Will Going Green Lead To Greater Profits? Yes!
You may not realize this, but the world is actually becoming more interested in eco-friendly living and actions that can be taken to help save the planet.
These days it’s impossible to get through a news story without hearing at least one mention of global warming or perhaps people in comment section freaking out about changes in the weather.
People are concerned, and perhaps they should be, but as a business owner, you should only be focused on one thing. How does this new desire to go green impact the way you can make a profit? Can you increase your revenue by going green and doing your part to help save the planet?
As it turns out, there is evidence to suggest that you can indeed benefit from a business perspective by going green. To understand why this is we first need to think about saving money.
Business owners should always be looking at ways that they can cut their costs and reduce spending because it makes their business model more efficient and indeed flexible.
It also allows revenues to increase purely because less money is being spent in areas where companies see no return. There’s, quite frankly, no downside in cutting your business energy bills down to size.
You only have things to gain from this action, and that’s true for a lot of savings. So, let’s look at how to save by going green and then we’ll move on to ways that it can actually directly or indirectly impact your business profits.
Saving Through Green Ideas
#1 Going Renewable
Arguably, one of the best ways to save by going green is to focus on using renewable energy sources. Renewable energy sources are beneficial because you can create your own energy to power your business without ever having to pay for it. An example of this available on the market right now would be solar energy.
You can invest in solar panels for your business, installing them on the roof of your office or around your business building. A lot of people think that you need to be in an incredibly sunny area for solar panels to be worth it. But that’s not true at all, and you can get solar energy, even on overcast days. Through the hottest months of the year, you might even get enough energy to power an entire floor of your office building. You can imagine what this is going to do for your business bills.
Many people have turned off the idea due to the substantial investment you have to make in the tech used. However, this tech will pay for itself in just a few years, and you’ll wonder why you waited so long in the first place.
Don’t forget, by using the renewable power you are sending a clear message to customers, and we will talk about the impact that this can have a little further down.
#2 Using The Latest Tech
Investing in the latest tech is always going to help your business be a little more green, or indeed a lot! The car industry is a brilliant example of this. You might be running a business that requires a large fleet of vehicles.
Is it time to start looking into investing in hybrids or indeed, electric cars? It could be, and while the cost is indeed going to be an issue, it’s one that could be worth bearing. After all, in the long run, you will save a lot of money on fuel, and you might also be able to keep the cars for longer before they need upgrading.
For a more basic switch related to new tech, you could consider looking into replacing all the bulbs in your office or business building with LEDs.
By doing this, you will save a lot of money on energy and the bulbs last for thousands of hours. They’ll probably still be going strong when you eventually decide to quit and don’t cost that much more than the typical bulbs that you are probably using now.
#3 Use Biodegradable Materials
Take a leaf out of Amazons books and make sure that if you are packaging products and shipping them to customers or clients that you are using materials that are completely biodegradable.
You’d notice that Amazon very rarely ship a product in any packaging that can’t be easily disposed of and broken down.
This does again have an impact on customer perception but it also saves them a lot of money and you could use the same tactic. You might want to think about exploring whether you can easily get cheaper, more eco-friendly packaging for your products and save a fortune.
Of course, you could also go another extra mile and work to avoid the use of materials that damage the environment completely. A lot of businesses work hard to cut down their paper usage and ensure that they are not in a position where they are constantly wasting paper.
One of the ways that you can do this is to make sure that filing is digital. That way, you can avoid the use of paper files and in doing so gain the added benefit of keeping your business more secure.
Again, it’s also cheaper because rather than constantly paying for a paper you’re probably just paying for a cloud storage option that various different companies offer.
Now that we’ve looked at how easy it is to save by going green, thus indirectly boosting your revenue, let’s explore how being green could directly make you more money.
Using Green Business For Money Making
#1 Profiting From Waste
One of the best ways to actually make money by going green is to use waste products. There are various ways to do this. You could introduce a recycling scheme where your company recycles the waste and uses it somewhere in the production process instead of paying for more materials. You can also sell it.
In various industries involving wood and agricultural sectors, there is a fair amount of waste. This waste can be converted into blocks of fuel with a briquetter machine. Using a machine like this, the waste can be crushed into cubes that are easy to handle, store and most important of all sell.
Biofuel is becoming increasingly popular, and by selling it, you are introducing a new source of profit into your business model. One that is a byproduct of what you’re already making. You see what we mean? You don’t have to invest any more money because you already have all the resources that you need.
#2 Philanthropy
Any business owner on the market will tell you how crucial it is to stand out and make waves with your company. You need to make sure that both investors and customers are remembering your company for whatever reason.
Otherwise, you’re going to get lost in the shuffle. By introducing an angle to your business model that makes you look like a philanthropist you can do just that and you can still gain profits from doing so.
For instance, tech companies are definitely on the bandwagon of working towards solutions to issues like excess carbon emissions.
This looks like an act of philanthropism, and it could be, but it’s also the route to a new level of profit. So, if you want to find a new group of customers consider offering a service or product that is solely rooted in the concept of going green.
#3 Change Customer Perception
In the past, whether a company was green or not wouldn’t matter.
You wouldn’t win the customer purely by being the greenest option…but you can these days. In fact, some customers might choose a greener company even if they are more expensive than the competition.
That gives you a lot of power on the market, and this is why you do want to think about how your actions of going green impact customer perception.
We already mentioned two ways you can do this. Solar panels on the roof of your building could certainly attract the eye and make your business look futuristic, modern and innovative.
Green packaging can also have an impact because customers quickly notice that it’s easy to get rid of and doesn’t clog up their own. They might even find a use for it themselves.
You can be even more proactive about this, using your advertisements, marketing, and promotion to let customers and clients know about your green achievements. For instance, you might add facts about your company to your packaging. Customers will read them and take note that you are doing your part to help the planet. They’ll want to help you because of this and feel better about themselves because they are using the company that is green.
This will ultimately always lead to increased sales and greater levels of profit. You might have to spend a little or even a lot of money to change your business model, but it will be worth it. Going green will both save and make your business a lot more money, so it’s time to get started.