Tips for Green Marketing Success

Austin, Texas: I spoke before a marketing organization recently and somebody in the audience asked me how they can get a green reputation quickly and easily in order to catch up to some of their competitors.

After some clarification, it seemed that they wanted to know shortcuts and secrets to avoid doing the hard work and start promoting their “green virtues”.

I replied that there are no secrets to green marketing success and just one formula: Truly become green.

People are becoming more eco conscious and they can smell greenwashing a mile away.

Before you can call yourself a green company, and before you can market yourself as a green organization, you must become environmentally conscious.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Why do you want to become more green?
• What makes your company green?
• What are the first 3 steps your company can do to reduce waste?
• How can you educate and inspire your employees to recycle more?
• How can you organization better reduce waste and energy consumption?
• How are you promoting environmental outreach to your customers, suppliers and employees?

Then, after these steps are being carried out can you start on your green marketing campaigns.

Don’t put the spotlight on your eco marketing efforts and achievements until you have something tangible to show for your efforts.

Avoid greenwashing.

Speak from the heart.

Tell the truth.

Bottom line is that no organization is 100% energy efficient and none are 100% sustainable.

Those are ideals that can never be reached (like infinity) but should be challenged to get as close to as possible.

Understand how you can continually improve your green efforts across the board.

It should be a goal that changes over time, much like sales and profitability goals do.

• Always heading upwards.
• Always seeking better solutions.
• Always looking to improve on past performance.

Those are the secrets to green marketing success.

I hope your organization finds success along the path.
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Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, has over 25 years of experience in running and implementing green marketing campaigns and is a leader in the recycled promotional products industry, including offering one of the largest selections of reusable and organic tote bags, recycled and biodegradable water bottles, recycled pens and pencils in the country.

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 by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.

Austin, Texas I saw T. Boone Pickens speak a few years back on the importance of water as a natural and national treasure and his concern for its growing scarcity. In Austin, Texas, for example, our lakes are down about 20 feet from their typical depths due to severe droughts over the past few years.

When it comes to thinking about water, there is often some confusion between renewable and unlimited resources.

Water is a renewable necessity, yet humans treat it as an unlimited resource, which it is not.

People use excessive amounts of water every single day, making it difficult for water to replenish itself at the rate that we use it. Although 70% of earth’s surface is water, 97% of that is salt water. Only 3% is fresh water.

A company called elocal, shared with me this accompanying image and facts.

Between doing dishes, washing clothes and watering our grass, thousands of gallons of water is wasted each year. For example, one household in the U.S. uses 127,000 gallons of water per year.

However, if a family used low-flow fixtures on the faucets, washing machine, shower head and toilet, a household could save 40,000 gallons of water per year. If every home also adopted these same fixtures, we could save 2 trillion gallons of water, worth over $4 billion dollars! As the population continues to grow, we need to think smart and start conserving now before it is too late. We encourage you to start the change in your community.

Think before wasting water.  Encourage your family and friends to use it wisely.

Water is not an unlimited resource.
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Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, has over 25 years of experience in running and implementing green marketing campaigns and is a leader in the recycled promotional products industry, including offering one of the largest selections of reusable and organic tote bags, recycled and biodegradable water bottles, recycled pens and pencils in the country.

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 by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.

Austin, Texas: I’ve been blogging about green issues and green marketing for nearly four years and the dialog and discussions I have received have been invaluable.  I seem to “get” more thaan I “give” — that is the power of social media.

I encourage all my followers to start their own blogs  – or at least continue to reply to my blog postings and to keep informed of green issues.

With Earth Day less than 2 months away, I look forward to increased conversations on eco marketing issues and how to best promote environmental outreach.

To open up more channels, I encourage everyone to also keep up with me on Twitter and on Facebook.

I welcome ideas, thoughts and comments from my Twitter account, which you can get to here.

Like me on Facebook so we can also have a dialog on that platform.

Thank you for continuing to read my blog posts over the years — and I look forward to continuing to reach you on this blog, as well as on Facebook and Twitter.
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Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, has over 25 years of experience in running and implementing green marketing campaigns and is a leader in the recycled promotional products industry, including offering one of the largest selections of reusable and organic tote bags, recycled and biodegradable water bottles, recycled pens and pencils in the country.

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 by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.

Five Ideas to Consider to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint While Doing Direct Mail

Austin, Texas: As a marketing person who promotes environmental causes and education and is also aware of our role in corporate social responsibility, can we utilize direct mail in our marketing mix?

I was doing a self-promotion piece for our company when this quandary came up.

We are totally against “junk mail” — which in our definition is any unsolicited mail that has a high probability of ending up in the trash/landfill.

Therefore, we reduced our print catalog to a digital catalog with page-flip technology several years ago, as I had mentioned in a previous blog post.  This has saved thousands of trees from being destroyed and prevented countless thousand of catalogs from ending up in a landfill.

Sure, we give out bamboo USB drives to our better clients with this digital catalog burned onto it. But this is too expensive for direct mail.

In the end, after much deliberation, we decided to send out a series of three 4″ x 6.25″ postcards made from recycled paper to our top 2,500 clients, one every three weeks, the first one shown to promote a new website.

We looked at FSC-certified postcards, but decided to use recycled materials, as no new trees had to be destroyed for this marketing effort.

In addition, we are giving away 1,000 live tree seedlings to a non–profit organization for Earth Day, to help offset the carbon footprint of this campaign.

As a green marketer, it is important to consider your entire carbon footprint  - but also to understand that we must continue to build our businesses in order to succeed and grow.

Growth and profits should not be dirty words in the green community.

Good stewardship is crucial– and there is a fine balancing act that must be done to on a continuous basis in order to be true to your core values.

Before doing your next marketing campaign, consider its impact on the environment.

Ask yourself the following questions:

1) Can you reduce the size of your print catalog?

2) Are you using recycled or FSC-certified paper?

3) Are you mailing only to a select group of pre-screened customers and prospects — or are you using the shotgun method, where a majority of your pieces will end up unread in the trash?

4) Can you use a postcard mailer instead of a full print catalog?   You might even be able to use this postcard to have recipients scan a QR code or go online to request your full catalog.

5) Are you using lumpy mail?  Lumpy mail is a direct mail piece that is packaged with a promotional product or sample that makes the package feel like there is something inside of it, which often increases open rates.  If so, is the promotional item made from recycled materials and is the packaging recycled and/or easily recyclable?

Don’t stop promoting your business.  But do consider all alternatives before embarking on your next campaign.

Otherwise, your direct mail pieces will be viewed as poorly as the unused phone books that are tossed on your front door step each year.

Here’s to a greener tomorrow, today.

PS Please share with me how you have reduced your direct mail and the impact it has made on your bottom line.

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Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, has over 25 years of experience in running and implementing green marketing campaigns and is a leader in the recycled promotional products industry, including offering one of the largest selections of reusable and organic tote bags, recycled and biodegradable water bottles, recycled pens and pencils in the country.

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 by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.

The Golden Rule for Business

Austin, Texas: As an organization that is practicing sustainability and promoting the green movement, you are probably feeling good about your company and about yourself.

Good for you. Congratulations!

As a businessperson, we all have the ideal type of client we like to work with.

What are some characteristics of your ideal customer?

Doesn’t constantly haggle you on price?

Pays their bills on time?

Is a pleasure to work with?

Values your expertise and advice?

Sends you referrals?

Great. Now, put the shoe on the other foot and ask yourself these questions:

Are you acting the same way toward your vendors?

Are your practicing what you preach?

Are you following the Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would like them to do onto you)?

If not, why not?

Take some time to re-evaluate how you are doing business.

Do you like to be haggled on price on every job?  Neither do your top vendors.  Vet your vendors wisely, but then stop beating them up on price each time.

Do you return e-mails and phone calls promptly?  If you are not interested in an idea or proposal, do you at least answer their emails with a “Thanks .. but no thanks”.  Or do you ignore each message, hoping it goes away and never getting back to them –frustrating both of you with a series of unreturned phone calls and emails?

We all like referrals and the word-of-mouth business it brings us. Are you giving referrals to your vendors? I am sure it would be appreciated.  Are they on Facebook or Linked in? If so, give them a shout-out, a referral, a recommendation – a few simple words of thanks.

Are you paying your vendors promptly? It is not your suppliers fault that you are still waiting for one of your customers to pay you, or that you had an off-month.  Pay your vendors on time–or even early.

Are you buying recycled or sustainable products-for all your shopping needs (both business and personal)?

Are you trying to buy US-manufactured products whenever possible?

Business is a two-way street.  We rely on our vendors to make us look good.  They rely on us to keep them in business.

Let’s all take the time to conduct ourselves in a manner more to the way we would like to be treated.

Here’s to a better tomorrow, today.

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Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, has over 25 years of experience in running and implementing green marketing campaigns and is a leader in the recycled promotional products industry, including offering one of the largest selections of reusable and organic tote bags, recycled and biodegradable water bottles, recycled pens and pencils in the country.

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 by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.

Austin, Texas: Since the new year has just begun, now is the ideal time to think about volunteering and helping a green non-profit organization increase awareness and help to raise much needed funds.

As a green marketer, we are all in this together.

Creating educated consumers is good for your business, as they are the ones that can better appreciate the importance of buying green and going green.

Outreach is one of the basic tenets of green marketing–promoting the need for, and the importance of, green causes, behaviors and political and social movements.

Look into some green organizations–either at the local, state or national level and volunteer your time.  Get involved.

Get known as an organization that cares about the environment-not just about making money.

Help this organization politic for greener standards.

Help them to raise much needed money.

Help them recruit new volunteers.

Help them to create greater awareness.

It is a win-win relationship. Don’t sit back and let the green movement come to you.

You need to come to the green movement.

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Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, has over 25 years of experience in running and implementing green marketing campaigns and is a leader in the recycled promotional products industry, including offering one of the largest selections of reusable and organic tote bags, recycled and biodegradable water bottles, recycled pens and pencils in the country.

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 by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.

Austin, Texas: As the year comes to a close, it is time to take a look back at your marketing efforts to see if you met your green marketing goals.

As an eco-marketing company, you must be at the forefront of green technology,  waste reduction, recycling and other green initiatives.

Take a look back to see if you can pinpoint measurable reductions in paper usage, miles driven by you and your fellow employees, energy reductions in running your business, supply chain mandates, etc.

Talk to your employees about other areas where you can achieve energy savings, whether it be as simple as thermostat changes and weatherization or more profound and deeper changes.

As the new year approaches, take time to see where you can lead on environmental causes, promote green outreach programs and motivate and inspire your employees, your customers, your vendors and the general public.

Look over your marketing materials to see how you can educate your audience both on the value of your greener product or service, but also on environmental issues in general.

Be sure to practice what you preach in terms of using recycled paper for print, as well as using recycled promotional products to carry your branded message.

Going green cannot be a one-person plan. Be sure your employees are actively behind your green initiatives and agenda.

Did you reach the goal of 10% energy reduction in 2011?

If not, let’s double down and make it happen in 2012.

If so, can you achieve 11% reduction this year?

Keep striving for a greener planet.

We’re all in it together.

Happy New Year!

May 2012 be the greenest one yet.

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Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, has over 25 years of experience in running and implementing green marketing campaigns and is a leader in the recycled promotional products industry, including offering one of the largest selections of reusable and organic tote bags, recycled and biodegradable water bottles, recycled pens and pencils in the country.

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 by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.

Austin, Texas: A few weeks back I had attended a trade show for the wholesale trade and was amazed at the number of people with banners touting “Eco-Friendly” and “Go Green”, etc.

Being a green marketing company, those signs immediately attracted my attention and I stopped at most of these booths.

Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed at how these firms substantiated their claims.

Just because an item can be recycled, does not necessarily make it eco-friendly. Many of these companies had no clue as to the recycle symbols on their products, whether or not it had any recycled material, country of origin, etc.

Customers are wary of claims that cannot be backed up with proof.

Then, on top of that, the majority of these companies had business cards that were not made on recycled paper stock or FSC-certified paper– nor were their catalogs or flyers.

Pay attention to the little things.

Going green means paying attention to the details, big and small..

If you claim to be green, at least know the issues that are affecting the country in terms of sustainability, carbon footprint and even climate change.

If your business cards and flyers are not recycled or FSC-certified, take down your “eco-friendly” banners- and decide if marketing to a green niche is the right target audience for you.

Marketing takes consistency.

Is your green marketing message consistent?

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Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, has over 25 years of experience in running and implementing green marketing campaigns and is a leader in the recycled promotional products industry, including offering one of the largest selections of reusable and organic tote bags, recycled and biodegradable water bottles, recycled pens and pencils in the country.

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 by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.

Austin, Texas: I have written several posts over the past few years on the need for more green outreach programs to help promote environmental causes.

Good news- November 15th is America Recycles Day - a full day to promote the value of recycling.

If you are a green marketer or promote the fact that you are “going green”, this is a tremendous opportunity to put your money where your mouth is.

Promote recycling to your audience.

     Be loud.

     Be proud.

     Be seen.

     Be heard.

     Get noticed.

One place to start is by joining with your nearest affiliate branch of Keep America Beautiful, which you can find at the link.

If you are  a recycler, this day should be highlighted on your calendar every year..and planned far in advance, so you can coordinate outreach programs.   I find it funny that I am still receiving calls, faxes and emails for last minute imprinted recycled tote bags and recycled pens– and the event is less than two weeks away. This seems to be the pattern year after year.

The  America Recycles Day website offers several useful toolkits that you can re-print to promote the one day event. This is an easy place to start, as they have slides, handouts, activities, games and other pre-planned programs available.

Sponsor a recycling drop-off program or pair up with those already in place.  The website has a zip code guide to the nearest recycling locations.

Volunteer to talk to a school about the need for increased recycling activity.  Children are the greatest demographic for environmental awareness activities, and as the future protectors of this planet, the best place to start.

If you are a bit more daring, volunteer to speak at senior centers, church groups, Chamber of Commerce, Kiwanis, Lions Clubs and other organizations and encourage them to take a pledge to recycle .  I say more daring, as there will usually be more climate change deniers among those crowds, so you need to be prepared for a little more push back.

Be sure your company is implementing a recycling program for all employees, so you are practicing what you preach.  Encourage employees to recycle at home, as well.

Promote recycling on your company website, catalogs, blogs, etc.  Get the message out.

Learn recycling facts and bring them up on as many occasions as possible.  I found a great source of recycling facts and figures at Recycling Revolution‘s website that are sure to amaze and inspire.  For example, “If every American recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save about 25,000,000 trees a year.”

America Recycles Day is November 15th.

How will you be promoting recycling to your audience?

Please let me know what type of activities you will be participating in, send images, etc. so I can mention them in future blog posts.

Let’s Make Every Day, Earth Day.

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Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, has over 25 years of experience in running and implementing green marketing campaigns and is a leader in the recycled promotional products industry, including offering one of the largest selections of reusable and organic tote bags, recycled and biodegradable water bottles, recycled pens and pencils in the country.

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 by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.

The Value of Recycled Promotional Products

Austin, Texas: I got a call this morning from a green marketing consultant wondering whether or not she should spend the extra money getting recycled journal books rather than regular ones, imprinted with her name.

The price difference was nominal– maybe 25 cents on a $4 imprinted journal book.  

I was shocked, speechless for a few seconds.  Then I started to laugh.

If you are a company that is serious about green marketing, your thinking has to be focused 100% on green.

• No dithering.
• No “sometimes”.
• No “maybe”.
• No “only if I get a great deal”, etc.

If you do not show a genuine commitment to eco marketing, then you are, at best, not serious about the environment– and, at worst, a fraud or hypocrite.

Going green is not a part-time cause.

It is a way of thinking – a way of acting.

It is a change in your behavior, activities and a change in the way you look at the world.

Going green should be a trigger to change how you do many of the everyday tasks in life–from driving, to shopping, eating, switching to energy efficient lightbulbs and appliances, etc.

If you are to consider yourself a green organization, you need to live green.

• Act green.
• Think green.
• Read about green.
• Write about green.
• Preach green.
• Vote green.
• Editorialize about green.
• Be green.

If not, do not even think about using the words “eco”, “green” or “environmental” anywhere in your name, in your logo – on your mission statement, your website, etc.

We don’t need green wash. We don’t need subterfuge.

If you are going to carry the green banner, let’s take a more serious view of our commitment to the environment and to social causes.

Let’s make a difference.

Here’s to a greener tomorrow, today.
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Robert Piller, President of Eco Marketing Solutions, has over 25 years of experience in running and implementing green marketing campaigns and is a leader in the recycled promotional products industry, including offering one of the largest selections of reusable and organic tote bags, recycled and biodegradable water bottles, recycled pens and pencils in the country.

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 by email (robert (at) ecomarketingsolutions.com) or comment on his blog postings at GreenSpotBlog.com or below at his Twitter link.