Permaculture Marketing Course

Design your own ethical marketing strategy for sustainable income that benefits people and planet

*Coming soon*

A guided three-month course for changemaking small business owners who want a more regenerative, humane and calm alternative to hustle-culture marketing.

Hands holding world
Hands holding world

What if marketing was a force for good — in your business and for the planet?

Imagine a future where marketing your business feels so connective, helpful and values-aligned that you actually enjoy it (even just a little).

Imagine if…

  • Marketing wasn’t about manipulation, but helping the right people find good-quality things that genuinely support them.
  • Business success was measured not just in revenue, but also in wellbeing for people, communities and the planet.
  • People could trust marketing, knowing any claims were based on honesty and integrity.
  • A growing movement of for-purpose business owners was making ethical marketing the new normal.

The Permaculture Marketing Course is born from this place of imagination and active hope. Perhaps it’s a future you’d like to be part of, too?

Permaculture Marketing is:

An alternative to extractive marketing

Conventional marketing is built on force, pressure, manipulation and the fallacy of endless growth. It doesn’t feel good because it usually isn’t good for you, other people or our planet.

Based on Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share

Permaculture Marketing is kinder on you, your customers and the wider world. It’s a holistic system, guided by the patterns of nature, that helps you make more ethical choices that benefit all.

Made for small business owners

Often, we think the problem is us — that we’re ‘bad’ at marketing or lack confidence. While that can be true, the deeper issue is the system we’ve inherited. Yet small businesses are agile, and together we can champion a more positive approach.

What you’ll learn inside the Permaculture Marketing Course

This is NOT an “exact blueprint”, a “proven framework” or a one-size-fits-all model.

Instead, it’s like a choose-your-own-adventure map built on nature-based thinking and permaculture design.

Equipped with a set of practical tools, you’ll design a marketing system that flexibly fits your own unique human capacity, skills and business model, the needs of your customers and the planetary limits we all live within.

Core lessons and modules:

Permaculture Ethics & Principles: Learn the ethical code and thinking tools that underpin everything else, helping you approach marketing with a holistic, regenerative, systems-thinking mindset.

The Tree of Five Needs: Understand what a healthy, ethical business truly needs to survive and thrive, so you know what to focus on first for solid results.

The Four-Step Design Spiral: Get my simplified permaculture design process (Observe → Design → Implement → Iterate) to help you make all kinds of marketing decisions, big or small.

Deep Why & Purpose: Clarify the mission and deeper purpose driving your work, beyond just making a profit, so your marketing becomes more meaningful and authentic.

Niche & Ideal Audience: Pinpoint the people you want to work with and understand their real needs, so your offerings and marketing approach make them feel seen and understood.

Core Offerings: Design excellent-quality services or products that genuinely transform your clients’ lives and bring in stable income, making marketing easier and your business more fulfilling.

Marketing Toolkit & Content Strategy: Instead of forcing yourself onto platform you hate, learn how to intentionally choose tools and channels that suit your strengths, energy and audience.

+ Bonus mini-trainings: Access an ever-growing library of practical resources showing you how to make the most of key marketing tools, from websites and social media to newsletters, blogging, SEO and more.

Screenshots of testimonials from happy past participants
Screenshots of testimonials from happy past participants

Learn how to design a marketing system that feels calm, manageable and aligned with your purpose (and is profitable, too)

By layering your business model, offerings and marketing strategy with permaculture thinking, you’ll steadily grow your business’s reputation and revenue — expanding your capacity to do good in the world.

  • Communicate your business and offerings in a kind, clear and respectful way that’s genuine, human and connective.

  • Attract clients aligned with your mission and values, who are ready and excited to work with you, and who appreciate your approach.

  • Build steadier income and more predictable business growth, so you have more time and resources to chase your big dreams and purpose.

  • Learn to make solid marketing decisions based on observation, experimentation and feedback loops rather than trends or fear.

  • Gain repeatable systems you can apply to any stage of business — from starting up to growing sustainably.

  • Create offers and marketing systems that serve both people and planet, while bringing in tidy profit.

  • Understand how to apply permaculture principles to business growth and marketing strategy.

Permaculture Marketing Course founder Koren Helbig with her computer

I believe ethical marketing can help fuel the regenerative business revolution our planet so urgently needs

Heya, I’m Koren Helbig, and for 20+ years, I’ve helped brilliant businesses of all sizes and persuasions ethically grow their income and impact online.

Now I’m taking all that experience and creating the Permaculture Marketing Course — the first time anyone has systematically applied permaculture design to ethical marketing.

My big dream is that Permaculture Marketing helps shift the (currently pretty gross) global marketing culture, turning it into a for-good tool that helps for-purpose businesses thrive.

Because if we want to build a more liveable world for the future, we need far more businesses embracing regenerative models right now.

This is perfect for you if:

  • You’re a sole trader or small business owner (under 10 staff) who wants your business to create a meaningful, positive ripple effect in the world.

  • You believe business can be a force for good and you care about more than just profit — purpose, people and planet also matter to you.

  • You’re motivated to handle most of your marketing yourself, but feel overwhelmed by all the options and need help making smart, strategic choices.

  • You feel uncomfortable with manipulative or pushy conventional marketing and crave a more humane, simple and honest approach.

  • You want your marketing to reflect who you really are, not some watered-down or hyper-polished version.

  • You’re thoughtful, self-aware and open to questioning the default way business is done.

  • You’d love to connect with a small community of like-minded business owners and ethical entrepreneurs.

This may not be a good fit if:

  • You’re still figuring out your core business focus or what your main offers will be long-term.

  • Your business is purely about making money. This course is for those who care about their wider impact.

  • You prefer speed over depth. Permaculture Marketing takes a systems thinking approach, which requires zooming out to clock wider patterns before jumping into action.

  • You don’t have the time and headspace to apply what you learn — plan on at least a couple of hours a week.

  • You’re under financial pressure and urgently need fast results. This is a slow, sustainable approach, and momentum typically builds over 6-12 months.

** Launching in late 2026 **

Join the course waitlist

Add your deets below and I’ll email you when bookings open. Plus, get a free sneak-peek lesson from inside the Permaculture Marketing Course.

Screenshots of testimonials from happy past participants

Permaculture Marketing Course ~ frequently asked questions:

Permaculture is a practical design system for creating sustainable ways of living, 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 literally any context to help you make better choices. Yep, that includes your business and marketing.

Permaculture Marketing is my unique approach, which weaves permaculture’s three core ethics — Earth Care, People Care and Fair Share — into the promotion of good businesses. It’s thoughtful, strategic, values-led and always considers the quadruple bottom line: purpose, people, planet and profit.

Good question! I’m currently designing and beta-testing all of the frameworks, materials and instructional videos, and taking the same slow and steady approach that you’ll learn inside the Permaculture Marketing Course.

At this stage, I’m aiming to release a small number of pilot tickets for sale in July, with first classes starting in August.

Another great question! Haha. I’m still figuring that bit out, too. Your best bet is to join the waitlist, as I’ll email that crew first when the course is ready (and possibly even offer you a little early bird discount, too).

My future intention is to offer sliding scale pricing and Fair Share scholarships, to help ensure the course is accessible for the broadest range of people.

Children aged under 18 will also be able to join for free when you enrol as a paying adult.

The pilot program is likely to run for three months. You’ll need to set aside at least two hours each week (more is better!) to work through the prerecorded course videos, workbooks and other materials. You may also wish to attend the regular live group calls, although these are optional and will also be recorded for those who can’t attend live.

Not at all. While permaculture originated within land-based systems, the principles are really about observing patterns, designing thoughtfully and working with living systems — which absolutely includes businesses. You don’t need to be farming or growing vegetables (unless you want to).

I’ve designed this course specifically for:

  • Small business owners (under 10 staff)
  • Sole traders
  • Creative freelancers
  • Small non-profits and community groups
  • Marketing consultants who want to offer a more sustainable service to their clients.

Essentially, if your business values the quadruple bottom line — purpose, people, planet and profit — this course is a good fit.

Yeah, for sure. The course is predominantly aimed at service-based businesses and so speaks that kind of language, but all of the frameworks, tools and ideas will be translatable across to product-based businesses, too, as well as non-profits, community groups, etc.

Yep. Permaculture Marketing is more like a choose-your-own-adventure map than a fixed formula or funnel.

We’ll look at your strengths, capacity, audience and business purpose, then design from there. Social media might be one marketing option — but it’s never the only one. There are heaps of other ways to build visibility and connection, such as long-form content, email, SEO, podcasts and slower relationship-based strategies.

The point is figuring out a system that serves your unique needs and capacity, works for your audience, minimises environmental impact and is doable long-term.

I love your enthusiasm :) Here are a few resources to kick-start your thinking:

  • First up, join the course waitlist — I’ll flick you a sneak-peek lesson from inside the Permaculture Marketing Course, as a little freebie.
  • 4 DIY strategies to get you started with Permaculture Marketing — this free on-demand workshop covers four foundational strategies that I often see small business owners get wrong. It’s stuff you’ll be able to action immediately.
  • How to use the three permaculture ethics in business and marketing — a blog post explainer on ethics and values as a moral compass pointing you to a true north that benefits all.
  • From What Is to What If by Rob Hopkins — a book on the power of imagination, which inspired some of my thinking about a more positive future for the marketing industry, and will probably get your imaginative juices flowing, too.
  • Active Hope by Chris Johnstone and Joanna Macy — another hugely inspirational book for me, about the practice of taking concrete steps toward the beautiful future you dearly hope will eventuate, even while feeling the deep pain and grief of present reality. A crucial skill for turbulent modern times.

Want to be notified when the course launches?

And if you still have questions? Email me at hello@korenhelbig.com, and I’ll respond within 2-4 business days. Thanks for your interest in my Permaculture Marketing Course :)