Help Yourself and the Environment
Whether you’re just starting up your own company or have been trading for a while, there are a number of things you can do to make your small business greener.
Helping the environment needn’t be a hassle and online activities can provide a good way to cut down on unnecessary paper usage and waste.
Keep reading to find out five ways you can make your business that little bit greener.
- Use email marketing
Email marketing is not only good for the environment compared to printing and posting promotional material, but it’s also a cheap, fast and easy way for you to communicate with your customers.
- Advertise online rather than offline
Advertising in magazines and newspapers obviously requires some design input, printing, paper and distribution which isn’t the case online.
For example, advertising on Google Adwords required none of the above, you compose a text based advert and people see it online.
Online advertising in many cases can bring better results than offline marketing due to its more targeted nature and wider reach.
- Communicate with clients remotely
If you’ve already got an established relationship with a client, is it really necessary to go and meet them face-to-face?
You can communicate just as effectively online using a whole host of online conferencing applications, save time and help the environment in the process.
- Use an online document signing service
Rather than posting agreements and documents back and forward, you can now use an online document signing service such as Signable
This has the benefit of being more environmentally friendly as well as speeding up the document signing process for your small business.
- Email invoices to your clients and ask for online payment
Rather than posting out invoices to clients, you can save time and resources by emailing them instead.
Also, if you ask for online payments only and don’t accept cheques, it will cut down on transport use and you save time by not having to go to the bank.
How has technology shaped your approach to the environment? Please share your thoughts and comments below.
A good solid list, although I’d say you need to get out once in a while, especially if your business depend on networking.
Dennis Edell recently posted..Link Building and List Building – A Blog or Newsletter
Great list of online sources, although offline can be exceptional to a greener business. Most local areas have there little pamphlet book for small businesses to advertise in and the prices they charge for direct mailing to houses is so cheap because they most probably do not know of Information Marketers. People are still selling a price rather than value so you can get great mailings sent to house from 1000 @ £25
Robert Antwi recently posted..Find a niche you love and you wont have to type a day in your life
@Dennis – you’re absolutely right, I think getting out and meeting people does have its place for a lot of businesses but perhaps once the first one or two meetings have taken place, online communication can be used.
@Robert – Thanks for your comments. You’re right, there are offline ways to be greener to but as this blog is focused on online marketing I decided not to mention things like direct mailing.
Jamie Fairbairn recently posted..Online Marketing Nonsense
Hmm, great ideas on helping our environment. I think with time a whole lot of small businesses will, not only for the sake of the environment but for the cost implication, turn to the internet for their operations. Thanks for this insightful thoughts.
Chadrack recently posted..Pathway to Succeeding In Online Business- A Lesson from the Easter Celebrations!
Hey Chadrack, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I think you’re right, first and foremost a lot of small businesses will do these things because they will save them money and the environmental impact will come as an added benefit.
Jamie Fairbairn recently posted..5 Must-Have Qualities to Succeed in Online Marketing
Hi Jamie,
I didn’t now about the document signing service. Besides this also being more environmentally friendly I can see how more effective this is. So much time is wasted with document signing in businesses.
~Marcus
Marcus Baker recently posted..Get Help the Easy Way to Find Your Authentic Blogging Voice
Hi Marcus, I only recently discovered the online document signing myself – I think it’s a great concept.
Thanks for stopping by.
Jamie
Jamie Fairbairn recently posted..Hop on Board Google’s Wonder wheel