๐ฅ31 Strategic Green Marketing Questions
For over 15 years I have been working in marketing and asking my clients questions. Here are my best-of smart questions that you can use yourself to take your marketing to the next level.
Hi ๐ Iโm Florian Schleicher. This is the FutureStrategies newsletter of FUTURES. Thank you so much for reading along ๐ If you want to learn strategic marketing from me, then my Simple & Sustainable Marketing Academy is the perfect fit for you.
Anyone who works with me knows that I ask a lot of questions.
Because I am curious and want to understand before I give answers.
A few years ago, I read the book "Listen to Me" by Helmut Brandstรคtter (recommendation in German) and I heard one of the key messages again just a few weeks ago at the House of Beautiful Business in Tangier:
We forget how to listen.
We are forgetting how to have real conversations.
Most people want to say what they think quickly, give ready-made answers, and don't listen.
A real conversation needs understanding and listening.
That's why we're doing something different in this post.
Questions.
To be precise, 31 strategic questions that you can ask yourself to make your marketing successful and sustainable. I ask my clients many of these questions myself in order to understand them and then help them take their marketing to the next level.
These marketing issues are oriented toward the strategic process - because a successful strategy consists of a diagnosis, guidelines, and actions. The actions are based on the guidelines and these in turn are based on a diagnosis.
๐ Marketing questions about your diagnosis
Why do you do marketing?
Sounds simple, but we first need to understand what goal we want to achieve with our communication. Marketing should never be an end in itself or a blind following of trends, but should always have a driving force.
In which part of your funnel do you need marketing?
One of the simplest models is the AIDA model - Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action - you need to understand where your potential customers are to align your marketing with them.
How do you define your target group?
Outdated marketing defines target groups in terms of demographic characteristics. Contemporary marketing defines target groups by problems.
Who is the smallest niche of your target group?
The more you can reduce your marketing target group to a small niche, the easier it is to understand this core and then align your actions with it.
What problem are you solving for your target group?
Every purchase decision is based on the desire to solve a problem. In practical terms, this can be the need for food or the need to increase one's status through luxury items. Marketing is only successful if it is based on needs and a genuine understanding of the customer.
Are you more concerned with your competition than with your target group?
There is a saying "Studying your competition is overrated. Studying your customers is underrated." I agree with this 100% - if you focus on your target group and offer them the solutions that they need, you will be successful. It starts with understanding and asking questions.
Do you know the importance of sustainability for your target group?
B2B, B2C, or B2B2C - every company ultimately works with people - and for our marketing to reach them properly, we need to understand what is important to them - and why. Sustainability is important to some. Some because they have to present it in their company reports, some because they want to conserve nature, and others because they want to leave their children a future worth living.
What does sustainability mean to you?
We don't yet have a standardized definition of marketing. What we do have is the three-pillar model of sustainability (people, planet, profit), as I described in this article on green marketing. So what is sustainability about for you?
What impact does your company have on people and the planet?
Ideally, your company is already making a profit. But do you already know the impact you have on the other two areas? Is your company and your marketing contributing to a life-centered economy? We all want to make money, but at the end of the day, it's about life on our beautiful little planet.
How much and what kind of waste is produced by your business?
We all produce waste. First, we need to understand where and how much waste is produced and then perhaps we can find ways to reduce it or even turn it into something valuable (=upcycling). Did you know that coffee grounds can be added to concrete to create an even more stable building material?
What legal framework conditions will have an impact on your marketing?
Green marketing will be increasingly regulated by law in the future. The EU's Green Claims Directive is expected to come into force in 2025 and will clearly define what can be said and how.
๐ฏ Marketing questions about your guidelines
Do you have a vision for your company or project that makes you jump out of bed in the morning?
A vision answers the question: Why? - Why does your company exist? Why do you do marketing? It is an engaging, optimistic, bold, and authentic idea of where our brand and our marketing can take us.
What is the opposite of your vision?
I have found that a vision becomes even more tangible if you also think about what the opposite of it would be.
What does your company want to change in the world?
I only work with clients who understand that they want to make a difference and have a positive impact on people, the planet, and profit. So what does that mean to you?
What does your brand stand for?
A strong brand has values that underline how it behaves, what is important to it, and how it wants to be perceived.
Has your company set measurable goals around sustainability?
Whether you work in a corporation with over 10,000 employees or as an independent entrepreneur, you can measure your impact and set goals for improvement. First, we need to know our impact (diagnosis), then set goals (guidelines), and then take action.
Are your marketing goals tangible?
I often find that goals are set for 1-2 years. This makes them less realistic and they are often forgotten. My recommendation is therefore to define 2-3 goals per 6 months. This makes it easier to remember the goals and creates focus.
How can you tell if your marketing is successful?
Are you lost in the jungle of data or do you have clear criteria that you use to make decisions about increasing or reducing resources in your marketing activities?
Does your marketing and sustainability strategy commit to the C-level?
Green marketing is anchored in the sustainability strategy, and this needs commitment from the very top. Because like any growth potential, sustainability also requires investment (nothing new in entrepreneurship) and this must be approved by the CEO and CFO. Otherwise, the result is just greenwashing.
Which of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can you have the greatest influence on?
The UN's SDGs provide a good framework for sustainable business. This should be anchored in your strategy so that you can align your marketing with it later on.
Do your marketing goals help you to derive actions directly from them?
Clear, concrete, and short-term strategic goals give a direct indication of which actions can be used to achieve them. That's why it's so important to have goals first before we get lost in the jungle of action options.
๐คน Marketing questions about your actions
Do you use your marketing to promote sustainable business and consumer behavior? Marketing has one superpower: influencing human behavior. We can use this to maximize our profits or to achieve a positive impact on other stakeholders.
What needs to happen for your company to become more carbon-neutral?
From major supply chain changes to divesting from fossil fuels or simply switching to a green energy provider. There are many ways to reduce your company's carbon impact.
Does your whole team know the marketing strategy?
A successful marketing team needs to be on the same page. A good marketing strategy must therefore be clear to everyone and written down. Otherwise, it is a marketing dream.
Do you communicate from an internal or external perspective?
Many companies (large and small) fall into the trap of marketing from an internal perspective and lose sight of the everyday life of their target group. This is full of excessive demands, and overload, and very few actively think about companies.
Do you use your sustainability report in marketing?
The ESRS (European Sustainability Reporting Standards) will apply to all companies in the future - this means that we all have to produce reports on our sustainability. This also offers a huge opportunity to use these results in marketing. I am currently working with several companies to communicate this potential to all relevant target groups in a media-appropriate way.
How can you maximize the lifespan of your products and services and communicate this in marketing?
The future will not be de-growth, but a circular economy. This means that we must first find ways to make our products and services long-lasting and green marketing must then ensure that our customers understand how they can contribute to this.
Are you communicating your company's positive impact on people and the planet?
Many companies already have good initiatives - these need to be communicated. Some brands are afraid of greenwashing and therefore tend to greenwash. My motto is therefore: To communicate authentically, but clearly and boldly, what good is already being done. If we only think in black and green, we won't get anywhere.
How does your marketing influence our view of the future?
At the end of all sustainability efforts, we want to have a planet that is fun to live and do business on. So messages about doing without won't help us - it's about circularity and moving towards the better rather than mass consumption. Good green marketing can tell this story.
Do you work with multipliers for your marketing messages?
These can be social media influencers, greenfluencers, or simply busy and well-connected players with contacts to your target group. Thinking about them and marketing them in a targeted manner has a massive dissemination effect on your messages.
Is your marketing product-centered or customer-centered?
It sounds simple, but there is a difference between wanting to create the best product or the best solution for your target group. Avoid the number one marketing mistake and always base your marketing on needs.
Thatโs it.
But there are many more questions.
If you can think of one, just write me a comment or a reply to this newsletter by e-mail.
And if you would like to see short posts like this more often - just mark this post with a โค๏ธ so that I know my way around.
Thanks for reading,
PS: If you have any questions that you would like me to answer, just write to me here, on Linkedin or Instagram.
PPS: You can also read this posting in German.