Sustainable practices are fundamental to the prosperity of a business in the marketplace. Generally, sustainability entails a business practice that is socially responsible. It is a collective term for responsible actions (Kolter et al, 2016, session 9) .Kotler et al (2016, session 9) go ahead and state that it is an economic, environmental, and social issue. Organizations include socially responsible policies as main elements of their growth strategy to develop sustainable economic and environmental values ( Goworek 2017, p. 287) . In broad terms sustainability, is explained as a business system that makes it possible to produce and distribute wealth to improve the status of the stakeholders by implementing and integrating ethical systems as well as sustainable management systems ( Katrandjiev 2016, p.73) . From this definition, it can be deduced that sustainability compromises of parts that cannot be implemented on their own, and this is why a system’s thinking approach is deemed useful in making organizations to manage interrelationship and change process. Besides, it should be noted that when the other parts of the sustainability are handled separately and not as a whole, it is possible that the essential properties or key functions could be lost, and in this case, the system could eventually fail ( Katrandjiev 2016, p.75) . Therefore, the concept of systems thinking to understand sustainability, organizations can without a doubt meet and satisfy the demands or needs of the society as well as their stakeholders.
The Sustainable Approach to Marketing
Companies typically apply socially responsible strategies to enable a sustainable approach to marketing. Kotler et al. (2016, session 9) assert that sustainable marketing is necessitated by the urge to balance growth and sustainability. Sustainable marketing deals with the methods companies employ in order to manage their economic responsibilities while also have a positive impact on the lives of their employees as well as the local community surrounding them and society in overall ( Tynan, McKechnie, and Heath 2017. p. 4) . Sustainable marketing has many benefits including allowing companies to engage in community development and philanthropic events to create social awareness in the community.
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Sustainable marketing also has many challenges. The major challenge that faces sustainable marketing is whether fulfilling this responsibility for a business conflicts with the major responsibility of any business which is to produce profits for its shareholders ( Helsen 2018, p. 55) . Overcoming this challenge will requires the various stakeholders in these companies to agree upon an acceptable portion from their final financial figures which could then be applied to socially responsible projects across their local community. The perception that the benefits received from these projects are negligible is another challenge. Organizations should, therefore, come up with reliable indicators that would help them to track any benefits that arise from their adoption of sustainable marketing efforts ( Helsen 2018, p. 58) . Another challenge faced by sustainable marketing is increasing consumer cynicism towards the reasons why organizations adopt these projects with consumers viewing these as public relations gimmicks aimed at gaining more customers ( Helsen 2018, p. 62) . This perception hurts even the genuine companies that really want to help their community. Therefore, it is crucial that companies are transparent and communicate about their sustainable marketing programs well.
The approach to sustainable marketing is focused on empowering communities. Ellis et al (2011, session 9) suggest that enterprises are increasingly acknowledging the significance of being a good corporate citizen by augmenting their investment through giving back to the community. The companies encourage their employees to give back to the community by participating in community initiatives, state and national charitable, service and relief endeavors ( Ryals 2017, p. 120) . Besides, through the corporate level and its brands, businesses devote a significant time and capital to help numerous charitable and not-for-profit organizations in the community, like the Red Cross. Through sustainable marketing, enterprises can play a significant role in mentoring young people, supporting veterans, creating awareness for individuals with disabilities and offering in-the-moment disaster relief contributions.
Social Marketing and De-marketing
Social marketing and de-marketing are inter-relatable concepts. However, the concepts encompass different approaches to marketing. Kotler et al (2016, session 19) suggest that social marketing and de-marketing are ways to achieve sustainability. Social marketing entails packaging and communicating the corporate decisions which positively impacts the numerous societies through which the organization interacts with (Goldberg, Fishbein, and Middlestadt 2018, p.45). Kotler et al (2016, session 19) state this form of marketing pertains to ethics. The marketers’ responsibility, in this case, is to make sure that the actions they take are seen as benevolent devoid of insincerity. Social marketing focuses on decency, impartiality and obligation. Right and wrong, in this case, are individual but a broad establishment of guiding principles are implemented to make sure that an organization’s intent is broadcasted and achieved (Hastings and Stead 2017, p.16). According to Ellis et al (2011, session 9), the principles of that guide ethical practices include shared standards of honesty in marketing, clear distinction between sensationalism and advertising, clear and transparent endorsement and maintained consumer privacy. These are the guidelines that hold the organizational social marketing that sees that the activities were undertaken are not just good for the company but also for the consumers and the community as a whole .
Socially responsible marketing focuses on the provision of goods and services that consumers do need, getting feedback and giving back to the community. While the two aspects can interchangeably be used on occasions, there exist a dissimilarity in them. Ethics focus is on distinct or selling set assessment while the other considers the total impact of marketing activities on the society (Kennedy 2016, p.355). In order to raise decent and socially responsible practices, salespersons whereas striving to achieve the company goals must continuously monitor the trends and changes in the community’s beliefs and values. They should also forecast on the long-term effects of the decisions that pertain to the society changes and trends. Socially responsible marketers having ethics integrated get the right products to the right consumers at the right time at the right price (Kennedy 2016, p.357). They not only ensure that the products meet the consumers’ demands but also exceed them, back up claims from them and give value to the consumers with time while trying to find opportunities for forward reimbursement. This over time, as a long-term impact on social responsibility, will bring great benefits to the organization. Overall, socially responsible marketing looks into and addresses the limitations of the traditional marketing activities and follows the value of mindfulness and responsibility. Marketing in this aspect is based on the consumer satisfaction, innovative ideas, and long-term societal values and benefits.
Kotler et al (2016) perceive de-marketing is an effort by a company to decrease the consumption of a product, largely due to consumer safety and environmental concerns. Consumers are always shrewd and prejudiced, organizations should, therefore, focus on creating ethically sound marketing plan and integrating it into an all aspects marketing mix where it does not just do well for good looks but to foster the help the community gets from it around (Kim et al 2016, p.29). In this way, the customers together with the press and the community around watching it are impressed. Socially responsible organizations use de-marketing to develop long-term impacts on the community around for continued gratification and market scale expansion. De-marketing also speaks up against organization policies that go against the company ethics (Sanclemente-Téllez 2017, p.18). In this, marketers are the facade of the organization to express their apprehensions whenever a prospective unethical activity is noticed.
References
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Goldberg, M.E., Fishbein, M. and Middlestadt, S.E. eds., 2018. Social marketing: Theoretical and practical perspectives . Psychology Press.
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Kim, Jungsun Sunny, Hak Jun Song, and Choong-Ki Lee. "Effects of corporate social responsibility and internal marketing on organizational commitment and turnover intentions." International Journal of Hospitality Management 55 (2016): 25-32.
Kotler, P., Armstrong, G., Harris, L.C. and Piercy, N. 2016 Principles of Marketing – 7th European Edition. Harlow:
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Sanclemente-Téllez, J.C., 2017. Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Moving between broadening the concept of marketing and social factors as a marketing strategy. Spanish journal of marketing-ESIC , 21 , pp.4-25.
Tynan, C., McKechnie, S. and Heath, T., 2017, July. Special session: sustainable marketing for luxury goods: challenges, contradictions and ways forward. In Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Conference, Hull, UK (pp. 3-6).
