Globalization is accelerating environmental pollution, making corporate social responsibility a common sustainability issue. Climate change has led to frequent natural disasters, raising the profile of environmental protection. Governments are prioritizing national development, prioritizing a circular economy, clean air, improved water quality, and care for the planet as key priorities. In 2015, the United Nations launched the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a set of 17 guiding principles. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), representing over 90% of global businesses, play a crucial role. Companies are implementing sustainable practices based on international standards, such as product design, energy consumption, and business models. They are also focusing on environmental friendliness, green initiatives, and social responsibility, and are adjusting and formulating appropriate internal policies. This allows the public to observe the practices of companies and enhance their image. Figure 1: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their 17 goals. Traditional sourcing and manufacturing are declining, while environmentally friendly and green products are on the rise. Rising environmental awareness is prompting companies to prioritize social responsibility in procurement, not just cost. Companies are integrating green concepts into marketing strategies to enhance the production of green products, striving to achieve the goal of "environmental protection and economic development complementing and coexisting." When companies promote products with environmental protection as a core value, the closer the characteristics are to the core of the product, the more environmentally friendly the product will be to consumers. Green Marketing: Three Strategies for Planning Green Products. Consumer awareness of environmentally friendly shopping is increasing year by year, and the market is flooded with a wide variety of green products. To attract consumers to these products, companies can consider three key green strategies: Product-wise: Integrate company philosophy into green design, ensuring comprehensive "full lifecycle" planning and certification. Marketing-wise: Use humor to build a green reputation and create effective green advertising with easy-to-understand copy. Promotion: Collaborate with schools to offer environmental education programs, allowing students to understand how companies leverage their expertise to create environmentally friendly products. When designing green products, companies should incorporate brand concepts into their designs, considering the entire process from "birth to rebirth." They should utilize recyclable materials for both the exterior and interior of the product, achieving comprehensive "green design." Furthermore, comprehensive planning should be made for the reuse of recycled products. Green product marketing should move beyond the common perception that the product itself is environmentally friendly. Targeted salespeople should be identified, and sales copy should be humorous and engaging to create a lasting impression. Furthermore, a growing number of consumers now believe that green consumption is rational, fashionable, and high-class behavior, and a key indicator of personal quality, societal cultivation, and social status. Therefore, green marketing can also be high-class, highlighting green lifestyles and products. Green marketing can also be considered a form of societal marketing, whose primary purpose is to promote the overall benefit of society. Traditionally, businesses prioritized the needs of target customers at the expense of social welfare, but now are changing business practices for the sake of social welfare, pursuing a balance between consumer needs, long-term corporate profits, and long-term societal interests. For example, green products promise consumers that when consumers return their used products to the company's own recycling system, the company will provide a percentage of each return to the consumer, thus achieving a balance between corporate profits, consumer demand, and overall social and environmental benefits. Figure 2: The social marketing model concept proposed by marketing guru Philip Kolter. Companies can transform their brand concepts into green products, encourage internal employees to become mentors, and collaborate with schools to teach students about environmental education and green products. Through entertaining and educational courses combined with experiential activities, environmental education can be implemented from an early age, enhancing the company's image as a responsible social enterprise. Five ways to enhance consumer and corporate recognition through green products: Green products incorporate innovative designs and demonstrate environmental compliance, environmental certification from credible and impartial organizations, and commitments to reducing environmental impacts and giving back to society. While sustainability is often emphasized in marketing, it often fails to resonate with consumers. A July 2019 Harvard Business Review article suggested five key approaches to address this through consumer behavior analysis: 1. Leverage social influence: Get people to publicly commit to environmentally friendly behaviors, such as having hotel guests hang a sign on their room door indicating their agreement to reuse towels. Studies have shown this can increase towel reuse by 20%. 2. Cultivate positive habits: Humans are creatures of habit, and habits are triggered by cues found in familiar environments. For example, a 2-3 yuan discount for bringing your own beverage cup can become a habit over time. 3. Leverage the domino effect: Encouraging consumers to develop positive habits is beneficial: Once a sustainable behavior is adopted, it often leads to other positive changes in the future. For example, some companies have designed campaigns to encourage consumers to reduce household food waste. Over time, they've found that consumers are engaging in other positive behaviors, such as energy conservation and purchasing LED lightbulbs, which encourages people to wear warmer clothing and, in turn, lower the heating temperature. Fourth, appeal to the heart or the head: A rational appeal. For example, some companies offer natural-based products and use product descriptions that indicate that any surplus from purchases will be contributed back to the care and restoration of rainforests. This campaign must engender a sense of self-efficacy. Fifth, choose experience over ownership: The sharing economy has been a successful model in recent years. Companies don't develop new products, but rather make existing products and services more accessible and less environmentally impactful, as seen in Airbnb and Uber, which encourage sustainable consumption by building sustainability. By adapting these approaches, the sustainability of green products resonates with consumers. In the future, when selling green products, companies must not only apply established marketing principles but also connect consumers to the brand's purpose, thereby increasing sales, brand recognition, and brand value. References 1. Figure 1: United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and their 17 goals https://www.un-page.org/page-and-sustainable-development-goals 2. Figure 2: Social Marketing Model https://www.ftis.org.tw/cpe/download/she/issue16/subject16-2.htm 3. Harvard Business Review (July 2019) (Katherine White, David J. Hardisty, Rishad Habib) / Don't Let Green Consumption Be Popular, Not Commercial: Five Ways to Change the Fate of Sustainable Products https://www.hbrtaiwan.com/article_content_AR0008971.html
