I read an article this morning in Profile (the magazine of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations), which reported findings of a recent study into consumer behaviour and the environment.

The research, conducted by Search Futures Observatory (SFO) found that up to 73% of consumers rank a brand’s environmental attributes as the third most important factor when making a purchase.

I was quite surprised by this figure; I didn’t expect it to be so high.

I was also really interested to read that many consumers are confused by the ‘green’ marketing terms frequently used by big brands. Almost half of the respondents (49%) said they had little or no understanding of the term ‘carbon offsetting’.

The research findings suggest that consumers seem to respond better to more tangible green marketing terms like ‘ethical trading’ and ‘carbon footprint’.

Although the survey focused on the top 40 global consumer technology brands, I think there are definitely things that small business owners can take away from this study and apply to their own green marketing campaigns.

The good news from this study is that there is clearly a market hungry to buy from green and environmentally conscious businesses. As a small business owner, don’t throw away this opportunity with marketing collateral littered with words and phrases that don’t resonate with your target audience.

Make sure the language you use means something to the people you’re trying to connect with and doesn’t just tick the boxes in your environmental policy.

Add it!