Reuse and recycling are strategies that companies can use to gain customers. Of course, that commercialization represents a challenge. especially when the past of what is recycled is visible. Unfortunately, recycling or reusing has significant costs, especially if you want the result to show little of its previous use. This implies that recycled products have a price equal to or higher than a new product, especially when its price is set based on costs and not on value.
Convincing consumers to choose reused or recycled products can be challenging, even when they have green or sustainable preferences. An MIT study shows that most consumers prefer new products, or that seeing that they are recycled can reduce their interest in buying. What is desirable is to make reused products desirable to the consumer, seeking to overcome the potential stigma associated with used or discarded materials, thereby increasing their perceived value. The approach is to make the target market feel special and gain something more by opting for a reused product, even though it was made from waste.
There is evidence that consumers like to have a narrative about products made from reused or recycled materials. In other words, customers like to identify themselves, learn about and tell interesting stories about the products they buy, which increases their attractiveness. In this way, the product gains value by focusing on the transformation towards a new product, rather than being perceived as having recycled origins. In these cases, the marketing strategy known as “storytelling” it is very effective
storytelling It consists of narrating or telling stories. As a marketing strategy, the idea is to captivate the consumer through a particular imagination that generates personal value. Telling stories is part of the human being, and his habit of expressing ideas and experiences. The stories help to identify themselves as part of a community, a group or a market segment, as in this case it would be the one that prefers recycled or reused products. Everywhere (advertisements, advertising, among others) we can find stories, narratives that captivate specific consumers.
The strategy of storytelling It must focus on what the consumer lives, experiences, feels, likes, is interested in. By developing an honest story, the company is perceived as such: honest. Indicating the value of recycling or reusing products is insufficient. The accompanying story should be clear, simple and direct, in a word: authentic to the target segment. Being authentic has potential risks, as it can reveal weaknesses, but also highlights strengths. Offering the consumer a story to make them think more about the transformation of the product into something new generates a perception of value that makes it unique and special: it gives it a life story.
You have to turn consumers into storytellers, that’s part of the storytelling. Narratives involve, they are the way in which experience is given meaning. Stories are a great way to imbue product information with meaning, something customers look for wherever they can find it.
This marketing strategy has been used and taken advantage of for a long time. Companies of all kinds use the storytelling successfully. We see examples in Coca-Cola (the family union or evocation of life and freedom); also in Nike, with its slogan “Just do it” or Apple with “Think Different”. For a product with a second life, the story may include a cause such as “having a better or cleaner world”, although this may not be enough, so it is convenient to revitalize the concept, making it personal for each consumer. A theme that supports the above is sharing a story of the recycled product such as Ciel’s that says “I was a bottle”, printed on benches made with recycled bottles. The storytelling It is an important part of every product, but it can be especially useful in recycled or reused ones.
By: Dr. Jorge A. Wise, Professor of Marketing and International Business at CETYS University, member of the CETYS Graduate School of Business