The idea of “going green” has now become very commonplace in the vernacular of your average individual but one area of our modern society which seems to be lacking is that of the small business environment.
Sure, you see many large corporations taking the initiative because they’re publicly traded companies so they can’t afford to anger the consumer market (plus they have the budget) but small businesses generally don’t have that luxury to suddenly flip a switch and become green within a few months.
… or can they?
The following will share how a small business can not only embrace this green way of thinking but exceed in their business (by never missing a stride):
Ditch the print for online marketing – Print has generally been the “fall back” strategy when it comes to marketing in small business because it’s been around since … well … as long as we’ve pretty much had print. However, it’s easy to see that fewer and fewer people are consuming print-based material in exchange for the Web. Small businesses owners can lessen their environmental impact by ditching the media, when advertising, for online marketing.
The wise choice would be to hire an SEO agency to increase your traffic. This is far more valuable in terms of gaining customers because when a site has good SEO, it keeps it high in search rankings and that is more bang for your buck than purchasing a page in a magazine that may never be seen.
No more clunk and junk – Software as a Service (SaaS) has exploded in popularity and value within the last decade because it’s generally inexpensive (more often free), has comparable features to paid software, and takes full advantage of an net connection which grants the service extreme flexibility. Think of one of the most common programs at a small business, accounting tools, and costs quickly add up between the license, hardware updates, backup, training, and more – it gets worse when small businesses are relying on an outdated, archaic paper trail (which, as you’d expect, isn’t great for the environment).
The best solution is to seek SaaS services such as an online accounting program, word processing tools, graphical editors, video recording, audio production, and other related to business. You won’t have the operational costs as you would with normal software, you junk the paper trail, and you improve your ability to stay agile during the daily operations.
Remote work is the next step – What if you had ten employees at your small business. Every day they drive to and from work, maybe they drop off their kids at school, they might go out for lunch, waste is building up in the bins, electric is running on high, cooling costs, and so much more. Think of how much pollution is caused just from the basic actions and functions of the business and those that work there – now think what would happen if a large majority (maybe everyone) worked from home through remote access? Suddenly your costs, environmental impact, and stress take a dive because these factors are now a fraction at where they were prior.
All you need to do is keep an open mind to the concept, provide the tools for the job (such as VoiP phones, online meeting software, project management tools) and you’re ready to cut down on waste and gain a cool edge over the competition that’s stuck in the traditional “office space” mentality.
Would you have ever guessed that a small business could find such ease into going green? This truly shows that you don’t need a massive budget and PR campaign to re-label yourself as a green company – even the smallest business owners can afford to make the transition. What’s stopping yours?
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