Today, more individuals and companies than ever before are concentrating on sustainability. It’s become common knowledge that a series of small efforts from people and organizations can make a large overall impact, and in many ways, the cumulative effects of these efforts are apparent. For instance, an increased reliance on recycled materials has reduced waste, and renewable energy has reduced pollution.
Given the success of the physical sustainability movement and the presence of several other types of pollution, the time has come for a digital marketing sustainability movement to guide online marketing professionals. To be sure, today’s abundance of emails, text messages, phone calls, banner ads, and video ads, amongst others, pollutes the internet landscape; by reducing the prevalence of these ads, a more positive and productive digital environment can be established.
Here’re three ways companies and internet professionals can initiate a much-needed digital marketing sustainability movement:
Prioritize Quality, Not Quantity
The time is now for digital marketers to prioritize quality over quantity. Online advertising’s low cost and numerous potential targets have resulted in many companies making many attempts to reach consumers. Seriously, browse through the emails that a reputable company sends in a given week—sometimes more than three messages arrive daily! These emails are in addition to a plethora of other ads!
To create a more sustainable internet, marketers will have to prioritize quality—much like they do with television commercials, which cost substantially more to run.
Stop Buying and Selling Information
Virtually every company today buys and sells customer information. That long, drawn-out body of text that all newsletter/marketing email subscribers agree to when signing up gives the company at-hand permission to distribute contact info to other businesses.
To encourage sustainability and reduce digital “litter,” marketers should stop the practice immediately.
Companies should instead focus on marketing their own products and services to customers who’ve shopped with them and/or subscribed to emails.
Reduce Data Reliance, Increase Sales Figures Reliance
Too many contemporary marketers obsess over SEO data—impressions, conversions, clicks, etc. This data can prove occasionally useful, but in the end, sales and consumer satisfaction are what really matter. It’s easy to fire-off marketing efforts based on day-to-day SEO data, but focusing on how marketing affects sales will reduce internet pollution and enhance profits.
And at the end of the day, that’s what business is all about.
The digital sustainability movement is already underway, and in the coming months and years, additional companies and professionals are expected to change the way they reach customers. It’ll be very interesting to see what sort of large-scale improvements and successes are produced.
Thanks for reading, and here’s to digital marketing sustainability!