Earth Day marketing is more than just a trend. It's a way for businesses to showcase their commitment to the environment, and it's also an opportunity to connect with customers who care about sustainability. In today's world, consumers are becoming more conscious of their impact on the environment, and they want to support businesses that share their values. According to a report by Economist Intelligence Unit, commissioned by WWF, searches related to sustainable products have increased by an amazing and continuous 71% over the past 5 years, even during the covid pandemic.
That’s enough to show how customers are aware of this event and how potential it is for businesses. Earth Day marketing is an excellent way for businesses to show their support for the environment, and it can help them build a strong relationship with their customers.
Knowing that, in this blog post, we will show you how to take advantage of this holiday and provide lucrative Earth Day marketing campaign ideas plus the tips to bring home the bacon. So, without any further ado, let’s dive in!
Outline
- The Origin Of Earth Day
- What Products To Promote On Earth Day?
- Secondhand clothing
- Eco-friendly houseware
- Toxic-free, clean organic beauty products
- Recycle accessories
- 4 Lucrative Earth Day Marketing Campaign Ideas To Rock Your Shopify Store Sales
- Partnership/ collaborate with environmental organizations/businesses
- Offering recycling products
- Interactive social campaign (*i.e, like/share to donate)
- Recycle program: Send old items to receive new ones
- Tips To Run A Successful Earth Day Campaign
- Special discount for eco-friendly items
- Provide knowledgeable and useful content Earth Day related
- Create an eco-looking landing page and website (*Use PF themes)
- Go active on social media and email marketing
- Conclusion
The Origin Of Earth Day
To tell a bit of history of this event, on April 22, 1970, U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson stated the first Earth Day. Nelson and numerous other people then saw the consequences of a massive oil leak in Santa Barbara, California, in January 1969. He was motivated by the student anti-war movement to combine the momentum of those protests with the increasing concern about air and water pollution. He ended up giving the idea of Earth Day as a response to environmental concerns and the climate crisis. And there is a fun fact behind the date April 22, a weekday that falls between Spring Break and Final Exams, which is actually to encourage the most student involvement in this event.
Since then, every year on April 22, people all over the globe celebrate Earth Day. This day is intended to increase respect for and understanding of the planet that we call home. At the time, this event gathered more than 20 million Americans, or 10% of the country's population, making it the biggest public protest in American history. Up till now, Earth Day has developed over time to become an essential event not only for environmentalists but also businesses.
What Products To Promote On Earth Day
There are many ways businesses can participate in Earth Day marketing. One popular option is to offer eco-friendly products or services. And below are the most basic and popular products to offer:
Secondhand clothing
Up until recently, classic retail abandoned resale, but it is now an important industry. Because resale saves clothing from dumps and offers a more environmentally friendly method to switch up your look.
We should indeed admit that increasing an item's lifespan through resale actually decreases its environmental impact, even if it only extends the life of one item.
Old clothes can be put back into circulation in a more sustainable manner through the resale market. Secondhand clothing has been called the retail trend with the fastest rate of growth this decade, and younger generations are really embracing this trend (the global secondhand apparel market is predicted to grow 3X faster than the global apparel market overall by 2026).
Source: Garson & Shaw
Eco-friendly houseware
Household appliances have always been a type of product with steady growth on e-commerce platforms. With the increasing concern of customers for the environment, their requirements for the quality and materials that make up household products also become higher. On the occasion of earth day, eco-friendly household items are definitely an option not to be missed for sellers. Selling eco-friendly or recycled household products will certainly be a profitable idea on this occasion. The products you should offer are reusable water bottles, reusable shopping bags, and bamboo utensils, etc.
Source: Country Living
Toxic-free, clean organic beauty products
If you are in the beauty industry, it’s definitely your golden time. The need for organic, plant-based beauty products are always in the rage whether it’s Earth Day or not since customers are aware of how to take care of themselves properly.
Additionally, these kinds of products can make customers feel like they somehow contribute to the finest future planet if you put in some marketing efforts. Plant-based products are made from natural ingredients and are free from harmful chemicals that can harm the environment.
Some examples of plant-based products include natural skincare products, organic food, and biodegradable cleaning products.
Source: The Vegan Society
Upcycled products
Upcycled products are also a creative and lucrative option to sell on the occasion. Some of the upcycled products can be named as furniture made from recycled materials, jewelry made from old electronics, and bags made from recycled plastic bottles. This trend is getting more and more on fire as of its uniqueness and sustainability.
Source: NC-APA
4 Lucrative Earth Day Marketing Campaign Ideas To Rock Your Shopify Store Sales (+ Examples)
Participating in Earth Day can benefit businesses in many ways.
Obviously, it helps small businesses attract and gain more customers who care about the environment.
It can also help your brand differentiate itself from its competitors. By showcasing their sustainability initiatives, businesses like yours can position themselves as leaders in their industry.
Additionally, an amazing Earth Day campaign can help your business build a positive reputation. When customers see that a business is committed to the environment, they are more likely to view that business in a positive light.
That’s why Earth Day marketing is how your Shopify store shows customers that your brand contributes to a better world. By taking action to reduce their environmental impact, your business can make a positive difference in their communities and beyond.
Here are the best 4 lucrative marketing campaign ideas that you can inspire from this Earth Day:
Collaborate with other environmental businesses to spread Earth Day message
You can partner with an environmental non-profit organization to create a campaign that promotes environmental protection.
For example, you can donate a portion of your profits sold on Earth Day to the non-profit organization, or you can offer a discount to customers who make a donation to the organization. By partnering with a non-profit organization, you can increase your credibility and show your commitment to the cause.
For example, Hyperskin, a skincare company, used Earth Day as a chance to talk about the racial and social injustices that come along with climate change rather than to promote their products or offer a sale.
They agreed to start a discussion on their social media platforms and promised to give $1,000 to the environmental justice non profit organization WE ACT.
Offering recycling products
For example, to create its pouches and other accessories out of reclaimed burlap from rice bag packaging, Rice Love collaborates with sustainable manufacturing partners. Additionally, the company donates a bag of rice to an underprivileged family with each product sale during the occasion.
Source: Inhabitat
Another example for your inspiration, BAGGU. This American company, established in 2007 by a mother-daughter team, creates reusable bags from recycled ripstop nylon with eye-catching patterns. When we're on the go, these BAGGUs are a necessity. They can transport anything from groceries to athletic equipment and are incredibly durable and adaptable.
Source: Mail charts
Interactive social campaign
For social media platforms, you can create engagement campaigns with your customers by encouraging them to post images of eco-friendly products from your store. In return, they will receive a discount on the following orders from your brand or a small gift related to the environment. Or another idea to increase the popularity of your brand, have your customers engage with your post for the world day campaign (like, share, comment, repost) and your business instead will donate money or plant trees to green the forest as the brand below did.
In its 2019 earth day campaign, Canadian clothing label Tentree raked in the most successful social media campaign in history. Their idea is quite simple, when a customer interacts with their Instagram post, they will plant the number of trees corresponding to the specified interaction, in Indonesia. At first, they did not expect that the mission of planting trees was so interested by customers on social networks. However, the post received 15 million likes and became one of the most iconic earth day campaigns in history.
Source: Buffer
Recycle program: Send old items to receive discounts (or new ones)
That’s what Swedish Stockings did. It is a pantyhose line business that manufactures nylon yarn stockings - created from an environmentally harmful petroleum-based. Their business claims that its recycled knit hosiery is produced without the use of any emissions. Additionally, its Recycling Club asks customers to send back used socks in return for a discount on new ones.
You can launch a program like collecting old stuff but still in usable condition from customers then offering them back something equivalent on Earth day. The products sent to your brand can be recycled to reuse or make new products. It’s surely a sustainable way for both your brand and your customers to participate in this occasion and plus can earn the credit.
Tips To Run A Successful Earth Day Campaign
Given the growing trend of environmental awareness, customers who want to minimize their own potential environmental impacts will look for brands that match that objective.
Marketing plays an essential part in providing products and services that stick to an environmentally friendly standard and making sure that your Shopify business is conscious of the measures you take to reduce environmental damage.
Here are some helpful tips for making your Shopify store environmentally responsible so you can keep your word to your clients, who will then feel completely comfortable making purchases from you. Regardless of your industry, and even if your business doesn't particularly market itself as environmentally friendly, these tips can still help you cut costs and boost marketing in this and next Earth Day campaign:
Special discount for eco-friendly items
If you are in the eco industry, this is your chance to make the best sales of the year. Even if not, it’s time for your Shopify store to sell bundles including eco items. Products that are sustainable are usually at a high price so your customers might have a long-desired list of them. They know it's the right time they make mass purchases so your job is to offer it to them. Here is an example:
To celebrate the launch of the new product and the Earth Day Sale, My Green Mattress is offering 15% off their entire collection of natural sleep solutions, from the Emily baby mattress for the nursery to king-size mattresses for the master bedroom. The bundle additionally includes soft toppers, waterproof protectors, and organic pillows.
Source: Prnewswire
Provide knowledgeable and useful content Earth Day related
This way, you are not only optimizing SEO efforts for your earth day marketing campaign but also engage your customer more with your brand. Moreover, by providing information about Earth Day, customers will understand that your brand truly cares about the occasion and the cause, and it makes them feel worth trying your products. The publishing content can be blogs, social media posts or even videos.
For Earth Day, eco-friendly clothing brand Allbirds released an ironic infomercial in the style of the 1990s to promote a new membership service.
According to the advertisement, the service gives free oxygen supply the same day, cost-free carbon dioxide removal, and limitless access to live streams.
The voiceover explains with excitement that there are "millions of Amazon originals" as a sign-up bonus.
Create an eco-looking landing page and website
As we stated a million times each holiday season, the customers’ first impression of your e-commerce business is when they see your website and designs. How you redesign your Shopify store shows how you care about the occasion and you put efforts into that for your customers. It also helps create the appropriate atmosphere to up the mood and persuade customers to surf your website more, raising the chance they make a purchase. Here are some selected eco-looking themes templates we recommend for Earth Day:
Go active on social media
For every marketing campaign, social platforms are crucial, especially for e-commerce businesses. The number of new customers you can reach decides the difference in sales of your brand. Additionally, it boosts your brand reputation to a new level if the marketing campaign is well-launched. That’s why on holiday like Earth Day, while people are surfing to find information, your brand should also step both feet in the area.
The second-annual #EarthDayPhotoChallenge was launched by Blueland as inspiration for you, asking their subscribers to post a picture of themselves outdoors enjoying nature or sustaining a public space.
The challenge's rules are quite simple: Tag three pals and @blueland in your comments and use the hashtag #EarthDayPhotoChallenge. They made a deal to give the nonprofit Surfrider $1 for each nature photo and $5 for each photo of a cleanup in return.
Conclusion
Earth Day marketing is for sure a lucrative way for Shopify businesses on this occasion. It provides an opportunity for businesses to showcase their commitment to the environment, connect with customers, and make a positive difference in the world.
As consumers become increasingly conscious of their impact on the environment, the Earth Day occasion will only become more important. By participating in Earth Day, businesses can position themselves as leaders in their industry, impress customers and make a positive impact on the environment.
We hope that this blog post has helped you somehow with understanding the importance of Earth Day marketing and getting inspired by 4 profitable promoting ideas to rock sales on this occasion. See you in the next useful article!
Related article:
Top 12+ Eco-friendly Dropshippers for your Dropshipping Business
