Sustainable marketing is a form of conscious marketing that promotes brand values and products that are environmentally friendly. When done right, not only can it help the planet, but it can also boost your brand reputation and gain customer trust.

Looking to implement more sustainable marketing strategies? Learn more about what it is and how to create your own sustainable campaigns. Get started today with Adobe Express.

What is sustainable marketing?

Sustainable marketing, also known as ‘green marketing’, focuses on promoting products, services or initiatives with environmental, social and ethical responsibility in mind.

The key elements involved in sustainable marketing include:

• Transparency. Openly sharing sustainability goals, progress and challenges with your audience.
• Eco-friendly messaging. Incorporating messages to promote sustainability in marketing campaigns. For example, encouraging customers to making conscious buying decisions.
• Ethical sourcing. Sourcing products or goods that are responsibly produced.
• Community engagement. Getting involved with the local community to help foster loyalty and drive sustainability.

So, how does sustainable marketing differ from conventional marketing? Conventional marketing primarily focuses on generating immediate sales and profit, while sustainable marketing focuses on creating long-term environmental, social and ethical value.

UK customers also increasingly favour brands that practice sustainable marketing. In fact, according to a 2023 Sustainable Consumer Report from Deloitte, one in three consumers stopped buying certain brands and products because of sustainability concerns.

4 sustainable marketing strategies.

Ready to promote eco-friendly practices? Here are four suitable marketing strategies you can deploy:

1. Eco-friendly initiatives.

You might want to start by introducing eco-friendly initiatives and communicating these to customers. For example, you could introduce reusable packaging and create a campaign around your aim to reduce the environmental impact of single-use plastic. You could even set yourself a goal to become plastic free by a certain date.

2. Social responsibility campaigns.

There are various steps you can take to inspire positive social and environmental change. For example, you could participate in fairtrade, campaign to improve labour policies or help support your local community. Other ideas include pledging to reduce your carbon footprint or focusing on your diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

3. Educational content.

Education is key to driving a sustainable future. Use your platform to create campaigns that educate people about the importance of looking after the environment. You could create blog posts centred around practical tips for reducing waste, how-to guides and infographics showing the process of recycling your product packaging, or host a podcast with environmental advocates.

4. Authentic storytelling.

You could also create campaigns that focus on authentic storytelling. For example, you could share your sustainability journey with customers, focusing on your current suitability initiatives and your future visions and goals. Sharing these stories can help to promote more transparent communication for your brand and foster greater trust among customers.

3 inspiring sustainable marketing examples.

Looking for more inspiration? We’ve rounded up three inspiring real-life sustainable marketing examples.

1. ‘I came by train’ – Trainline.

The ‘I came by train’ campaign from Trainline is a collective movement that aims to fight climate change. The idea is to encourage people to make one simple change that can make a big difference, take the train instead of a car or plane.

The goal is to encourage 30% more people to take the train in the next ten years to hit their net zero goals. This is important as travelling by train instead of plane creates seven times less CO₂, while taking the train creates 67% less CO₂ than driving.

So far, Trainline have pledged to get over 33,500 people on board.

2. Campaign for Real Beauty – Dove.

In 2004, Dove launched its ‘Campaign for Real Beauty’ in response to a global study that revealed that only two percent of women around the world would describe themselves as beautiful. The central idea around the Dove campaign was to advocate that women’s differences should be celebrated and people should feel confident about their physical appearance.

These messages were reinforced through a range of channels, from TV ads to magazines and the internet. For example, Dove challenged traditional beauty stereotypes by featuring ‘real women’ in their campaigns who didn’t fit stereotypical beauty norms.

The campaign was considered a huge success because it initiated a world-wide conversation to broaden the definition of beauty.

3. Don’t buy this Jacket – Patagonia.

The American retailer Patagonia ran a campaign on Black Friday in 2011 with a simple message to customers – ‘Don’t buy this jacket’. The message was intended to encourage people to think about the environmental effects of consumerism before making purchases.

This aligned with their Common Threads Initiative to reduce their environmental footprint by encouraging businesses to produce fewer products and instead focus on higher quality items. It was all about encouraging customers to think before they buy.

Overall, the campaign was a success as it helped the brand foster a strong community of followers who appreciate their values and products. It also inspired people to change their buying behaviours and make more thoughtful purchases.

How to create your own sustainable marketing campaign.

Ready to create your own sustainable marketing campaign? Get started with our top tips below:

• Identify your sustainability goals. What are your environmental, social or ethical goals? Are you aiming to roll out sustainable packaging, go paperless within the next year, or support more social causes?
• Choose a strategy. How do you aim to achieve your goals? Will this be through eco-friendly initiatives like cutting single-use plastic and recycling? Or perhaps you aim to use your platform to create educational content and raise awareness of important issues.
• Create compelling content. Make use of tools from Adobe Express to pull together compelling visuals and messaging to support your campaign. Create eye-catching Instagram posts, engaging TikTok videos, promotional posters and much more.
• Launch and measure your impact. Once you’ve successfully launched your campaign, don’t forget to check in to see the results. Important metrics to track include social engagement, brand perception and environmental outcomes.

How can Adobe Express help you implement your sustainable marketing strategy?

With Adobe Express, it’s easy to design sustainable marketing campaigns that inspire action. Easy-to-use tools and templates make it simple to create impactful, eco-conscious content while saving time and resources.

1. Create marketing assets at speed.

Quickly pull together a range of marketing assets, including flyers, YouTube banners, adverts and more with Adobe Express. Explore a collection of marketing assets, then choose your favourite template and customise to make the design your own.

2. Maintain your brand voice and values across all channels.

Retain your brand identity across every touch point with the Adobe Express brand kit tool. Use assets, guidelines and resources to ensure your business looks, feels and sounds consistent across your website, socials and print materials.

3. Educate through engaging content.

Pull together engaging content to educate your audience on important topics. Fast-track blog page designs with the Adobe Express blog creator tool, or make custom infographics to present your findings in a visually engaging way.

4. Schedule your campaign content.

Easily plan your campaign content with the Adobe Express free content scheduler. Draft your creative ideas, preview your content before it goes live, then schedule your content to automatically post to your socials at the perfect time.

Use AI to design campaign templates faster with Adobe Express.

Instantly generate custom design templates tailored to your brand and sustainability goals with the Adobe Express AI template generator. Just sign into your Adobe account or create one for free. Then enter a few prompts into the tool like ‘recycling campaign poster’ or ‘eco-friendly green post’ and watch as the AI tool generates your template in moments. Customise your template even further by adding in your own branding, campaign messages and more. Then download and share anywhere you like. This can help reduce design time so you can focus on creating stand-out, impactful sustainable marketing strategies that make a difference.

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Good to know.

What are the 5 principles of sustainable marketing?

The five principles of sustainable marketing are:

• Customer oriented – meeting customers’ needs and ensuring responsible products.
• Innovative – encouraging products that minimise environmental impact.
• Socially responsible – promoting ethical sourcing, supply chains and fair labour.
• Value-based – making sure your efforts align with company values.
• Sustainable at every stage – considering the entire product life cycle.

What is an example of a sustainable marketing plan?

An example of a sustainable marketing plan could be to encourage customers to recycle products. You could do this through a range of marketing strategies, such as offering customers discounts for bringing in reusable items or educating them on the environmental impact of non-recycled waste and plastics.

Why is sustainable marketing important?

Sustainable marketing is important as it helps brands rethink their environmental impact. It also helps to advocate for more eco-friendly, socially responsible and ethical practices while fostering deeper connections with conscious customers who share similar values. This can help boost your brand reputation and differentiate you from competitors.

Is Adobe Express free?

Yes, our free plan offers many core features including thousands of templates, photo editing and effects, animation, and 5 GB of storage. See our pricing page for details and to compare plans.