5 principles of enlightened marketing
In new-age society, where we are encouraged to question, praise or expose individuals and establishments, it seems at times that we are under constant scrutiny.
As individuals, we're more aware, better educated and equipped to understand the implications of our behaviours (hopefully). We hold ourselves and those around us, accountable for our choices and actions now more than ever before. We expect our friends, families and businesses not only to act based on self-interest but to actively participate in positive social change.
We are a generation of entrepreneurs, professionals and business owners, under a microscope, cautious to maintain a healthy balance between being authentic, innovative, environmentally friendly, and profitable.
So how can we operate a conscious business and still be true to ourselves?
It comes down to your business purpose and mission! Without the foundation laid out, it's easy for companies to overlook the negative effects of a small decision here and there and the accumulated impact it might have on the long-term business plan. How a business approaches a marketing campaign, for example, can speak volumes on the company's conscious decision to be a socially responsible brand or not.
What is Socially Responsible Marketing?
Social responsibility is when a conscious business pursues growth and profitability while positively impacting its community, whether it's locally, nationally or globally.
Socially responsible marketing prioritizes the target audience's needs and concerns while practising a more ethical and conscious approach. Socially responsible marketing includes several functions. These practices cover social marketing, cause marketing, environmental or green marketing and enlightened marketing, to name a few.
Enlightened marketing addresses some of the criticisms that traditional marketing receives regarding its negative impacts on our society and consumer behaviour.
When a conscious business pursues profitability while positively impacting its community.
In this blog post, we will focus on the five principles of enlightened marketing.
The philosophy behind enlightened marketing explains that a company's marketing strategies should be customer-oriented, innovative, value building, create a sense of mission and have positive societal benefits.
Let's take a closer look at these principles:
1 - Customer Oriented Marketing is when a company organizes its marketing activities from the customer's point of view. The goal is to deliver superior value to carefully chosen customers and build lasting and profitable relationships.
Example: Walsh Integrated was founded after David Walsh, realized the huge waste management problem the hospitals were facing during a 12-week waste audit at Montreal's Royal Victoria Hospital. Disposing biohazard waste costs significantly higher than regular waste, yet over 65 percent of the material in biohazard containers could be disposed of in the regular waste stream.
Walsh's developed a system that would allow hospital staff to track the waste from each department, identify how much of it is biohazardous and which department is misusing the system.
Today Walsh Integrated has expanded its services to include a system that helps monitor room cleanliness and caters to industries, such as hospitality, education, as well as healthcare.
2 - Innovative Marketing requires the company to seek product improvement and innovation continuously. A company that overlooks better ways to conduct business will eventually lose customers to a competitor with better solutions.
Example: Colgate-Palmolive currently holds the number one market share position worldwide - at 41 percent - for its toothpaste brand, Colgate. The company has received the New Product Marketer Award from the American Marketing Association, and in 2018 they were awarded "best in show" category for The Colgate Smart Toothbrush E1 campaign, which showcases the importance of connected devices in brand loyalty.
Colgate has held free dental clinics at Toronto's Union Station during rush hour in their past creative marketing campaigns, offering advice from George Brown dental hygienist students. The commuters were offered product coupons and received a Colgate toothpaste sample in exchange for donations to the United Way.
3 - Value Marketing believes in investing its resources into value-building marketing initiatives. The goal is to improve the products' quality, features or convenience. Value marketing calls for building long-term customer loyalty by continually improving customer value with their marketing offers.
Example: Canva is a graphic design tool that allows anyone to easily design beautiful creatives and at a minimal cost. The company launched in 2012 in Sydney, Australia. Originally Canva was a tool to create social media graphics, presentations, and posters. Over time they have introduced new tools and functionalities to the platform. These improvements have continually brought value to users. You can now order your designs to be printed and shipped directly from Canva.
4 - Sense of Mission Marketing is when a company defines its mission in broad social terms rather than product terms. When a company establishes a social mission, employees feel better about their work and have a more defined sense of direction.
Example: Mountain Equipment Co-Op sells high-quality outdoor gear. Their mission is "We inspire and enable everyone to lead active outdoor lifestyles." they go on and explain, "We want MEC and our members to set examples that inspire other organizations and individuals towards environmental, social, and economic sustainability. In short, we want to leave the world better than we found it."
5 - Societal Marketing is where an enlightened company makes marketing decisions by considering market wants and needs, the company's requirements, and society's long-term interests. The company is aware that neglecting long-term societal interests is a disservice to consumers and the community. Thus, this drives organizations to make a remarkable contribution to society's well-being and improvements.
Examples: Bullfrog Power is a Canadian green energy retailer. Bullfrog offers green electricity from renewable energy sources, such as wind power and water sources. They offer green natural gas from organic waste from Canadian landfills or water-waste treatment plants. Bullfrog does not provide green power directly to consumers', instead they make sure green energy sources are put into the grid on behalf of their consumers to offset the consumer’s electricity, natural gas and fuel consumption.
They offer various packages for residential homes, commercial buildings, transportation, devices - such as computers or appliances - and events. Bulldog Power is currently serving over 10,000 homes and 1,200 businesses. It has helped put over 4.7 million MWh of green power into the grid and 10.7 million GWh of natural gas injected into the pipelines. Their mission is to inspire and empower people to lead the way to a renewably powered future.
Practising the principles of enlightened marketing will allow a company to focus on profit and purpose. It is possible and highly encouraged for a conscious business to focus on its growth and profitability while creating a positive impact on its community.
In your opinion, what other companies embody socially responsible marketing?
And which of these five principles suits your business model?