"The New Rules of Green Marketing" for Eco-Businesses Big and Small

Whenever we find a great green giveaway to share with our Facebook Fans, we throw our hands in the air and yell, "Ecobunga!". 

Well, "Ecobunga!" -- I was lucky enough to win the recently released "New Rules of Green Marketing:  Strategies, Tool, and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding" in a daily giveaway hosted by the author, noted green marketing expert Jacquelyn Ottman. 

Having just finished reading it, I am happy to report that it is well worth your time, whether you are a product manager or an entrepreneur looking to develop new green products, or a marketer or public relations  professional seeking to effectively communicate your company's green story.

Ms Ottman offers a wide range of data and tips on green marketing that will make your job easier:  a psychographic and demographic portrait of just who green consumers are these days so you can define your target audience;  her "seven winning strategies" for green marketing (our favorite:  "create new products and services that balance consumers' desires for quality, convenience, and afforability with minimal adverse environmenal and social impacts over the life of the product");  tips on how to create effective messaging, avoid greenwashing, build strategic partnerships, and much more.

All in all, it adds up to an indispensible toolkit for anyone involved in green marketing.

A caveat, though, for small businesses.  Ms Ottman makes no bones about it:  her intended audience is large businesses and corporations, and the examples and case studies she includes in her book reflect this.  An uber-pragmatist when it comes to American consumers, she writes:

Although they are concerned about the planet, at the end of the day, shoppers of any stripe, green or not, will -- and should -- always prefer the laundry detergent that gets their clothes clean over the one that simply promises to "save the Earth."  So it's imperative that, to be successful, sustainable brands deliver on performance, and why new entries from established brands (e.g. Clorox GreenWorks) perceived by consumers as treading lightly will always win the green day over the proverbial "Happy Planet" brand from an unknown entity.

That pronouncement may be a bitter pill for small green businesses to swallow.  First off, there is an implication, whether intended or not, that small, unknown businesses are not capable of producing products that "Save the Earth" while also delivering performance, which I would argue is not the case.

But, perhaps what may be more disheartening for small green businesses is her suggestion that it will be impossible for these businesses to ever compete with the likes of Clorox and WalMart.  And, in terms of penetrating the mainstream U.S. consumer market, she is likely correct. 

There will always be a small slice of the population that is motivated solely by ethics and wouldn't hesitate to purchase the Happy Planet cleaner over what they would perceive to be the more questionably green Clorox GreenWorks product.  Furthermore, with savvy and capital, small green brands can and do grow into large ones.  So all is not lost for small green businesses.

Nevertheless, I often got the impression that the smaller businesses that posted their promotions on Ecobunga! were a bit baffled as to why the click through on their deals were relatively low, given the size and the nature of the Ecobunga! audience.  Here they were, offering a deal on their green product and there was Ecobunga!, with a highly targeted audience of eco-minded shoppers looking for a deal.  It should be a match made in heaven!

What these mom-and-pop businesses (for the most part) were not accounting for is how critical brand awareness is, even for green consumers.  It boils down to this:  most people, green or not, who haven't heard of a product (or company), won't buy without a lot of persuasion, whether delivered through advertisements, word-of-mouth marketing, promotions, gift shows, etc.

Back to the book.  Without question, Ms Ottman's green marketing insights and strategies are extremely valuable, for large and small businesses alike.  But small business with low brand awareness, take note: the prescriptions presented can help you craft effective messaging on the green benefits of your products, but, in and of themselves, they do not tell you how to execute campaigns that will increase awareness of your brand.

Indeed, the author readily admits that sustainable branding is a rather expensive, complex undertaking that can "overwhelm the budgets of start-ups with big green ideas."  However, the audience she writes for has generally has the means to overcome those obstacles. For the myriad of small companies with big green dreams looking for specific, low-cost ways to get their sustainable brand known, you won't find it in "The New Rules of Green Marketing."   What you will find, though, is a wealth of strategic advice from a top expert in the field and numerous inspirational examples of smart green marketing by larger companies, and that is definitely well worth your time.