Archive for the ‘green education’ Category

With the number of companies going green these days, it can be difficult to distinguish between those which promote genuine environmental initiatives and those which are simply greenwashing. Yet as stakeholder demand for environmental stewardship continues to rise, the divide between these two types of campaigns – the genuine and the phony – will become increasingly clear. Knowing the “best practices” for successful green marketing will prove essential for brand differentiation and increased accountability.

There are two simple keys to running a successful green marketing campaign. The first is know and engage your audience. This includes not only understanding the values and expectations of customers, investors, and other relevant stakeholders, but tailoring specific green initiatives to address those concerns and allow people to become involved.

This starts with understanding who your stakeholders are. “Stakeholders” can be anyone from corporate partners, shareholders, indirectly affected organizations (ie a company’s upstream or downstream) right down do the individual consumer. What environmental issues do they care about? Why? Are they “light green” (young, well-educated, tend to donate to the occasional environmental nonprofit) or “dark green” (opinion leaders attempting to lead the greenest lives possible)?

Once each of different types of stakeholders have been qualified, they must be strategically engaged and actively made aware of the organization’s initiatives and how they (the stakeholders) fit into the picture. Amazon.com, for example, has found success with their Green 3 module, which has users tell their friends which green products to buy via their profiles.

The second key to effective green marketing is to simply be honest. With the amount of empty environmental initiatives being promoted by companies today, not enough can be said for the value of clear, understandable initiatives, identifiable benchmarks, and transparency. Basically, walk the walk if you decide to talk the talk.

Of course, being honest about slashing your carbon footprint by half is more powerful than being honest about, say, planting a few trees outside your corporate headquarters. But what’s key is reporting accurate, measurable details, including tracking progress toward longer-term goals.

These days, simply publishing an annual report detailing how much recycled paper you use or how you’ll reduce truck idling will no longer cut it. In order to be truly transparent, green marketing campaigns must engage relevant stakeholders, establish clear benchmarks, and report progress toward those benchmarks with clarity and honesty.

By Grant Draper, Partner at The Element Agency in New York

SMA America, Inc., part of a solar technology giant, has just launched an interactive educational website that teaches users how solar energy works. The site uses animation, illustration and easy to understand descriptions including a glossary of the most commonly used terms in the industry to educate its visitors.

Although the practicality for consumers to own and benefit from solar energy units in their own homes is still a far reach, it is a huge step to begin educating the general public on all there is to know about solar energy.

Now, hopefully when home solar units become available for practical use to a broader population, consumers will already be ready and willing to catch some rays.

By Brian Geraghty at The Element Agency in New York