WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE GROWTH MARKETING?
What do we see currently in our world?
- countries need to grow GDP,
- companies need to grow revenues,
- companies need to grow number of customers or clients,
- people need to grow their income,
- people need to grow their wealth.
It affects us and the businesses:
- companies’ planning reflects growth rate for the next period; if there is no growth, everyone is very unhappy and stressed out,
- our personal budgets reflect the ever increasing needs and wants, so it need to constantly grow the income part of it
As a result, many consumers tend to think only about their own personal greed rather than what’s good for many others.
CONSTANT PRESSURE TO CONSUME CAUSES EVERYONE OF US TO BE STRESSED, MORE AND MORE EVERY YEAR
Companies demand more and more from their employees, the hours tend to increase and workplaces turn into a modern day slavery.
When I was 23 years old, straight after my first University, I have pursued my career without any thoughts about how this quest for growth affects you personally. It is a precursor for a rat race, feeling stressed out and replacing your real needs and wants with consumerism.
After more than a decade, my meditation practice but also a huge crisis of personal values have shaken up myself. I now know that an absolute growth is a trap, it is a mindless number that can only benefit few and make life of many miserable.
UNSUSTAINABLE BUSINESSES
Let me illustrate by example from a wine industry
So the companies are pressured to grow, they compete for the increased share of the market, they demand lower prices from the winemakers.
The latter receive such a small compensation for the labour that it inconceivable to sustain their families let alone others.
Yet the only people that win are the big corporations.
WHAT IS BUSINESS SUSTAINABILITY?
Sustainability is about business practices that take into account all stakeholders. Sustainable business should equally care about a provenance of their resources, wellbeing of the teams and delivering value to the customers.
It is a very simplistic model, but only a win-win-win scenario is a sustainable one long term.
Now, there is a question whether sustainable growth is a viable concept. Can an ethical management team sell the sustainable business concept to the shareholders? It will most certainly mean lower return on their investment in the short term, yet the longer term rewards include not only just revenues, but longevity of the business and wellness of the employees and suppliers.
We need to employ effective change management techniques in order to sell, but also implement this paradigm across the organisation.
Should we succeed, we need growth marketing to adopt the same sustainable angle to its strategy and plan.
WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE GROWTH MARKETING?
When we achieve a business positioning, branding and operational excellency that is sustainable for all stakeholders, we can talk about sustainable growth marketing.
Developing or changing a brand that has at its core the values of provenance, fair trade for all its stakeholders is key here.
As a result, we target customers in a sustainable way: with a right message, using unobtrusive methods (remember, permission marketing?) and channels.
This in return delivers customer benefit and value back to companies.
In this way we increase Life Time Value of our customers and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.
The future is with sustainable marketing practices that do not put Growth as a pedestal but able to deliver value to all stakeholders instead.
If I re-phrase Sir Richard Branson, I’d say ‘think about sustainability of your brand and marketing and the money will come’.
(first published at https://www.dimitrisafonov.com/growth-vs-sustainability-or-is-there-such-thing-as-sustainable-growth/)