What is Permaculture Marketing? A kinder and calmer way to grow your small business

When most people hear ‘permaculture’, they think garden design and plants. But it’s actually a brilliant way to rethink your business marketing, too.

And when you apply the permaculture framework to your digital marketing, you can grow your ethical small business in a way that’s kind to you, your customers and the planet.

To help you get started, I’ve created a free on-demand Permaculture Marketing workshop teaching you how to layer permaculture thinking over four digital marketing strategies to help your biz grow sustainably.

These strategies are simple, practical and DIY-able — because sometimes we learn best by doing, right?

Pop your deets here and I’ll send you the workshop straight away:

Permaculture — what is it and how can it be applied to marketing

So, what is permaculture, exactly? Permaculture is a practical design system for creating sustainable ways of living and working, inspired by the laws of nature.

It’s not just about gardening, either. It’s a design system for life, which can be applied to any context — including your business and marketing — to help you make better, more sustainable choices.

I love that permaculture takes a ‘whole systems’ approach, zooming out to spot wider patterns and understand how differing elements of a ‘system’ (say, your business or its clients) intersect.

This helps us design thoughtful, integrated solutions that work together and benefit all — just like in nature.

Whether you’re designing a garden or growing an ethical business, I recommend following my simplified four-step permaculture process:

Observe → design → implement → iterate.

Those first two stages, observe and design, are like the permaculture planning stage, where you get everything down on paper before implementing anything in the real world.

Mapping out a permaculture-infused marketing strategy as carefully as you would an edible garden design helps ensure you make wiser choices that bring more dollars in the door, without compromising on values.

That’s the power of a whole-systems approach — and that’s where permaculture really shines.

Who is Permaculture Marketing for?

Before we get deeper into the nuts and bolts of what is permaculture marketing and how to start using it in your business and marketing, let’s take a closer look at who this approach works best for.

Permaculture-infused marketing isn’t just for farmers and gardeners — I firmly believe it’s for any business that values the triple bottom line: people, planet and profit.

We all need to make a living, of course. The economic bottom line matters, and being financially stable is crucial for those of us who are driven to do good in the world.

But it’s when your business also considers people and planet that you really start engaging with the permaculture framework. That’s when you begin to align with the three core permaculture ethics: Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share.

I’d argue that we need a rapid shift toward this kind of business model across all industries if we want to build a regenerative future for our planet.

And I truly believe this triple bottom line approach can work for any business.

The permaculture-infused marketing approach works best for:

• Small business owners who lead with heart and aim to make a positive impact on our planet.
• Businesses that consider the triple bottom line: people, planet and profit.
• Ethically-minded businesses of ANY type: sole traders, personal brands, service-based businesses, eCommerce businesses – using permaculture within your marketing is not just for farmers and gardeners.

Whatever space you’re in, if you’re committed to ethical business, then Permaculture Marketing can absolutely work for you.

4 key strategies to get you started with marketing and permaculture

This workshop is like a ‘getting started’ guide to doing marketing differently.

I’ll show you how to layer permaculture principles over four specific marketing strategies so you can start growing your business with more kindness and integrity (and way less stress).

In my 20+ years of experience in marketing and communications, these four strategies are the ones I’ve too often seen small business owners get wrong.

But they’re seriously foundational — and also totally DIY-able and practical.

The four foundational strategies are:

• Strategy 1: An unusual approach to setting your marketing budget, which ensures you’re creating a plan that’s honest and doable within your own unique human capacity.
• Strategy 2: The importance of branding — and the key step that most graphic designers don’t even know to check when creating your brand look and feel (plus how to check it yourself using a free tool).
• Strategy 3: How key messages and unique selling points (USPs) can become a ‘renewable resource’ powering growth in your business.
• Strategy 4: How to select the right marketing channels to ensure diversity and financial resilience without running yourself ragged trying to be on every platform.
• Plus: How to layer permaculture principles over these four strategies to get even more impact and sustainable growth.

Get instant access to the free workshop:

How I’ve developed the Permaculture Marketing approach

If we haven’t met before, I’m Koren Helbig, a digital marketing strategist based in Australia.

I’ve spent two decades working across pretty much every type of communications project you can think of — I’ve helped launch businesses big and small, revamped dozens of websites, grown social media accounts into triple digits and helped raise millions for charity.

But things shifted for me in 2017, when I completed my Permaculture Design Certificate.

As it does for many people, that course changed how I saw the world and how I approached business. It planted the seed (pun very much intended) for the work I do now.

These days, I intentionally weave permaculture thinking into every area of my ethical digital marketing agency.

My goal is to help kindhearted small business owners (like you) communicate your work in a way that amplifies your voice and your positive impact on the world — without having to hustle, use pushy sales tactics, be online 24/7 or resort to ethically questionable practices that don’t align with your values (gross).

I love working with purpose-driven folks in Australia and beyond because I genuinely believe these are the kinds of businesses we need as we navigate the climate crisis.

And to me, permaculture offers a brilliant framework to help sustainable businesses thrive without needing to sacrifice our values.

This marketing approach is regenerative, ethical, human-scale, doable at every level and just feels good.

I hope you enjoy this free Permaculture Marketing workshop and that it sparks some fresh ideas for growing your business in a way that feels aligned, energising and sustainable.

Aaaand here’s the workshop sign-up button one last time:

Frequently asked questions about the permaculture & marketing workshop