Growing green companies should tread cautiously when considering using certifications, marketing hype and eco claims on their product package.

A great article over at Marketing Sherpa explains how you can avoid making some common green marketing mistakes.

Hyping your business or products as environmentally friendly can attract eco-concerned consumers and boost overall customer affinity. But beware! It holds just as many risks. You could get slapped with “greenwashing” your brand.

With a wide variety of certifications offered, and many regulating agencies taking a hand’s off approach to words such as “natural”, entrepreneurs are left to figure out on their own exactly what consumers understand and what they find valuable. As this leaves green marketers in a bit of a lurch, it’s no wonder that:

99% of 1,018 consumer products surveyed were guilty of greenwashing, according to TerraChoice’s ‘Six Sins of Greenwashing’ study.

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