5 Digital Marketing Mistakes That Hurt Your Business (And The Planet)
Digital marketing practices are like politicians.
There are some good ones out there, but it’s the sneaky, insidious ones that give the whole bunch a bad name.
One way or another, you’ve got to engage in digital marketing to get the word out there about your business or organisation. But, unfortunately, if uninformed decisions are made, it can have knock-on effects for both your business and the environment.
In this article, we’ll be exploring the common digital marketing mistakes that businesses make and how they can have a negative impact on future profitability and sustainability. Whether it’s ignoring people who have opted out of communications or mishandling digital ads, we’ll quickly identify the errors - and importantly, provide solutions to set your digital marketing back on a healthy track.
Get ready to revitalise your marketing strategies, preserve the planet and create a sustainable business success by staying away from these digital marketing mistakes.
Excessive digital advertising campaigns
Business owners often believe that targeting large audiences is the way to bring in the most customers. This is one of the most common digital marketing mistakes to avoid.
Non-profits are particularly guilty of this, thanks to Google Grants. The scheme allows charities to utilise $10,000 a month in advertising budget, and many organisations choose to blast their messages to as many people as possible without considering the consequences.
While it’s true that putting your marketing efforts into ads can give your business more bang for its buck, excessive digital advertising can be both a waste of money and extremely harmful to the environment.
The truth is, digital advertising uses a huge amount of energy and resources.
According to Purpose Disruptors, in the UK alone, advertising is responsible for an average 32% uptick in the carbon footprint of the average consumer, and a typical campaign is estimated to produce 5.4 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
If you target too many people, you’re essentially just wasting energy (yours and the planets), since it will be used on people who won’t even be interested in what you’re offering.
So, why not just target a smaller group of people for better and greener results?
Because targeting excessively can slow your growth and actually drive customers away. Excessive targeting is the reason I can’t watch a YouTube video without being told that I’m running on the treadmill the wrong way. When you bombard the same people with the same ads, they quickly become apathetic to the message and start avoiding it if possible. This means you’ll end up paying for ads that are actually repelling people instead of drawing them in.
Also, it’s likely that you’ll have to do a fair amount of testing to narrow down the audience that you know works best for your business. That means that your average ad campaign will end up going through 2 - 3 iterations before you really nail it down, increasing the environmental impact.
Digital activities make up 3.5% of greenhouse emissions, and that’s not slowing down.
We can’t stop that entirely, but we can do a few key things to limit digital advertising’s environmental impact:
Only run an ad campaign if it has a clear purpose, start and end point, and you already know your target audience. No more “brand name” ads running in the background, targeting whoever types your organisation’s name into Google;
If you have to use digital ads, try to limit the size of your pictures and videos. Where possible, use a text-only format;
Check your advertising carbon emissions, and offset the damage done. Be aware, however, that many carbon offset schemes have a lot of work to do and function more as a type of virtue signalling;
Where possible, target people through organic and earned digital marketing instead of using ads.
By paying attention to your targeting strategies, you can make sure your marketing efforts are reaching the right people without wasting resources or money.
Email spam
Email spam is one of the most common and detrimental digital marketing mistakes that can damage your business’ reputation and the planet.
Spam is an unwelcome interruption in our inbox, clogging it up with useless and intrusive material, as well as taking up storage space. In addition, the energy and resources used to create and power the internet infrastructure required to process and send millions of spam emails is nothing to scoff at.
According to the BBC, a standard personal email has a carbon footprint of around 4g CO2, based on a 2010 study from Mike Berners-Lee's book, "How Bad Are Bananas?" However, if an email has a large attachment, its carbon footprint could be as high as 50g CO2. Berners-Lee's research suggests that the energy used to send emails by an average business person in a year would be sufficient to power a car for 200 miles.
Now, consider your own open rates. Chances are, they’re somewhere between the 15% - 25% mark. Meaning you’re sending potentially thousands of emails, most of which are going unnoticed, at a huge cost to the planet.
“Our plan to solve the climate crisis is to send millions of people unsolicited emails about the climate crisis. Yes, our open rate is still 2%. No further questions, Jimmy.”
Spam emails come in all shapes and sizes, from generic "new offers!" messages, to ads for long-forgotten products and services. Not only does spam make our inboxes unusable, it can also lead to security risks of our personal data being exposed.
In order to limit your email marketing’s negative impact:
Regularly eliminate bounced email addresses and inactive subscribers to avoid sending unnecessary emails to those who have no chance of opening them;
Consistently interact with your email subscribers to ensure they still want to receive your communications. Knowing their interests will help you send only relevant emails;
Emails that are well-segmented achieve better results. Delivering targeted messages to your audience ensures that emails are not simply ignored or deleted without being read;
Use platforms like Ecosend that put climate consciousness at the core of their business. You can also use their Carbon Calculator to check your newsletter’s carbon footprint;
Delete unwanted emails - both from your personal and professional inbox.
Spam is an annoyance that can have an enormous negative impact on our lives and our planet. The consequences of using digital marketing tactics that involve email spam outweigh any potential benefits.
Unsustainable website design
One of the major digital marketing mistakes that can hurt both your business and the planet is neglecting to make your website sustainable.
Website with big files such as pictures and videos, lots of bright colours and invasive pop-ups supposedly enhance the user experience, if user experience here is another term for “sudden and persistent headache.”
Bigger files take longer to upload, slow page loading speeds and can cause an increase in webpage size. Not only does this make it difficult for consumers to access your website, but the oversized files also suck up an imprudent amount of energy.
And that’s without getting into the energy consumption of the average server and hosting platform.
The machines are locked away behind bullet-proof glass, like a much less sexy version of Ex Machina.
We’ve already discussed the environmental impact of digital technologies, and how they contribute to between 3 - 5% of greenhouse emissions. With that in mind, here are our tips to make your website as sustainable as possible, without sacrificing performance:
The first step is to make sure your website is hosted on sustainable and green servers. These are typically cloud-based, meaning they’re powered by renewable energy sources. This helps to reduce your website’s carbon footprint and is a great way to show that you are taking a proactive approach to sustainability. You can check for green hosting platforms at the Green Web Foundation;
It’s also a good idea to resize images when possible and to use scalable vector graphics. Investing the time to ensure that file sizes are reasonable can save you money and keep your carbon footprint down;
To make sure your website runs as efficiently as possible, it’s important to create content that is engaging and informative, as this will help you to generate more organic traffic, meaning less energy is required for ads or sponsored posts;
Utilizing darker colours for your web design can have a host of benefits, perhaps the most popular being that it can help make your website more sustainable. Not only does dark mode look sleek and modern, but it can also improve battery life on devices that contain screens;
Make sure you and your web development person are on the same page. Poorly optimized websites with inefficient coding can lead to slow page loading times, increasing energy usage for both the server and the user's device.
Check your website’s carbon footprint using the Website Carbon Calculator from Wholegrain Digital. This will also give you some advice on how to make your website more sustainable.
Short-lived content
Short-lived content is a digital marketing practice that focuses on creating and promoting material with a limited lifespan or quickly becomes outdated. This approach is particularly prevalent on social media platforms with fast-paced content cycles, such as Instagram Stories, Snapchat, and TikTok.
While this strategy can help marketers capture users' attention and create a sense of urgency or exclusivity, it also has significant environmental implications. The creation and distribution of short-lived content contribute to the consumption of energy and resources at various stages.
The production process itself can be resource-intensive, involving the use of cameras, lighting, editing software, and more, all of which require electricity.
Secondly, the hosting and distribution of digital content consume energy in data centers and on user devices. As users view, share, and interact with short-lived content, data centers work to store, process, and transmit the information, consuming electricity and producing heat in the process.
Users' devices, such as smartphones, tablets, and computers, also consume energy while loading and displaying the content.
The environmental impact of short-lived content is exacerbated by the fact that it is typically replaced or removed from platforms within a short period, sometimes within 24 hours. As a result, the resources and energy invested in its creation, distribution, and storage may not be utilized as efficiently as possible, leading to increased overall energy consumption and a larger carbon footprint.
This is in contrast to evergreen content, which remains relevant and valuable to users over a more extended period, making more efficient use of the resources and energy consumed during its creation and distribution.
“Short-lived content” was also my pet name for my ex.
We recommend mitigating the environmental impact of short-lived content by focusing on creating higher-quality, evergreen material that remains valuable and engaging to users over time.
Produce in-depth articles, educational resources, or engaging videos that address topics with long-term relevance. This will also win you SEO brownie points;
Rather than continually creating new content, repurpose existing content for different platforms, audiences, or formats. For example, turn a blog post into a video or an infographic, or repurpose snippets from a podcast for social media posts. Recycling content can help extend its lifespan and reduce the energy and resources required for new content creation;
Decrease the frequency of short-lived content posting on social media platforms. Instead, focus on creating more meaningful and engaging content that can have a lasting impact on your audience, even if posted less frequently;
Develop a content calendar that balances short-lived content with evergreen material;
Encourage your audience to create and share content related to your brand, products, or services. User-generated content can help reduce the energy and resources required for content creation while still engaging your audience and promoting your brand.
Greenwashing
Ah, greenwashing, the buzzword of the moment. This is one of the biggest digital mistakes a business can make, the cardinal sin of the marketing world.
By greenwashing, brands attempt to lure in consumers by presenting their products as more environmentally-friendly than they really are. Unfortunately, many of these companies deliver false promises through their ad campaigns, and this can create distrust within the global community.
The truth is, greenwashing involves utilizing marketing tactics that mislead the public about the environmental impact of the product. This could mean prominently displaying logos or images of green landscapes, or making vague statements about responsible sourcing, eco-friendliness or sustainability – but without any concrete facts or evidence to back them up.
Why? Because more and more people are becoming wise to the planet-destroying tactics of companies like IKEA, BP and Nestle; the best way to combat this lack of trust is to funnel millions into public relations, reputation and damage control.
Let’s call a spade a spade here. Greenwashing is a type of propaganda, and should be avoided at all costs if you want to conserve any inch of credibility.
Be open and honest about your organization's environmental policies, practices, and impacts. Share accurate information about your environmental achievements and challenges. Be open to criticism and willing to learn from mistakes, continually improving your environmental practices and seeking to make a genuine difference.
Support your environmental claims with clear evidence and independent verification. Ensure that any claims made can be backed up by facts, data, or certifications from reputable sources.
Steer clear of buzzwords or ambiguous terms that can confuse or mislead consumers. Be specific and clear about the environmental benefits of your products, services, or initiatives.
Obtain certifications from independent, reputable organizations that can attest to the environmental performance of your products, services, or practices.
Ultimately, brands must be conscious of their actions and hold themselves accountable when it come to their green messages. Not only will it make customers more aware of the real green impact of their decisions, but it’ll also create trust, loyalty and a competitive edge in the market. It's important to remember that it is your organisation’s responsibility to deliver messages that are truthful and backed up by solid facts.
Conclusion
Taking the time to be mindful of your strategies, consciously considered your decisions, and implement specific measures with an eye on sustainability can help you protect your business and our planet. Keep in mind that becoming more sustainable doesn’t happen overnight, and this is a long, eye-opening process. The best thing you can do is have an open and honest attitude. Be clear with yourself and your organisation on what needs to improve, and carve out a long-term strategy to make the switch to more sustainable digital marketing practices.
