Marketing: How To

Are you planning a print buy for a direct mail campaign, business cards or brochures? Before you buy, check out epat.org, the Environmental Paper Assessment Tool. This tool enables you to weigh the social, economic and environmental components and then locate the best paper for your needs.

OK, this is not really related to marketing. Let’s just imagine that you are a market researcher trying to gauge the population’s interest in local industry…. In which case, this might be of interest to you.

As a newbie (and borderline obsessed) gardener, I wanted to post an interesting tidbit from one of my favorite blogs: You Grow Girl.

It seems that this year “vegetable seed sales outstripped, …those of flowers for the first time since the 1950s.”

I am just in awe and so delighted! If you are interested, the article can be found here.

With more competitors “green washing” the minds of consumers; what is a truly green company to do?

The onslaught of green propaganda creates three problems that you, the marketer of your product/service, must tackle: 1) the consumer does not know what constitutes as a green product or service, 2) the consumer does not know what green product/service to trust and 3) why should the consumer care that your company is a green supplier?

Tackling problem #1 and #2 can be packed into your positioning statement, then reiterated in all of your marketing messages. With any positioning statement, you must live your business philosophy to the fullest. This means if you position yourself as a green company; your product development, your marketing, your business logistics and all of your shareholders must truly believe in the green ideology. Tackling problem #3 is getting easier day-by-day as the consumer’s paradigm shifts to concern for the environment. Read the article in its entirety here.

- Abby Herrera, Sprite Marketing

I belong to the Portland ECO Business Network and I have witnessed a trend involving my colleagues eliminating all direct mail from their marketing mix. In fact, most green conscious business owners are quick to move all of their marketing online. While I do agree a diversified marketing mix is very effective, I am hesitant to recommend that businesses just toss out their direct mail initiatives. In fact, as much as I love online marketing initiatives, just think about the energy your computer is consuming just reading this post I wrote. A 24kg desktop computer (with monitor) requires 10 times its weight in fossil fuels and chemicals to manufacture. Once we get past the manufacturing of the computer, let’s think about the energy consumed to run server farms.

I am definitely not advocating wasteful marketing initiatives, but don’t be so quick to unload your direct mail initiatives. Mail out the materials on recycled paper, use soy inks and incorporate proper CRM (customer relationship management) techniques that will allow you to segment your message and audience for maximum impact.

Best,

Abby Herrera, Sprite Marketing