Here are seven tips to gain marketing traction as a green guerrilla from Shel Horowitz, co-author with Jay Conrad Levinson of the latest Guerrilla Marketing book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green
1. Start on the Green Path. If you haven’t already, look for the “low-hanging fruit”: places where you can lower your carbon footprint, your waste, your use of troublesome materials or processes–AND cut costs at the same time! Example: an inexpensive “duplexing” printer, designed to print both sides of the sheet, can cut your paper bill by about 40 percent and pay for itself in just a few months. I paid about $200 for mine.
2. Recognize the Marketing Power of Green Initiatives. Customers love supporting businesses that they see as making the world better. By going Green, you tap into this potential love-fest. Here you are, saving money, saving the Earth, and building more customer loyalty all at the same time. How cool is that?
3. Be Smart Enough to Tell the World! Don’t be like a certain paper company that started using recycled paper in 1950, but waited until the last few years to actually tell anybody. When they changed their packaging to reflect this Green commitment, they went from bankruptcy to the top-seller in their category. As a Green Guerrilla Marketer, be sure people can easily learn about what you’re doing for the world–on your website, in your newsletters, in your press releases, in your live events and media interviews, and on your packaging. Be the go-to person for your local media when they need a Green business perspective.
4. Look For Ways To Tell Your Story Sympathetically. Are you a global company hurt by the Buy Local movement? Tell the story of how you’re not only improving working conditions compared to indigenous firms but helping your far-away workers with schools or water development projects. Of course if you sell local products, flip it around and show how dollars spent with you stay in the community and help youth sports, the fire department, or other local institutions.
5. Stay True to Yourself, Your Vision, and Your Commitment–And Stay Out of Court. Some people are scared of marketing Green because they see what happens to companies that get caught “greenwashing” (including some very big companies that ought to have known better). But avoiding that trap is a no-brainer. Speak the truth, demonstrate the real improvement it makes to the environment, and stick to your ethics by following “the magic triangle.”
6. Build Win-Win Partnerships. To launch Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green, Jay and I formed several partnerships: with the charity organization Green America, which is getting a portion of the proceeds from the launch (and in exchange, highlighting the book on its website and in its newsletter); with a bunch of bloggers, e-zine publishers, and marketers who are not only telling their lists about the book but also contributing bonuses to sweeten the purchase (over $2600 worth so far); and of course, with each other. Jay gets the benefit of my long years of work on the marketing side of environmental and ethics activism, and I get to “hitch a ride” on his famous and popular brand.
7. Pick up a copy of Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green. The book offers detailed implementation strategies, tactics, and examples of the six tips above, and much more. Out less than a month, it’s already gotten more than 50 endorsements, won its first award, and earned its first two foreign/subsidiary rights sales, so you know this is a book worth reading. Oh yeah, and you still get all those partner bonuses. 🙂
Visit Guerrillamarketinggoesgreen.com to learn more.
