Earth Day came and went quickly this year. It was fun. It generated a ton of media attention and interest all across the world.

But let’s face it–a one day celebration for honoring the planet seems too short — and a bit superficial. I am all for encouraging everyone to becoming more educated on becoming environmentally aware. However, a single day to learn about “becoming more green” will not really change people’s habits and make a significant difference in reducing ones carbon footprint.

As a marketing professional, I help many clients to implement and run loyalty/frequency promotions — and, bottom line, people are creatures of habit. Whether you are trying to quit smoking, beginning an exercise routine, or switching brands (of soap/sandwiches/gasoline/soda, etc.) — it takes 3-4 weeks of consistent behavior in order to truly change gears and learn new patterns of behavior, and develop new habits.

I propose a full Earth Month program where people practice a 30-day green behavior modification program. Plant trees, recycle, reduce paper usage, car pool, etc.

Not everyone will be successful for 30 days — but this behavior modification will have much more positive, lasting results than a one-day feel-good holiday.

Who’s in for 2010?
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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

Do you ever stop and think before you print out a document how many trees were destroyed in the making of the paper?

I read some startling facts the other day from various sources, which noted that for every ton of paper made:
• 24 trees were chopped down.
• 40 thousand gallons of clean water were used during production.

In addition, among the byproducts from paper production”
• 5690 lbs of greenhouse gas will have entered the atmosphere.
• 20,000 gallons of waste water will be created.

Think twice before printing out your next email or computer file. Check how many pages a document will be in length — and see if you can reduce the font size, decrease the print margins, or just print out the first page or so.

Although the “paperless society” that was promised a decade ago has never materialized, you can do your part to reduce your paper consumption. It is the easiest place to start for a greener planet.
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Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and environmentally-friendly promotional products. His web site includes a comprehensive eco-friendly advertising specialty search, featuring over 250,000 eco promotional items in all price ranges, for any company interested in going green. The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find recyclable, biodegradable, organic or recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame. View the Go Green website at EcoMarketingSolutions.com and comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

Earth Day is 39 years old this year. What started out as a hippie, feel-good, Utopian idea has turned into a global event. Earth Day is celebrated by all walks of life–including individuals, government and businesses of all sizes.

In order to make this event more than a one-day publicity stunt, what can be done to turn this holiday into a more far-reaching movement?

Here are 10 no-cost or low-cost ways to promote Earth Day and make it a more lasting event.

1. Start a recycling program … and go out of your way to use it. Many cities have the big blue recycle dumpsters and a regular trash bin for their usage. Separate out the trash and really try to increase your recycled products by 20-25%.

At work, make it easy to recycle. Have different bins located throughout the business to make paper, plastic and aluminum bins readily available. Insist on 100% compliance–no paper should be tossed out –it should all be recycled.

2. Drive less. Combining trips based on proximity will not only reduce gasoline consumption, it will also save you time and reduce air pollution.

3. Carry reusable totes. The average reusable tote bag is used an average of nine times per month. Think about the reduction in the number of plastic or paper bags that can be made if every person used a reusable bag for all their shopping needs.

4. Choose reusable water bottles or mugs. Many quick serve restaurants and convenience stores will allow you to bring your own sports bottles for filling–and some will offer a discount in place of the cost of the cup. Some coffee chains or donut shops will also allow you to bring your own cup in for filling — which will reduce landfill waste.

5. Do not buy bottled soft drinks (including water). Use fountain drinks instead (in your reusable bottle) which are more economical to transport, as the water is added locally at the source–reducing gasoline consumption and minimizing its carbon footprint.

6. Start a vegetable garden. Whether you create an outdoor garden or an indoor herb garden, growing your own food is both rewarding, as well as eco-friendly. You will prevent pesticides from entering the water streams and you will develop a hobby that encourages a back-to-nature experience.

7. Support businesses that are environmentally-friendly. Whether they are local or national, businesses that are doing their part to become environmentally-friendly deserve your patronage. After all, if you don’t support them, who will.

8. Shop at local farmers markets. Not only will you be supporting local farmer and small family businesses, but you will be cutting back on buying produce which is often trucked in, or flown in, from other countries or states at a high cost of fuel usage.

9. Plant a tree. Yes, I know Arbor Day is only a few days after Earth Day, but you can never plant too many trees. A full grown tree can help convert about 600 pounds of pollutants into pure oxygen–the amount a family of four needs to breathe every year.

10. Talk to the kids. It takes a generation or two for any social change to take place. Think of civil rights, for example, of a social change that has taken nearly two generations to progress to the point where it is today. Educate the children, and within the next 15-25 years, the planet will become greener.

Happy Earth Day…and Beyond. Maybe next year will be Earth Week, then Earth Month, etc. If not officially recognized for more than one day, at least it can be celebrated all year long.

Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and recycled promotional products,  has worked to help plant over 25 million trees through his live tree seedling gift program over the past dozen years.   His company’s website, EcoMarketingSolutions.com, features over 25,000 eco-friendly promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green.  The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find biodegradable, organic and recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame.

You can also reach him at Twitter (http://twitter.com/ecomarketing) or #ecomarketing , by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.

Earth Day is only two weeks away. What are you doing to promote your business or organization?

If you have completely forgotten about Earth Day (April 22) – or are scrambling to find a replacement for a promotion that fell through the cracks, don’t worry. There still is time to kick off a strong eco-friendly promotion for Earth Day, but you’ll have to hurry.

Here are nine ideas to make your last-minute Earth Day Promotion a success.

1. Decide who your target audience is. Are you trying to reach children — or is it their parents that you really want to keep your name in front of?

2. Determine what action or response you want to achieve. Are you aiming for name or brand recognition — and associating it with green causes? Do you want to encourage trials of your product? How about educating your audience about environmentally-friendly behavior?

3. Calculate your cost per activity/customer. How much are you willing to spend per customer to create awareness and incentivize them? If you can determine the lifetime value of a customer, then it will make it easier to determine your spend per customer. Don’t think short term–if you can attract a new customer — what is their profit potential per year? Over 5 years? Over a lifetime?

4. What is your measure of success for your promotion? How will you know your promotion was a success? Do you have a comeback feature (coupon enclosed in a recycled tote bag) or a special code or landing page on your website that is printed on the eco-friendly gift?

5. What is your method of distribution? Are you going after quantity over quality? Some of my clients choose two levels of eco-friendly promotional products. Say, an inexpensive recycled pen for all prospects and a nice reusable biodegradable water bottle or mug for those prospects that complete a questionnaire or survey. It goes back to determining the lifetime value of a loyal customer.

6. How are you planning to promote or publicize the event? Notify the trade publications or local media of your green Earth Day promotion. Cross-promote, if possible. Maybe you can insert a flyer from your local TV station inside the reusable tote bag in return for media coverage. How about putting your logo and another local business logo on the recycled frisbee and split the cost — with twice the distribution?

7. Get the kids involved. Earth Day is a fun event and will be promoted heavily at schools — so donate recycled pens, pencils and crayons to the schools for distribution on Earth Day.

8. Make it fun. Hold coloring contests with the top winners getting a top tier gift and all participants getting a more affordable green friendly imprinted gift. Guessing the number of green jelly beans or green M & M’s are other fun contests. Remember to post “No Purchase Required”.

9. Make it educational. Earth Day is about learning more about the planet–recycling and conservation. Insert a fact sheet about Recycling Tips and Energy Saving ideas into the eco items you are giving away.

Happy Earth Day!

Robert Piller, experienced in green marketing campaigns and recycled promotional products,  has worked to help plant over 25 million trees through his live tree seedling gift program over the past dozen years.   His company’s website, EcoMarketingSolutions.com, features over 25,000 eco-friendly promotional items in all price ranges, for any business or organization interested in going green.  The site’s handy search tool helps you easily find biodegradable, organic and recycled imprinted promotional items in your price range and time frame.

You can also reach him at Twitter (http://twitter.com/ecomarketing) or #ecomarketing , by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com.