Thrust for sustainability in marketing strategy

"It would be in all our interests for some of the creativity that abounds in the marketing industry to be more rigorously applied to the task of combining marketing innovation with social and environmental concern," said Steve Hilton and Giles Gibbons, founders of Good Business, a London-based consulting firm which advises companies on how they can help themselves by helping society. The statement does not claim there is any easy route for marketers to benefit from the challenge of sustainable development. Instead, it underlines the importance of testing the role and relevance of sustainable development in everyday work: how it can help the business address its strategic goals and generate long-term value and what one can do to make this happen.
Companies create a competitive advantage by understanding the shifts in society-from technological innovations such as genetic profiling to the unwinding consequences of events such as 9/11. These trends are the foundation for a marketing strategy, and the emergence of sustainable development as a matter of public and corporate concern is such a change in the marketing environment.
In recent years, hundreds of companies have developed ethical policies or mission statements, and according to the 2004 Global Reporters' survey, over 1,500 businesses have produced reports on their social or environmental performance. These initiatives appear to be grounded in market realities. But is there really an opportunity for marketers to use sustainable development as a lever of brand innovation? Marketers rightly insist that appealing to sustainability values will not overcome a fundamental weakness in product quality. Yet with excellent products, there is evidence that social and environmental aspects can be used to differentiate or create a profitable niche.  
INTEGRATING SUSTAINABILITY VALUES INTO A BRAND: Many marketers argue that integrating sustainability values into a brand can contribute to market growth. As long as performance, price and place are right, the corporate responsibility can become a differentiator, although a significant price premium is not possible. Several high-profile companies have built their corporate brands on the basis of such innovation.
Toyota has used celebrity endorsements to promote the environmental credentials of the Prius, its hybrid fuel car. It has also approved plans to use more distinctive badging on its hybrid Highlander and Lexus models. And niche businesses (increasingly joined by mainstream retailers) supplying fair trade coffee and organic products have targeted consumer concerns regarding working conditions and chemical pollution in the food supply chain, often using eco-labels and social labels to enhance consumer understanding of their products. Yet directly promoting an ethical or environmental position may not always be the best approach to enhancing a brand image.
Companies are increasingly identifying opportunities to position their products and services in the wider context of their social and environmental impact as well as their cost and functionality. Reputations in terms of previous experiences are major variables in doing business. This is the goodwill that an organisation has acquired from its past performance. This is the foundation of future success, based on which a business will be trusted in the years to come. As a result, many marketers are asking themselves how to minimise the risk of criticism from stakeholders, and whether sustainable development has a role to play in these efforts. Perhaps more positively, they are also wondering what part their companies' ambitions and achievements on social and environmental issues can play in building and maintaining trust with consumers, customers and the society as a whole.
EDUCATING CUSTOMERS AND CONSUMERS: Some marketers are also concerned that reputation and trust may not be sufficient to preserve their brands in the longer-term. Current patterns of consumption are not sustainable, and so customers and consumers must be educated in order to protect or secure the resources on which business is based.  
Many people care about social and environmental impacts of business. A survey of Fortune 100's Most Admired Companies, for example, recently showed that the average reputation score for those companies with an expressed commitment to business ethics was around five per cent higher than that for a group without such a commitment. Yet people trust companies when they believe they are acting according to their values.
Credibility comes from the confidence that a business will continue to behave ethically in the future. A business will gain little reputational benefit - and more likely harm - from helping a community if local people see the contribution as a short-term 'bribe' that will be withdrawn as soon as its immediate objective is achieved. Marketers have a critical role in building trust. In particular, they can help to create inspiring communications, which are honestly based on the abilities of the organisation and the resources that it can realistically devote to enhancing its social and environmental performance.
SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION: Sometimes reputation and trust may not be sufficient to safeguard a brand. To succeed, marketers must lead the path towards more sustainable consumption. International policy-makers are paying more and more attention to some of the greatest challenges to the society and the environment. These issues are critical to the long-run success of business. In short, companies cannot operate effectively in societies and economies which fail to protect and support production and consumption of their products and services.
Business needs reliable access to sources of raw material, safe working conditions for production, storage and distribution, thriving consumer markets, and safe mechanisms for disposal of product wastes. There is much that governments must do. But if consumers aren't switching to more sustainable products, then it will also fall to the businesses to break the current patterns of consumption. And it is often the marketer who will be best positioned to create this connection between business and consumers.
Time has witnessed different phases of the marketing strategy these days. Of them, sustainability is the key issue which has emerged over the time. In earlier phase of 1970s, ecological issues emerged as a new paradigm of the marketing strategy. Then in the next decade, social issues came to the fore alongside ecology. Reassessment of the issues resulted in evolution of green or environmental issues and now sustainability has become the focal point of marketing strategy researchers.
Brands play a vital role in developing a sustainable marketing strategy. Brands help consumers to choose. They are a trustworthy source of information and are important in educating and engaging large groups of customers. A community of brand users is a powerful force. Brands influence our attitudes and our preferences. In short, brands have the power to drive a change. However, brand preferences change over time. Some brands become less relevant, especially in a changed perspective. Generally speaking, more sustainable brands are more trusted by consumers.
Retailers also play an important role in making sustainable products available to consumers. Sustainability is high on their agenda and they are interested in creating shared value. Trade marketing still works the same way it always has. Securing a position on the shelf still requires good mutual relations, sharing insights on consumer behaviour and development of promotional activities. The more natural the association between the positioning and the brand promise is, the greater is a chance that sustainability can be successfully linked to the brand and can ensure that the brand remains relevant to consumers. Processes require a different way of working to provide a good way of making wise strategic choices. They require an organisation to be maneuverable and flexible and adapt to changes in the economy, the whims of consumers and the faster introduction of laws and regulations.
SOCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY OF CORPORATIONS: Modern marketing and management attach importance to building relations with customers based on values connected with public interest, interpersonal relationships and trust. Despite observing an increase in understanding the importance of social responsibility in business approach, its place in the corporate model is debatable. Traditional economic reasoning suggests that the wealth maximisation of shareholders, as the owners of firms, should only be considered by managers.
The concept of social accountability of corporations has over the years become a cornerstone questioning the relevance of social responsibility in the business world. The field of social responsibility is not beyond any question. The movement for environmental protection and consumer rights by using all possible means of communication and pressure is becoming uncompromising and the companies and organisations are increasingly open to such demands and proposals.
All managers, whether they like it or not, are responsible for the impact the organisation leaves on the outside world. Therefore, a very important task of the managers is to notice and predict the possible influence of their company on society. They should think about it in a realistic manner. For, it is not about finding answers to the questions as follows: Are we doing well with what we are doing? Is it consistent with the customers' needs and the needs of their society?  
 CONSERVE THE RESOURCES AND CONSUME LESS: The prime role of a marketing strategy is to achieve competitive advantage. Therefore, the marketing strategy is an important component which cannot be overlooked. It needs to consider sustainability while developing a marketing strategy, which means that the company has to adopt the issue of sustainability in strategic marketing practices and marketing mix.
The goal of sustainability in a marketing strategy is to attain competitive advantage through a position that is desirable, different and defensible. But practically, it is not easy to design these kinds of marketing strategies because of the related issues and challenges. In addition to this, according to sustainability principles, there is the need to conserve the resources and consume less, while on the other hand, the principle of marketing is to sell more, which means more production and hence more consumption of resources.
Therefore, the need is to strike a balance between the two. This means that the strategy should be formulated in such a way that profits can still be earned even after having a reduced impact on environment and society. No doubt that the problems and their solutions go hand in hand, because if someone finds a solution to one problem, then the other problem arises. The same is the case with sustainability in marketing strategies. If someone finds a solution to one environmental or social problem which is economically profitable, then a new set of problems also can arise out of that and this cycle goes on and on.
Sustainability in a marketing strategy not only helps in achieving a competitive advantage but also opens the door to cost savings and innovation. It is rightly said that companies cannot stay longer in the market if they do not become truly sustainable. But, there are limited companies, which are trying to adopt sustainability in their marketing strategy. Moreover, they are also having unsustainable products in the market.
Therefore, first of all, the consumer segments which are early adopters and ready to buy sustainable products should be targeted and positioned. In addition to this, the future goal of sustainability in the marketing strategy should be focused on segmentation, targeting and positioning customers on the basis of sustainability criteria for better products and services, better prices, better distribution and better promotion.  
Marketers who have an accurate view of the world in which their brands exist pick up the signs early on. Even marketers who have their antennae a little less tuned to society can still identify consumer trends. No doubt that the concept of sustainability in the marketing strategy has evolved over the time. Starting its journey from ecological issues, it has reached now the stage of dealing with the sustainability issues. The companies are slow in adopting this concept in the marketing strategy. Despite the emergence of the sustainability concept in 1987, companies are still to make the best use of it in their marketing strategies. They have to give importance to sustainability issues as its importance has already been realised. It is a win-win approach on the part of both the company and the customers.
Therefore, companies have to resolve related issues and challenges before adopting the sustainability criteria for marketing. Already companies are influenced by different stakeholders to adopt sustainability in the marketing strategy.
Moreover, it will become a moral obligation in future. Before that, companies should pro-actively adopt sustainability in their marketing strategies. Marketers have to break their traditional frame of reference to integrate sustainability in a marketing strategy. They have to come forward not only to ensure sustainability only in the case of products and services, but also in the case of marketing mix. They have to reconsider their marketing strategies so that they can cover wider environment and reduce the social and environmental impact. It can only happen when companies and their respective stakeholders will realise the importance of integrating sustainability in business practices. It is time for companies to integrate sustainability in their marketing strategy to survive the intense competition in the market.
The writer is a sales professional. ayanrgupta@gmail.com