the Mobil was sued by several US states for using misleading advertising claims. Thus blindly following the competitors can have costly ramifications. 5. Though Government has formulated several laws and regulations to give consumers the Opportunity to make better decisions or motivate them to be more environmentally responsible, there is always a difficulty in establishing policy that would cover all environmental issues. 6. The Menace of Green washing: according to oxford dictionary green washing is Defined as disinformation disseminated by an organization so as to present an environmentally responsible public image. The green washing index was announced at the 2007 UN Climate change conference held at Bali, Indonesia with an objective to eradicate bad environmental marketing claims and at the same time shine a positive light on companies making measurable reduction in carbon emissions related to climate change. Experts urged the consumers and the industries to be ever vigilant in preventing green washing. That they believed one of the major factors that led to green washing was the absence of a central agency to certify the green credentials of a firm. This made those companies with questionable green credentials to step forward and call themselves green. 7. Lack of proper knowledge of consumers about environmental issues, some time cause Problem for companies to represent their products in market place as high Percentages of Customers still feel that environmental products do not work as well as 13 conventional One, some time the consumers are well aware about a particular Issue that they are Not willing to pay a premium price for a green product. It appears that consumers are not Overly committed to improve their environment and may be looking to lay too much Responsibility on industries and government.

Conclusion and recommendation:

Green marketing is based on the premise that businesses have a responsibility to Satisfy human needs and desires while preserving the integrity of the natural Environment. That this latter concern has been ignored throughout most of recorded human history does not mean it will be unimportant in the future. Indeed, there are significant indications that environmental issues will grow in importance over the coming years and will require imaginative and innovative redesign and reengineering of existing marketing efforts on the part of many businesses. Solutions to environmental problems can be characterized into roughly three categories: ethical, legal, and business (economic and technological). Long-term sustainability of the planet is likely to require some rather distinct changes in the ethical behavior of its human population. Barring a crisis, these changes will probably be a long time coming. Legislation is a useful tool for effecting social change; it has a tremendous advantage over moral persuasion in terms of speed and efficacy of implementation, although its results are not always as intended. In the short term, business solutionsthe enlightened self-interest of commercial enterprises finding new ways to incorporate technology and carry on exchanges with greater concern for heretofore unpriced environmental goods and servicesoffer particular promise. Green marketing and the promotion of responsible consumption are part of that solution.

Advantage and disadvantage of green marketing

Advantage of green marketing
1. A good green marketing program is one that either adds renewables that would not already be added or supports renewable projects that might not otherwise continue to operate. Green marketing programs must make a difference. 2. A sign of a good green marketing program is one that has strong links to local environmental groups and that achieves broad support among regional and national groups with an interest in promoting renewable power. 3. For green marketing programs to be successful in the long run; they should improve both the environment and should be fair to consumers. Prices should not be excessively higher than the actual cost of the resources in the portfolio. This is particularly true for green pricing programs, which are scrutinized by regulators, and in competitive markets, because in these cases, there is no real competition in the green market.

Disadvantage of green marketing:

1. One of the biggest disadvantages of green marketing is that it requires a lot of recyclable and renewable materials. 2. Green marketing is little more expensive than traditional marketing techniques. Besides, green materials are not always easy to find, and theyre more expensive. And green materials also require a huge investment in technology. 3. Programs that make false claims and do not adequately inform consumers about the nature of their product. 4. Companies Collecting premiums in exchange for vague promises to build renewables in the future. Consumers should not ask to pay for someone else's investment when they get nothing in return, and when no tangible benefit to society results.