Sustainable marketing is an approach to marketing that ideally aligns internal organizational processes and organizes resources that create value for stakeholders (owners, shareholders, employees, value chain partners) and through which the external natural and social environments are enriched by the activities of the firm. This approach is used most effectively by organizations that have clearly stated values and goals for their desired effect on their own economic viability, as well as on the natural and social environments they operate within.
The term sustainable marketing applies when an organization takes the perspective that it operates within a finite resource system, and thus has a responsibility to its current and future stakeholders to make strategic decisions for the long-term benefit of the entire system. There are several common frameworks organizations use to develop sustainable strategies. Some sustainability frameworks place value on incorporating the costs of ecosystem services into operations; some try to mimic natural systems in new product development and operations; some try to minimize the firm’s overall carbon footprint; and, some try to change technologies they deploy in order to enhance rather than diminish natural resources.