Green+Marketing

**__Green Marketing__**

__What is green marketing?__

The term green marketing became popular in the late 1980's and early 1990's. According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe. Green marketing can also be referred to as eco-marketing, ecological marketing or environmental marketing. There is some confusion over the term green marketing. Many people believe that it refers solely to the promotion or advertising of products with environmental characteristics such as "organic," "environmentally friendly," or "recyclable." Although these terms are widely used be 'green' companies, green marketing is a much broader concept. It incorporates a large range of activities including, product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes and modifying to the advertising. It can be applied to consumer goods, industrial goods and some services.

Green marketing is a huge thing now a days. It is estimated that approximately $209 million dollars has been spent on green marketing. While green marketing is growing rapidly as more consumers are willing to back their environmental consciousness with their dollars, it can be dangerous. The obvious assumption is that potential buyers will see the product or service's "greenness" as a benefit and base their decision on this. The not-so-obvious assumption is that consumers will be willing to pay more for a green product than they would for a comparable less green product. People tend to be sleptical of green claims to start with and companies can damage their brands and sales if a green claim is proven to be false. Saying a product or service is green when it actually isn't, is referred to as "greenwashing."

__3 Keys to Successful Green Marketing__ For green marketing to be effective, companies must do 3 things; be genuine, educate the customer, and give them the opportunity to participate. 1. Be genuine- means that you are actually doing what you claim to be doing in your green marketing campaign. 2. Educate the cusomter- isn't just letting the customer know what you're doing to help the environmental but letting them know why it matters to you 3. Giving the customer the opportunity to participate- letting the cusomter take part in positive environmental action.

__ More companies are using green marketing. Why? __ - they believe they have a moral obligation to be more socially responsible - because competitors are using green marketing more and more - government regulation are forcing them to become more environmentally responsible - they believe it is an opportunity that can be used to meet their corporate image

__What makes a product green?__ - products made from recycled goods - products that can be recycled or reused - products that save water, energy, fuel, and reduce environmental impact - products with environmentally responsible packaging - organic products - services that rent or loan products. (car sharing)

__ Examples of Green Marketing __ **Toyoto Prius-** It is likely the most successful green product in the world today. It provides customers with fuel efficiency and a hybrid engine. media type="youtube" key="Tq4nrmnqY9o" height="309" width="416" align="center"
 * Tide Coldwater-** Procter & Gamble found that by using hot water to wash clothes, 80 to 85 percent extra energy is being used.

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References Clow, Kenneth E., and Donald Baack.(2010)." //Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications" //, Fourth Edition, Prentice Hall Upper Saddle River.  [| http://www.bnet.com/2410-13237_23-168370.html]