Sustainable Development and the Strategic Importance of Marketing
Promoting sustainable production and consumption are the most important aspects of the sustainable development all over the world. Sustainable development also depends on the achievement of the long term financial growth which is consistent and aligned with the social and environmental needs. Marketers have a huge responsibility in encouraging the sustainable production and consumption by careful mapping of the specific agenda of sustainability onto their marketing skills (Varadarajan 2014). There is always strategic importance of marketing as most of the sustainable activities are likely increasing either the demand or cost for the capital. Marketing is also responsible in order to increase the revenues for balancing the cost and demand. However, it should be noted that all of the sustainability issues are not product specific. Also most of the sustainable products are included in the minor segment of the market. Therefore it is quite important for developing the brand or the organization to build a certain level if confidence for addressing a broad range of sustainability issues (Sheth and Sinha 2015). However, it should also be recognized that sustainability cannot act as a benefit if the benefits are not associated with influencing the customers for necessary benefits. The marketers should promote the sustainability of a brand as a differentiating factor only when it would enable the companies for competing on this basis. Therefore, this essay target the role of marketers in promoting the sustainability by the customers and whether they are doing enough for driving the consumers towards sustainable production and consumption.
The business environments of the companies are determined by on their own. They operate in such an environment with the help of optimizing the entire productivity of the brand. While a company achieves the financial objectives, it is mostly considered that it has reached its profitability; therefore it is used as a short term tool for management to settle on the determination of profitability. It is the most important job of the marketers that they have to satisfy their target audience with the products and services; in addition to that they will also maintain gaining the economic objectives. Other than these, the marketers are also supposed to make sure that the sustainability claim of any organization are being maintained and all the claims are authentic (Mishra and Sharma 2014). The marketers should be able to identify the specific attributes of the brand or the organization before they start building particular credentials related to sustainability claims. These claims should also be incorporated with the business framework along with the product or service designing. Therefore, most of the times, it is highly required that the marketers need to collaborate and determine the possible and most desirable products in the market. In the recent time, sustainability is a major issue that is targeted by several players in the market. Through proper marketing and communication skills, the marketers therefore should take some autonomous initiatives which will be related to their marketing campaign for the public (Zeriti et al. 2014). This will also help to develop a particular product or band. Therefore it can easily be understood that the marketers need to reach the emotions of customers in order to drive them towards the sustainable production and consumption through advertizing and PR.
Designing Sustainable Marketing Strategies
Whatever the reality may be is, it has been observed that most of the organizations tend to present the lifestyle images which is associated with the price and added benefits for the target customers. Therefore the large organizations consider the marketing skills and opportunities that are related to the sustainability is a very careful way. They tend to consider that the sustainable marketing opportunities to be with potential risk factors, as it might hamper their brand reputation to some extent. Armstrong et al. (2014) indicated that the large organizations tend to fear that the company may face several questions from its stakeholders regarding their level of justifying their claims of sustainability. Therefore it should also be considered that the sustainability claims are mostly not being detailed due to limited research on consumer buying behavior as the marketers nowadays focus on the other significant factors such as price, availability and service for securing and supporting the market shares. This is evident when the organizations do not provide any particular differentiation about the sustainability claims. However, the relatively small companies tend to make sustainability claims a major part of their marketing and branding of products.
This is absolutely in light of the way that the greater associations are considering this factor related to potential danger factors. On the other hand, the small companies can get the supportability opportunity in case they perceive the market advantage. There are a couple of elements that are behind this choice where the marketers from the small companies associations are choosing driving their planned intrigue bunch towards the viable use. While the marketers are dealing with small market to penetrate, they can follow a sole strategy; however the large organizations have to follow many strategies at the same time (Zeriti et al. 2014). These marketers are agile and they can adapt the changes with a lower resistance power from the accessible products that are non-sustainable. They tend to be open for competitive price strategy for the sustainable products and services. Also, the small organizations tend to become influenced by the directors. If the directors include sustainability in your values, the business operations are also influenced by these values. Also these companies are not open to much exposure.
It has been found out that the marketers, who are working for larger and renowned companies, tend to have a marketing strategy for their market entry which has been developed according to the size and trends of the market. It has also been seen that the fragments with facilitate advancing organization and purchaser retail have taken a lead addressing reasonability as the bit of the business and especially to the brand. If the organizations are familiar with the specific customer attitudes of the brand, they can provide genuine substantiation while a market research has been carried out in a sustainable way. Most of the decisions taken by the purchasers have an exceptional impact for the keeping cash, retailing organizations (Johe and Bhullar 2016). Meanwhile retailers furthermore have an imperative part to impact the choices of customers. Thusly, the sponsors working for such associations that are putting forth or endorsing the things which may have reasonability confirmations can satisfy specific solicitations of customers. The ‘Look behind the Label’ campaign by M&S had a lead even where the marketers were careful for making the claims for sustainability, rather in most cases; it has been indicated towards the preparation activities. The renowned retailer Tesco had also made particular claims regarding sustainability, but the clients were quite suspicious of those claims even after they had been rated high for sustainable investments.
Opportunities and Challenges for Businesses
There are primary drivers for the companies in order to change and talk their viability as a significant bit of their organization and thing promoting. The sponsors of such affiliations show the techniques, rising miens and the obtaining behavior of the clients with conditions and risks. There have reliably been restricted affirmations of the factual looking over on the viable practices and airs of the purchasers used for making the business methodology of any affiliation. No other segment, beside organization and retail division has shown affirmation for setting off the sensibility issues and executing those on the publicizing strategies (Hurth et al. 2015). There are furthermore no affirmations of the marketers modifying reasonable exhibiting approaches in the wake of offering response to the technique drivers or definitive. This no doubt reflects the need for the associations for coming from a forceful point of view. However unavoidable cost advantage isn’t even an option here in spite of the way that there are a couple of issues over the overall contention from the less-synchronized sources. There have been no such situations where sponsors are changing sensible position as a result of these reasonability drivers, simply with the exception of retail and advancement part. Also, there have not been many instances regarding the structured and strategic approaches that the marketers adapt for acknowledging the sustainability.
Conclusion
After all things are considered, one may state that the organizations have quite recently been secured with practicality where it has quite recently accomplished a huge destruction of different activities that are acceptable for a few, questions rising for giving satisfactory elucidation for their approach. Undoubtedly, one may state that sustainability can never be bore witness to, however an organization can ensure that they are increasing critical ground in this issue. This can similarly be considered as an experience or a formative methodology that are to be refined with the course of time. For instance the ‘look behind the name’ campaign was seen as a more noteworthy measure of a transformative technique than any key change. If any far reaching association is endeavoring, they intentionally don’t do much to drive it towards the practical usage, as these huge influences their cash related activities and can any day affect the nuts and bolts of the business.
Reference List
Armstrong, G., Adam, S., Denize, S. and Kotler, P., 2014. Principles of marketing. Pearson Australia.
Hurth, V., Peck, J., Jackman, E. and Wensing, E., 2015. Reforming marketing for sustainability: towards a framework for evolved marketing. Reforming marketing for sustainability: towards a framework for evolved marketing.
Johe, M.H. and Bhullar, N., 2016. To buy or not to buy: The roles of self-identity, attitudes, perceived behavioral control and norms in organic consumerism. Ecological Economics, 128, pp.99-105.
Mishra, P. and Sharma, P., 2014. Green marketing: Challenges and opportunities for business. BVIMR Management Edge, 7(1).
Moriarty, S., Mitchell, N.D., Wells, W.D., Crawford, R., Brennan, L. and Spence-Stone, R., 2014. Advertising: Principles and practice. Pearson Australia.
Sheth, J.N. and Sinha, M., 2015. B2B branding in emerging markets: A sustainability perspective. Industrial Marketing Management, 51, pp.79-88.
Varadarajan, R., 2014, May. Toward sustainability: Public policy, global social innovations for base-of-the-pyramid markets, and demarketing for a better world. American Marketing Association.
Zeriti, A., Robson, M.J., Spyropoulou, S. and Leonidou, C.N., 2014. Sustainable export marketing strategy fit and performance. Journal of International Marketing, 22(4), pp.44-66.