Introduction

1. Some decent points that will need to be considered

2. This was drafted from an Eco friendly product perspective

3. This kind of thought process - if we do proceed with a Project will be put into a brainstorming type document with check boxes, task lists etc to keep track, monitor referenced information etc

High Priority (Essential Questions)

1. Identify the Need:

   • What specific problem or inefficiency does this product address?

   • How does it align with cradle-to-cradle principles?

2. Target Market:

   • Who is the ideal customer, and what values do they hold?

   • What price point aligns with the product’s premium and sustainable nature?

3. Differentiation:

   • What makes this product unique in the market?

   • How does it justify the higher price point?

4. Material Selection:

   • Are the materials ethically sourced, durable, and cradle-to-cradle compliant?

   • Can the product be easily refurbished or recycled?

5. Competitor Analysis:

   • Who are the competitors, and what gaps or weaknesses exist in their products?

   • How significant is the risk of replication?

Medium Priority (Important but Secondary)

1. Feasibility:

   • Can the supply chain support production at scale?

   • Is the production process efficient and adaptable?

2. Brand and IP Protection:

   • Are any features patentable or eligible for design rights?

   • Can strong branding reduce price-based competition?

3. Marketing and Storytelling:

   • How will you communicate the product’s lifecycle and premium quality?

   • What channels best reach the intended audience?

4. Testing and Feedback:

   • How will prototypes be tested and refined?

   • Is there a plan for gathering user feedback?

Low Priority (Post-Launch Considerations)

1. Post-Launch Strategy:

   • What metrics will define success (e.g., sales, lifecycle impact)?

   • How will maintenance or end-of-life recycling be handled?

2. Competitor Response:

   • How will you innovate to stay ahead of imitators?

   • Is the niche profitable yet small enough to deter competition?

Introduction

1. Demographics - Age, Sex, Lifestyle, Hobbies & Interests, Social factors, Parents, Health etc

2. Your product may be geared up to favour a particular demographic type - maybe you want reverse engineer and start with a demographic and then think of products! Just a thought

3. Remember if you are paying for Ads on Social Media you can use filters to target the demographic you want, even down to area if you deliver a personal or local service

Summary in 3 Points:

1. Different marketing approaches and platforms will appeal to different demographics

2. But it's not just the marketing platforms you use, your whole brand identity or particular products and how they are portrayed and presented on your website should also be attractive to your target audience.

3. It's probably also worth keeping on your radar that people on social media may see your post or advert, maybe its not something they need but it may be useful to someone they know.

With a Facebook business page, you can:

1. Build Brand Awareness: Share content to attract followers and introduce your brand values and mission.

2. Engage Directly with Customers: Respond to comments, messages, and use Facebook's built-in tools for real-time interaction.

3. Drive Traffic to Your Website: Use links in posts, ads, and calls-to-action (CTAs) on the page to direct users to your e-commerce site.

4. Gather Customer Feedback: You can post polls or run informal questionnaires directly on Facebook, though complex surveys are better linked to a dedicated site for data management.

5. Run Targeted Ads: Facebook Ads Manager allows you to target specific audiences based on demographics, interests, and behaviours.

Facebook Page

You don’t need to register a business formally with Facebook to create a business page, though it helps to have a clear brand identity and contact information. A physical location isn't required; plenty of e-commerce-only brands thrive on Facebook.

As for growing a following and driving traffic, Facebook is strong but often works best in tandem with other platforms (like Instagram) to create broader visibility. A website-based questionnaire is often ideal for capturing structured feedback, though you can use short polls on Facebook to spark engagement. Facebook can act as a stepping stone to direct users to your website for more detailed feedback collection.

Analytics

Yes, statistics consistently show that women tend to engage more on social media and have a higher influence on household purchasing decisions, especially in categories like home goods, health, and sustainable products. Studies highlight that women often have greater purchasing power in household spending, with many making daily buying decisions and conducting product research online.

In terms of demographics, women are more active on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest—sites commonly used for product discovery and brand interaction. This makes them a valuable audience segment for your eco-friendly, cradle-to-cradle household products. However, men are increasingly part of the decision-making process for sustainable and high-quality home goods. Tailoring your ads to emphasize environmental impact, quality, and design can appeal to both groups, with perhaps a slight skew in messaging toward women for engagement purposes.

Quality Products

For promoting mid- to high-end products, platforms like Instagram and Facebook can be particularly effective for reaching an audience with higher disposable income.

• Instagram: Known for a slightly younger demographic, Instagram’s engagement with premium brands is high. The platform has a strong base of users in the 25-45 age range who are open to spending more on quality products, especially when aesthetics and brand values align with their lifestyle.

• Facebook: Although slightly older than Instagram’s core demographic, Facebook has a broad reach and includes many users aged 35 and up, a group that generally has more disposable income and often values quality. This audience tends to be more settled in terms of finances and may prioritize sustainability and durability over the lowest price.

• Pinterest: Often overlooked, Pinterest is highly effective for showcasing visually appealing, high-quality products, especially in categories like home goods, cooking, and lifestyle. It has a user base that frequently uses the platform to plan purchases and find inspiration, with a higher percentage of female users who are often decision-makers for household spending.

If you're looking to highlight quality and longevity, these platforms allow for rich visual storytelling and can attract an audience willing to invest in sustainable, cradle-to-cradle products.

How to Get New Customers - Circular Economy Slant

Introduction

1. This information was previously stored in my Notion Software Account. Within Notion, there are literally hundreds of templates, some free and some not. Notion does have a free template 'Business in a Box' some of it is ok, some not, but they do have a huge section on this subject 'Getting Customers' - so it could be at least me revisiting this for nuggets of useful insights.

2. As I couldn't extract the info out of Notions Template, below I have listed some other worthwhile info.

3. In particular depending on the type of product, exploring either repeat business, renewables, or creating some form of product leasing - refurbishment - these kind of ideas are potentially useful considerations with an environmentally friendly product offering.

Conclusions

• A huge area after you have a service or product to offer.

• Marketing (if paid for) is very expensive and this needs to be accounted for in your pricing - do NOT underestimate how expensive marketing can be.

• When you get customers, you want their experience to be a good one, it is far easier to attract repeat custom, or new leads via word of mouth (or kickbacks for the introducer) than to get that initial lead.

• I'll create another Note covering some of the different marketing routes.

Main Content Body

There is a huge piece under the ‘Start up in a Box’ under the ‘Scale’ tab, called ‘How to Get New Users’ there is literally around 4 hours of reading (if you read the whole thing) it’s broken up into sections, but there is a lot of good stuff, so definitely worth a good look at, lots of tips to help avoid expensive mistakes. Wasn’t able to copy it in to Aardelia, maybe size, whatever.

Ellen MacArthur Foundation

There is a lot on the site under the Business Section which I have read, all along the lines of Marketeers can develop new markets - guide their companies into a strategic circular way of marketing - income streams for their businesses.

So this pulls away from the Make - Use - Waste or linear approach, with a circular approach you are now looking at maximising a product, so this could be extending it’s life (not building in failure) make the product last longer by perhaps spares, or there is also quite a focus on new ways of delivering a products purpose, so this could be on a subscription, it could be buy back scheme, refurbishing etc., so try and keep the product in use and to not depend on using the Earths finite resources to get into the same cycle of Make - Use - Waste.

But the main takeaway for us is that by structuring your offering in this way, you are building your brand reputation and are creating repeat business, it’s obviously preferential from a marketing perspective to hold onto that customer after the initial marketing expense of getting them to put some trust in your product / brand.

There is also a large amount of information on how this changes your supply chain, and reviewing how a supply chain needs to change with a circular approach and finally there is also a significant piece by the worlds largest marketing analytic firm, their findings show that pretty much 52% of people are loosing faith with brands, don’t believe a lot of their statements in regards to green / eco and anything else, as we (the population) are becoming wiser and starting to realise that, the majority of us do not believe that companies have our best interest at heart and are mainly - or all in for profit alone.

This was all really triggered by Neil's link to a course on this subject, Oxford Uni £1600
Note, this was a while back, but the course does still look to be available £1665 for a 6 week online course

I looked into this a few years ago. Could be of interest.
https://online.em.jbs.cam.ac.uk/circular-economy-sustainability-strategies

As a result of the above customer reviews and looking into the Foundations site, here is a very basic Chat overview, of ReSOLVE & AIDA:

🔄 ReSOLVE Framework

Overview:

The ReSOLVE framework, developed by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and McKinsey & Co., outlines six actions businesses can take to transition towards a circular economy. It helps design strategies that regenerate natural systems, keep products and materials in use, and decouple growth from resource consumption.

Actions:

• Regenerate: Shift to renewable energy and materials; restore ecosystems and biodiversity.

• Share: Maximise product use through sharing models, reuse, and second-hand markets.

• Optimise: Increase product performance or efficiency; remove waste from production and supply chains.

• Loop: Keep components/materials in closed loops via recycling, remanufacturing, and refurbishing.

• Virtualise: Deliver utility virtually (e.g. digital services replacing physical products).

• Exchange: Replace old materials/technologies with advanced renewables or circular alternatives.

🧱 7 Pillars of a Circular Economy

Overview:

Arup and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation compiled seven core pillars that offer a holistic foundation for businesses and designers aiming to apply circular principles across systems and value chains.

Pillars:

• Design for circularity: Prioritise products and systems that enable reuse, repair, and recycling.

• Preserve and extend what's already made: Keep products, components, and materials in use longer.

• Use waste as a resource: Reintroduce materials back into production systems (industrial symbiosis).

• Rethink business models: Enable circular flows via service models, leasing, or product-as-a-service.

• Team up to create joint value: Collaborate across sectors, disciplines, and communities.

• Strengthen and advance knowledge: Invest in training, education, and innovation for circularity.

• Accelerate the shift with digital tech: Use data and smart tech (like IoT, blockchain) to enable circular solutions.

📣 AIDA Marketing Model

Overview:

The AIDA model maps the four key stages of a customer’s journey from first awareness to purchase. It’s a timeless tool for structuring marketing communications and aligning messages to customer intent.

Stages:

• Awareness: Grab attention via striking visuals, questions, or bold headlines.

• Interest: Build curiosity with relevant benefits and storytelling (e.g. cradle-to-cradle thinking).

• Desire: Strengthen emotional connection; highlight values, sustainability, and design appeal.

• Action: Encourage conversion with clear calls-to-action, simple checkout, or limited-time offers.

Introduction

1. In your marketing - could be an Ad, Social Media or as part of your web copy.

2. Ask a question and do not just state a fact or a statement.

Summary in 3 Points:

1. See main body

Conclusions

• A person reads a question, this triggers cognitive dissonance - as opposed to reading / scanning over a statement.

• A statement or even a fact can be read and forgotten almost instantly.

• Questions and images can hold a visitors attention and generate thought - an emotional connection is what you are after.

Main Content Body

Ask Binary questions, here is an example:

A sign says “Please Recycle” another says “Will you recycle?”
Research suggests the latter is more effective as a question encourages motivating a behaviour. They are a catalyst for action and change.

When reading a statement you just passively read it and therefore it can be ignored, a question however gets your brain racing and you may see yourself performing that action, this may be a moral obligation, its all down to cognitive dissonance apparently.

There is not a lot of power in a statement, the power is in a question, so ask questions to raise a response, that spark may be enough to keep that visitor engaged, if engaged they may read and learn more.

This can lead us nicely on to another observation:

5 Seconds of marketing effort

Think fast. You need to engage and get someone's attention quickly, otherwise they will slip away.

It’s about storytelling, you need to craft an emotional concise narrative. Maybe think of someone who is having a bad morning, how would you make them stop and take notice?

A Question therefore on the Homepage or on your Marketing material instead of an initial statement should hopefully perk interest.

There will be a lot more to think about than just a question with the 5 seconds are marketing effort - a grabbing headline, a striking image - something that resonates with your target audience.

Introduction

1. This is where your analytics come into play

2. Getting people to take action

3. This could be from a Social Media marketing post, your website - anywhere where you are trying to get engagement from a customer or potential customer

Summary in 3 Points:

1. CRO encourages customer engagement, typically with ACTION BUTTONS in the digital world

2. CRO is probably just as critical as SEO

3. SEO gets your website visible, CRO gets the visitor to take action

Conclusions

• I think you should use your ACTION BUTTONS wisely, normally with an accent colour, most websites would draw attention to the action button - Squarespace for example gives you 3 different button options which you can configure differently, shape, colour etc., you can therefore draw more attention to some buttons over others.

• But it's not just about Buttons, it could be driving visitors to your website from a Social Media Post, with a link, with an image etc.

Main Content Body

Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO).
As well as Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), you need CRO, CRO is getting a visitor to make an action on your website.
This ultimately for us will be buying a product, but it could also be:
Signing up for a newsletter, taking part in an online survey for product development/feedback, reading our blog and maybe offering comments.
A recent Experian study suggests that 90% of buyers research a product online prior to buying offline.
This could lead us into a whole new subject area of capturing and publishing customer feedback, website, Google, Feefo etc.

Define what you want visitors to do, this may be 1. Purchase product 2. Take part in a survey 3. Sign up for a newsletter, membership. Whatever your priorities are focus on this for your CRO.

Keep your information clear, make it easy for visitors to find what they are looking for.
Landing pages can be designed per product as part of marketing campaigns, make your main site is super easy to navigate with frequent Call To Action buttons etc.
For SEO according to ChatGPT concentrate on the Home page and then the next level of pages, bots probably won’t go much further down any subfolder structure for SEO.

Your conversion rate is how many people take action Versus how many visit.
In theory a higher conversion rate will lead to higher sales and engagement so CRO is equally as critical as SEO if not more so.