The Benefits of Using Eco-Friendly Promotional Products

Your customers care about sustainability.

According to McKinsey, 60% of them say they’ll pay more for a product if they know it's sustainable, meaning it’s made using recycled materials or designed to both last a long time and to be recycled. Furthermore, 78% of American consumers agree that living a more sustainable lifestyle is important to them.

Your eco-friendly promotional products play into these desires.

While you’re likely not charging for the products – they’re promo items, after all – offering them shows a customer that you engage in sustainable business practices. So, when they’re ready to buy whatever you sell, they’re going to think of you first because you’ve already proven that you meet their desire for sustainability. The promo product gives them a taste, with what you sell being the main course in which they’ll want to indulge.

Building from the above, having eco-friendly promotional products shows that you’re committed to serving customers in a way that not only benefits you but also the planet. Seeing as that’s what 78% of customers want, your promo products become something powerful – marketing tools for your business.

Technically, they already are. You’re using the products to create brand awareness. But by committing to the eco-friendly approach, you open the door to highlighting your sustainability practices to your potential customers. They don’t have to take your word for it. The product is physical proof that you care about the environment, lending a level of authenticity to your sustainability-focused marketing that it might not otherwise have.

Your eco-friendly promotional products aren’t just a way to get more customers – they allow you to actively work toward saving the world. Climate change is real and, if left unchecked, it’s going to have devastating results for the planet. Every company that commits to going eco-friendly, in any way possible, slows down global warming and adds more time to the Earth’s metaphorical clock.

That’s not speculation, either. According to NASA, if the world stopped emitting greenhouse gases today, global temperatures would plateau within a couple of years. From there, it would take a couple of centuries to reverse the effects – showing how much damage we’ve already done – but that timescale only gets longer the less we do to control emissions.

By choosing eco-friendly promotional products, you’re not just making the right choice for your marketing. You’re making an ethical choice that makes you an active contributor to the fight against climate change.

It’s not just your customers who’ll feel a deeper connection to your company if you offer eco-friendly products – your employees will, too. In fact, 70% of employees say that a company that has a sustainability program – especially one focused on products – becomes more attractive to them. And executives tend to agree. Almost half (44%) believe that their climate protection initiatives can help them to both recruit and retain employees.

Let’s hone in on that point about recruitment and retention.

Data from the Society of Human Resource Management says that the average cost of hiring a new employee is almost $4,700. Money you can ill afford to spend if you’re running a small business with thin margins. By committing to eco-friendly promotional products, you’ll typically find that the slightly higher upfront cost of these products is swallowed up by the money you save because your sustainability programs keep more of your hires on board.

Think about the main reason why you’re using promo products:

You want to improve both brand awareness and brand retention.

For that to happen, you need products that your customers use regularly and, crucially, that will last a long time before they’re consigned to the trash. For instance, take products made using polyethylene terephthalate (PET). On one hand, these products could be a sustainability nightmare. They take 450 years to biodegrade because bacteria aren’t able to consume the chemicals inside. But on the other hand, PET is recyclable – it’s the plastic that’s often used in bottles – which combines with its longevity to offer you a chance to offer eco-friendly promotional products made using PET.

Those products will last a long time. And you’ll usually find that’s the case for most of your eco-friendly promotional products, especially those made using recycled materials.

It’s clear why eco-friendly promotional products are so valuable to your company – they’re great for marketing, your customers love them, and your employees will love you for offering them. Better yet, you showcase that you’re taking your corporate responsibility to the environment seriously while still benefitting from all of the brand-building brilliance of promo goodies.

You just need a place to find those sustainable products, which is where Imprint Now comes in. From mouse pads to table covers, tote bags to keychains, you’ll find eco-friendly promotional products you can combine with your company’s branding. Create your custom product now and transform your business into a sustainability juggernaut.