Everything You Need To Know About Conscious Marketing

Marketing is an evolving field that changes with changes in consumer needs and purchase behavior, competitors, technological advancement, and business environment. Companies alter their marketing strategies based on these factors. Consumers have become aware of the importance of a sustainable environment and ethical practices in business, in today’s digitized era. Hence, they prefer to buy from companies that contribute to society by supporting a social cause, working towards developing a sustainable environment, and incorporating the well-being of their stakeholders in their practices.  

According to NielsonIQ’s stats, 55% of global respondents will pay more for products and services from companies that work towards creating a positive impact on social and environmental issues. Companies have altered their marketing strategies by implementing conscious marketing to increase their customer base. Conscious marketing is an essential tool that drives consumers’ buying behavior. 

What is Conscious Marketing?

Conscious marketing is a marketing strategy that highlights a company’s effort toward developing and maintaining a sustainable environment and the well-being of society. It encourages consumers to buy a product that improves their health and lifestyle. Unlike conventional marketing strategies that focus on generating high sales and profits, conscious marketing focuses on the product’s or service’s ability to fulfill customer needs and wants and, prioritizing the well-being of its stakeholders (consumers, employees, community, government) and ecosystem simultaneously. Conscious marketing enhances brand reputation and creates long-term relationships which results in brand loyalty. 

Conscious marketing aligns the goals of the company’s mission and value with customer needs and the welfare of society and hence drives the operations to work towards the fulfillment of the company’s mission. The following are the principles of conscious marketing: 

Business Transparency

Ensure that the company tells the truth about the product's specs and features and its environmental and social effects.

Honesty

A company’s product should deliver what they have claimed through their marketing channels. 

Responsibility

Employ environmentally friendly practices so that there is minimal negative impact on the environment and society. Incorporate ethical conduct and social effects in their practices. 

Protection of Consumer Data

The personal information of consumers should not be shared or gathered without their consent. Protect consumers’ personal information against any misuse.  

Difference Between Conscious Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Many people often consider conscious marketing and CSR to be the same thing. However, they are is a difference between the two. CSR works towards sustainability of the environment, invests in social causes, and, improves the company’s overall performance and reputation. Conscious marketing creates an emotional attachment between the company and its customers. CSR supports a conscious marketing approach but the latter is about going beyond sustainability and stakeholders’ well-being. Conscious marketing works towards the well-being of the environment and stakeholders and caters to customer needs profitably. 

Advantages of Conscious Marketing 

In a competitive business environment, the one implementing conscious marketing can reap benefits that are beyond profits and financial profitability. Conscious marketing promotes a company’s ethical conduct and efforts toward the welfare of society and produces goods and services that cater to the needs of consumers simultaneously. Hence consumers are encouraged to pay more for products that incorporate ethical conduct and are environment and consumer-centric. 

Following are the advantages you can gain by incorporating conscious marketing: 

Long-Term Relationships

A company’s conduct and ethical practices immensely impact consumers’ purchase decisions. Consumers today consider the production methods, value given to stakeholders, and experience if any, before making a purchase. If the company ticks all the boxes, then customers are likely to remain loyal to the company. 

Prioritize Customer Needs

Companies need to figure out what their prospective customers expect from them. Then produce goods and services that fulfill their needs in an environmentally friendly way. Moreover, support a cause or cater to social issues that your prospect and existing customers consider important. 

Implement Ethical Conduct

Customers are likely to pay more and encourage other people to buy from a company that works towards creating a peaceful society. Companies that provide safety equipment to their laborers, support physically challenged employees, invest in social causes, and donate money to charities and NGOs are more likely to gain customer trust and retain them in the long run. 

Increase Brand Awareness

Conscious marketing creates word-of-mouth or e-word of mouth (electronic word-of-mouth) through social media and the internet about the company’s practices. Hence, if the company promotes ethical conduct, it gets immense customer and media attention due to the hype and buzz. 

How To Implement Conscious Marketing? 

Before implementing conscious marketing, businesses should first understand their customers’ needs, market dynamics concerning competitors, and ethical practices and social causes target customers are likely to support. Here are some ways to implement conscious marketing. 

Collect Customer Data and Safeguard Them 

The first step towards implementing conscious marketing is to explore the social causes and ethical conduct relevant to your target customers. Establish strict policies about the protection and confidentiality of customer data. 

Use Social Media to Attract Customers’ Attention 

Social media is one of the most powerful communication tools that can attract and persuade the target audience to buy from the brand. Hence, businesses can incorporate Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter to make reels and share stories of their social work. For example, they can share stories and pictures of their visit to an orphanage or an NGO that protects stray animals. 

Choose The Right Time 

Before moving ahead with supporting any social cause, consider the prevailing trends first. For example, if a brand supports the cause of stray animals on Women’s Day, it might not get enough attention.  

Continue To Optimize 

A company should continue to invest in a conscious marketing strategy and track its success through analytics tools and key performance indicators (KPIs). Website and social media page visits, social media engagement, real-time impressions, and purchase intent are KPIs that will assist a brand in figuring out whether the conscious marketing strategy reaped the desired results or not.

Examples Of Conscious Marketing 

Here are some companies that have supported social causes to implement conscious marketing. 

Toms Shoes 

The company introduced a campaign in 2015 called ‘One day without shoes’ to highlight the lack of footwear children in developing countries face daily. The campaign encouraged people to post a picture of their barefoot on Instagram with the hashtag ‘without shoes’, in exchange for one pair of shoes donated. TOMS gained immense brand awareness and long-term customer relationships. 

Faguo 

Faguo is a clothing brand that promotes and implements environmentally-friendly production methods, with less carbon emissions. It plants a tree against each purchase. It also promotes a campaign called ‘Make Friday Green Again’ to depict the negative impact of black Friday sales on the environment. 

Final Takeaway 

Implementing a conscious marketing strategy not only develops long-term customer relationships and brand loyalty, but rather it contributes to society which every company should do in good faith. Moreover, businesses can hire digital marketing companies and brand reputation management agencies to promote and track the results of the social causes supported by them.