Building and Marketing a Green Business

Some of the world's most successful companies incorporate green practices; for instance, IKEA has embraced sustainability, a legacy from its founder, Ingvar Kamprad. Salesforce similarly emphasizes eco-friendliness under the leadership of co-founder and CEO Marc Benioff. To emulate those success stories and make your own company green, it's helpful to embrace remote work in a smart way, let audiences know about your efforts, and build a culture and partnerships that support sustainability. 

Embrace Remote Work

Embracing remote work can allow your business to occupy a smaller, less energy-intensive space and let your employees cut down on carbon-emitting commutes. Plus, technology removes many would-be hurdles. For instance, software-supported videoconferencing and chat features ease communication. File transfers are simpler than ever, too. Consider PDFs: If your employees work with large PDF files, an easy PDF compressor tool can cut down on file sizes while retaining sharp-looking fonts, images, and other elements.

Appeal to Environmentally Conscious Audiences

Through marketing and communications, making it clear that your business is green can help attract new customers and employees alike. Specific helpful techniques include earning and displaying a third-party certification, building a website page that describes your business's environmentally conscious approach, and posting positive social media content about the same topic. 

You can also highlight green traits of your product or service. If your business uses locally sourced ingredients, for example, consider using that as a selling point in your advertisements. 

Form Sustainable Partnerships

Partnerships are another area in which your business can focus on going green. For instance, if your business will rely on another company for manufacturing, seek out a sustainable manufacturer. Several important considerations include how the partner obtains raw materials, their clean energy usage (or non-usage), and their efforts to limit emissions and waste. You can apply similar criteria to other business relationships as well.

Seek Out Green Funding

Regardless of your business type, you'll face some startup costs. Some expenses to take into consideration are equipment, marketing costs, and registration fees, not to mention payroll. You may also need to invest some extra money in green elements, with two examples being subscriptions for software that supports remote work and eco-friendly lighting.

The bright side is that by going green, your business may gain access to unique funding opportunities. There are both federal business grants for sustainable companies and locally available options. Applying for funding will likely take some time, and each funding program will have its own requirements, so start early.

Bake Sustainability Into Your Business's Culture

Making sure your business's core culture is one of sustainability will go a long way toward creating a green business. Helpful practices in that regard include giving employees directives that support sustainability innovation and matching employees' donations toward green causes. You can also offer training on how to be environmentally conscious at work.

Watch Your Green Business Grow

As it benefits from healthy partnerships and a green culture, your business will be poised to support the environment. Leveraging remote work and unique funding sources may make building an environmentally friendly business easier, and smartly publicizing your efforts can help entice audiences.

Now that you know what goes into a green business, you can start forming a supportive network for it by joining your local chamber of commerce.