photo credit: DocBudie

There’s no question that consumers are starting to pay attention to eco-friendly companies. With the threats of global warming, over-filled landfills, water shortages, and many other environmental concerns looming on the horizon, some businesses that want to make a difference in the world-and attract a large amount of consumer goodwill-are choosing to go green.

There are plenty of reasons to consider environmental factors when planning for your next exhibit. If your industry is not traditionally linked with environmental movements, having a “green exhibit” is a great way to stand out from the crowd. Add to that the fact that you’re doing your part to make the world a better place, and you’ll feel less guilty for blowing your competition out of the water. Here are ten tips for going green at your next exhibit.

Building a booth? Use eco-friendly materials. If you’re building a custom booth this year, you have several options for greener materials. First, try to avoid wood. The earth’s forests are nearly 80% depleted, and that’s bad news for our atmosphere. Trees breathe in carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen-so they may be our first line of defense against global warming. Leave a few trees standing by choosing another material to build your booth.

One more eco-friendly choice is recycled metal. While this may not seem like the most biodegradable choice, it’s much better than using non-recycled metals. For example, the process of recycling aluminum takes about 95% less energy than it does to create new aluminum from ore. Recycling steel uses about 60% less energy than making it from scratch.

Another option is wood/plastic composite. This building material is made up of sawdust from lumber and furniture companies mixed with fragments of plastic trash, such as soda bottles and garbage bags. There are many different brands, and the wood comes in colors ranging from deep ambers to espresso browns-as beautiful as natural wood, without the environmental price tag.

Consider your paints. Oil and latex-based paints are toxic to the environment-they contain poisonous chemicals that can’t be removed at a treatment plant. Leftover paint is often poured down the drain, and it gets into oceans and waterways. It also leaches from painted items in landfills, further damaging the environment. Even worse, VOC’s-volatile organic chemicals, such as cyanide-in paint evaporate at room temperature, contributing to global warming while coating your booth.

Instead of traditional paints, look for non-VOC paints made by big-name paint manufacturers such as Sherman Williams and Behr. Other eco-friendly paints are made from talcum powder, clay, and chalk.

Get green giveaways. When looking for a good giveaway item, choose with an eye toward minimizing trash. Avoid items that come in plastic packaging. Avoid plastic altogether, in fact, unless it’s recycled. Good ideas include cotton or hemp tote bags, food in recycled-paper wrapping instead of plastic, recycled plastic Frisbees, pens and other items, and ceramic mugs. Stay away from plastic bags, wood, and non-recycled materials.

Use energy-efficient lighting. Incandescent light bulbs are notoriously inefficient. They emit only 10% of the energy they use as light. The rest is given off as heat-which is why these bulbs can catch your lampshade on fire if you’re not careful. Instead, use fluorescent bulbs. These are much more energy efficient.

Use recycled paper. There are a lot of paper products involved in a typical exhibit: business cards, signs and displays, brochures and promotional materials. Why not use recycled paper? While most people think of rough, textured and off-white paper when it comes to buying recycled, there are many companies that make smooth, bright-white papers that are comparable to virgin papers.

Consider green printing. Some inks can be as toxic as paint. You can go green with your printing by choosing a green printer. Not all are created equally; their commitment to green printing can range from using energy-efficient operating procedures to printing with soy-based inks on recycled papers. Be sure to shop around when looking for eco-friendly printers.

Talk to your vendor. Some booth vendors are more eco-friendly than others. Some may operate under environmentally mindful conditions-using alternative energy and energy-efficient practices, for example-while others may have pre-fabricated booths built from eco-friendly materials. Be sure to ask your vendor for more advice on how you can create a green display for your next exhibit.

Going green doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. While you may have to buy a custom booth to go green, recycled and eco-friendly materials sometimes cost less than their non-recycled alternatives. Talk to your vendor, research your options, and take your time in designing an approach to green exhibiting that works for your company. No matter how far you go with it-from using recycled papers to building an entire booth from eco-friendly materials-you’ll be making a positive contribution.

G Green is director at http://www.justdisplays.co.uk/ based in Essex, UK. For a wide range of information on producing exhibition stands including a range of folding panel stands visit http://www.justdisplays.co.uk/folding.asp

photo credit: blmurch

In case you haven’t caught up to the latest of the environmental catch-phrases, “Green Supply Chain” is a relatively important concept that everyone will eventually discover. We live in the early side of the environmental project, and it is common to find businesses ramping up to offer “Green Products” and “Green Services.” Green is, after all, a marketing concept as well as a environmental issue. So, we find a bevy of businesses selling Green believing that they are environmentally conscious as well as reaching out to a growing market of buyers.

What is under developed in these newly-christianed, Green businesses is the follow through that asks whether they are committed to buying and hiring Green in their business dealings. This often creates an unseen and embarrassing realization that their Green commitment is superficial. The Green Supply Chain concept is really part of the greater sustainable issue. Sustainability seeks to create a deeper and more complete cycle of Green actions. The Supply and Demand principles require that every seller needs buyers, and every buyer needs sellers. Consumerism is the yang of the vendor’s ying.

Green Supply Chain, therefore, asks for the commitment to include more than representing your business or product as Green, but that your business also prioritizes Green purchasing when possible. It won’t happen in a single decision, but it will happen in a progressive series of Green decisions. The Green Business League is a national association of Green businesses who have the fundamental commitment to “Buy Green, Hire Green.” This mentality will drive the businesses who wish to sell Green because the buying piece is being promoted.

The Green Business League also certifies Green Businesses through a point-earning system that requires more than paying for a membership in a name-sake-only listing. To Green the Green Business certification, a business must earn points through Green improvements to their business and by purchasing from other Green Businesses. This is certainly a step in the right direction. This program also allows a kind of Green networking to occur where it is easier to find a certified Green Business by providing a league of Green businesses that are ready to sell and buy with other Green businesses.

Beware of the Green hype, also known as Greenwashing, as many businesses try to add a Green branding of their own creation to their marketing efforts. The word “Green” is an unregulated word that can be appropriated by any eager marketing-minded person. The validity of their claims and hype may not be honest, and many consumers will one day have a bad taste in their mouth having been fooled by this practice. The Green Business League acts as an independent third party to encourage fair play and fair business among Green businesses. Ask the businesses that you do business with if they are Green Business Certified, and if not, ask them to start the certification process because your company intends to follow the sustainable practices of the “Green Supply Chain” program.

Learn more about Green Business Certified at Green Business League, find a Green Consultant at Green Consultant Directory

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Are you looking at the world around you and discovering ways to increase your sales? If not, why not? You are surrounded by opportunities all day everyday if you’ll just open your eyes and ears and put them to work for you.

Have you noticed there are cable television channels dedicated to green living, entire lines of green cleaning products, green cities, etc? And you’re wondering what green has to do with you and your business? Well, green could be your new marketing best friend.

One of the quickest ways to increase sales is to get complete strangers contacting you. One of the most effective ways to do that is direct mail. However, direct mail can be costly. Especially if you don’t know how to consistently produce profitable leads from you direct mail efforts.

The costs involved and the learning curve are prime reasons for you to go the paperless, stamp-less route. Now here’s where going green comes in. Start with your existing clients and prospects.

Let them know you’re committed to doing your part to operate a green business. In your efforts to become green you’re asking your existing clients and prospects to allow you to communicate with them electronically. Most will agree because it’s a win-win-win.

They don’t like getting junk mail and throwing it in the garbage. They don’t like sorting through the mail trying to find what’s important among all the fluff. They get to feel good that they’re working with you to do something they care about, keeping our world clean.

Now you have their permission to communicate them through email. Email is a nearly free marketing solution. It’s one of the easiest and quickest ways to learn what works and what doesn’t work in your marketing communications. Plus when you do it right it isn’t just easy for a client or prospect to forward your message to someone else they have a good reason to do so.

Listen to this free recording 30 Days to Increased Sales or ELSE

End your sales challenges now “The 7 Secrets Top Producers Know”, will help you sell more than ever before… http://increasesalescoach.com/sales-marketing-strategy.html

Increase Sales Coach Gets Results Sales Training Can’t BECAUSE it’s never just a sales issue

photo credit: robertnelson

As any experienced marketer knows, differentiating your business from your competitors is a primary key to attracting new prospects and customers and retaining them once they decide to become your customers. But will the same “hook” that attracted them to become your customer be enough to maintain their loyalty? Let’s examine a few strategies:

Low Price: As people are always price conscience, especially in this slow economy, this can be an excellent method to attract new customers. However, unless your company plans on being a “discount house” operation, you will need to evolve a different strategy to retain those customers, otherwise they will simply seek out the next big discount elsewhere.

Great Products: Every business advertises great products. Why is your product better than your competitor? Provide your prospects with a reason to walk in your door. Then make sure your products are updated and tweaked regularly to ensure a competitive edge.

Great Service: This strategy typically does not attract new customers, unless you detail how your service will exceed your competitors. On the surface, there is nothing to differentiate your company from your competitors. Of course, great service is a major key to customer retention.

There are many other innovative marketing strategies being employed in the marketplace which are based upon surveys. These studies can give you an understanding of your target market’s concerns as well as focus on the latest trends. One such trend which every major survey (Harris, Nielsen, Mintel, Intellitrends) has been following is Going Green. With unstable fuel prices, new energy tax credits, and the promise of an upcoming New Green Economy, there has never been a better time to incorporate Green into your company’s business practices and products.

Will Going Green help attract new customers or members? According to Intellitrends, nearly 35% of those surveyed considered a company’s environmental policies before purchasing. Monster Trak reported that, for college graduates, this number was above 80% and 92% of these “Gen Y’s” were seeking to work for a company with a solid environmental and corporate social responsibility policy.

Even with all of the news and surveys on Going Green, business journals have estimated that less than 2% of all small and medium sized companies in the U.S. have begun any green initiatives at all. Pity. According to the Makovsky Green Gap survey, people are looking for businesses to take the lead in improving the environment. That could be a once in a lifetime opportunity to differentiate and really make a difference.

Joseph Winn is the President/CEO GreenProfit Solutions, Inc., an environmental consulting and benefits firm specializing in assisting small and medium size companies in Going Green. You may contact Joseph at:

jwinn@greenprofitsolutions.com

http://www.greenprofitsolutions.com

photo credit: thingermejig

If you own a small business, you know that profits depend upon two things: income and expenses. Energy costs can be a significant expense and many business owners are taking a new approach to energy to both lower their costs and move to a more sustainable green approach. With the right information you can improve your company’s financial performance by reducing energy costs and energy waste while protecting the earth’s environment.

Businesses need energy. Whether you are a tenant or you own your building, you typically need lighting; heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC); power for office equipment; and other services to stay in business. How can you create an energy plan? Here are some ideas.

Contact your utility company. Ask if they offer free or inexpensive energy audits and/or rebates for energy-efficiency upgrades. Undertaking a comprehensive energy efficiency program, with the assistance of a professional if needed, can yield impressive savings. A useful website is Energy Crossroads, created by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), a member of the national laboratory system supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through its Office of Science. The site (http://eetd.lbl.gov/einfo-links.html) provides links to dozens of agencies that provide resources for energy conservation.

You can take action yourself. There are many reliable, high-return, low-risk, strategies that you can implement with little cost. Some are very simple, while others may take some investment.

LIGHTING

• Turn off lights and other equipment when not in use. Even “vampire energy loss” from computers and equipment in passive or standby mode can account for significant energy loss.

• Replace incandescent light bulbs with Energy Star compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs), wherever appropriate. CFLs cost about 75% less to operate, and last about 10 times longer.

• Adjust lighting to your actual needs and use free daylight.

• Do not “over-light.” Too much light can be counterproductive, and it costs a lot more.

• Install switch plate occupancy sensors to automatically turn on lights when rooms are occupied, and off when people leave.

• Upgrade fluorescent lamp units to T8 (1″ diameter) tubes with solid-state electronic ballasts. These are more efficient than older T12 (1.5″ diameter) tubes with magnetic ballasts.

• Install Energy Star exit signs. These long-lasting exit signs can reduce lamp replacement and can save up to ten dollars per sign annually in electricity costs while saving up to 500 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions.

• Purchase Energy Star qualified products for your business. You’ll have the most efficient computers, printers, copiers, thermostats, ceiling fans, refrigerators, televisions, windows, and other equipment and appliances.

WATER

• Fix water leaks. Even small leaks add up to many gallons of water wasted each month.

• Use water-saving faucets, showerheads, toilets, and urinals.

• Install an insulation blanket on water heaters, and insulate at least the first three feet of the hot water “out” pipe.

• If buying a new water heater, consider a “tankless” water heater to reduce standby costs and waste.

• Set water temperature according to your local board of health code-usually between 110 and 120 degrees.

• Landscape using plants native to your region that require minimal watering and possess better pest resistance. If local code allows, consider diverting gray water for watering.

HVAC

• Maintain your HVAC system with an annual maintenance contract. Your system may last years longer and use less energy when properly serviced.

• Regularly change or clean HVAC filters during peak cooling or heating season.

• Control the amount of direct sun passing through windows according to the season and local climate. During cooling season, block direct heat gain from the sun shining through glass on the south side of the facility. Solar screens, solar films, and even old-fashioned awnings and vegetation can help. During heating season, these same south-facing windows can contribute solar heat gain during the day.

• Install an Energy Star qualified programmable thermostat to automate your HVAC system. A programmable thermostat can optimize HVAC operation based on your schedule, and can be overridden for unscheduled events.

• Use fans. Moving air can help delay or reduce the need for air conditioning, and a temperature setting of three to five degrees higher can feel as comfortable with fans. Fans can improve comfort and save energy year round.

• Plug leaks with weather stripping and caulking. You don’t need air-and heat-escaping through your leaky building.

THE NEXT STEP: GREEN POWER

Green power is electricity produced from renewable resources including solar, wind, low-impact biomass, geothermal, and low-impact hydro. If you want to be proactive about becoming a green facility, check out the Green Power Partnership, a voluntary program offered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Green Power Partnership (http://www.epa.gov/greenpower/) supports the development of green power by offering expert advice, technical support, and resources.

For instance, do you know what fuel is used to generate the electricity used by your business? The EPA does. In just a few minutes you can enter your ZIP code and your power supplier and find out what mix of fuel is used by your supplier: non-hydro renewables, hydro, nuclear, gas, coal, or oil. The answer may surprise you.

Using EPA resources can help your business lower the costs of buying green power, reduce your carbon footprint, and demonstrate community leadership. Buying green power is one of the easiest and most effective ways to improve the environmental performance of your business.

Thomas Hauck Communications Services provides writing and editing solutions for businesses and nonprofits. Visit us at http://www.thomashauck.net/ for information on how THCS can impact your bottom line.

photo credit: Melissa Goldstein

Most public and private entities today are trying to promote “Green” processes as a way of doing business to help the environment or are touting their “green” attitudes to improve their corporate image. Common examples may include using recycled copier paper, buying items with a minimum percentage of post-consumer waste, and encouraging recycle programs for their own waste. While all those methods are valid, implementation can be very costly and may prevent the programs from being successful and widely accepted. What some “Green” coordinators do not realize is that utilizing and implementing technology solutions that eliminate waste can be just as good or better.

The common misconception is that technology equals huge dollar expenditures and long implementation schedules that may cost more than they are worth. This may be true in some cases, but not for electronic reverse auctions. Public and private entities can save thousands of dollars and trees every year by posting their bids online in either a reverse auction format or electronic RFQ, The specifications and terms and conditions documents can be uploaded to a website so they do not have to be printed out every time a request for them is made. The vendors can then respond to these bids by uploading their responses or placing bids during the live reverse auction.

Hard dollar savings can be achieved by both parties by reducing the amount of paper, the mailing costs associated with issuing bids and responding to them, and the time it takes to process and report paper bid results. With an electronic bidding process, bids documents can be uploaded and results can be instantly reported on and saved without ever having to print anything on a piece of paper.

Reverse auctions with http://www.eDynaQuote.com are easy to implement since you do not have to download anything to your computer to use them. This means that your IT department does not have to dedicate any resources to maintain your account. All documents and completed event results are archived in your account or can be saved in electronic format on your computer. We also offer many flexible and customizable payment options for your convenience.

Doug Luthringer is a Client Development Manager at http://www.eDynaQuote.com with over two years of strategy, implementation and training experience in online reverse auctions and nearly six years with online forward auctions such as eBay. Doug has also been invited to be a guest speaker to talk about how to properly use reverse auctions to small and medium size business, as well as university students.

photo credit: MSFP

Sometimes it takes one event or trigger to change your life or the direction you are going. I have been very much in my element the last 12 months trying to develop more and more content and services for consulting and coaching clients. I have had clients on a regular basis, even though I always feel I should have more, based on all the time I spend finding them.

As any good coach and entrepreneur should, I keep up on the developments in the industry and believe in the concept of “paying it forward”. The developments in our economy didn’t really help my relatively new company.

Like a small, little seedling, it has been pelted by the storms of uncertainty, increasing prices, tightening of disposable income, and the possibility of a recession.

Digesting lots of training materials and marketing advice showed that a focused, niche approach is important to find the right clients. I thought focusing on top-performance for individuals and companies would be a narrow enough niche.

Have you ever lived through a period of time where you felt you are working hard, helping people, providing good content, being available for others needs, and generally follow what you believe the experts recommend – only to find out that you don’t generate nearly enough income?

A friend of mine send me a message stating: “While working with my hands this weekend, instead of using my head, as I normally do all day, I realized that I didn’t create a business but a job for myself that pays less than what I would make in a corporate environment and bears much more responsibility. I want to change that.”

I thought about this statement and came to the conclusion that she was right. Being in business and working long hours with no vacations is supposed to be a price to be paid for a limited time to get the business going, but not a decades-long state of affairs.

I realized that I had created a job but not the success I wanted to achieve for the company, it’s team members and myself. What I found I was missing was more focus for my passion of coaching.

I asked a few friends earlier in the year how I would know that I have discovered a new, deeper level of focus within my passion. All they said was: “You will know when you experience it”.

For me that moment came the day after I participated in a webinar about everybody’s Green Potential. I felt that I wanted to combine what I had done so far with issues of the environment. That’s how the term “Eco-Conscious Coaching” was born and I am excited to develop all kinds of services and products around it in the near future.

At the start of something new, I think it is helpful to have some definitions to achieve clarity for readers, interested participants, clients, and companies contemplating to adopt what we will have to offer.

The short form “Eco” stands for the word Ecology. Ecology (from Greek: ¿¯º¿Â, oikos, “household”; and »Ì³¿Â, logos, “knowledge”) is the scientific study of the distribution and abundance of life and the interactions between organisms and their natural environment.

In the context I am using “Eco”, it goes back to a more business and work oriented view developed by the German biologist Ernst Haekel. He came up with the term “Oekologie” and defined it as the relationship between an organism and the environment. For me, this organism is the human being.

The term environment is applicable both as the immediate space something occupies as well as the environment in the sense of nature as a whole.

Consciousness is a little harder to define and allows for more variety. I apply it in this way: Consciousness = self-awareness, and the ability to perceive a relationship between oneself and one’s environment”.

Put together I would define: “Eco-consciousness is the awareness of the relationship one has with environment (nature) as it relates to the impact of our actions and decisions.”

When looking at eco-conscious coaching and consulting, I want to bring this awareness of our actions into the field of life- and work- improvement. As an example, let’s take the attribute “Motivation“. When helping others become top performers this attribute plays an important role, both for the leader as well as the follower.

When the eco-conscious aspect is added, we can not only talk about the things it takes to motivate oneself or others to do certain things or be aware of certain circumstances, but now we can add the ecological aspect. I can motivate someone to be better organized, thereby achieving higher efficiency.

If, at the same time, I provide guidance for the use of environmentally friendly processes, procedures, policies, materials, and explanations to the why, I can achieve higher efficiency with a lesser impact on the ecology/nature/environment.

In addition, this consciousness in the form of increased awareness can be highlighted to the employees, the clients, and everybody in the market place.

Studies have shown that people want to be, live, and act in harmony with nature and their environment, if they have the choice.

In general, when people have the choice to pick between something natural, organic, environmentally friendly, and a similar item without these attributes, they overwhelmingly go for the environmentally superior product or service.

Studies have shown (I actually supported a very recent study directly) that more than 70% of people in the US want to work for eco-friendly businesses and like to act eco-friendly if the choice is of similar quality, price, or effort. The Unites States is just awakening to the Green revolution. There can be no doubt about the huge demand for information, solutions, services, everything involving eco-conscious approaches.

I believe individuals and businesses want to be more environmentally friendly but often don’t know how.

We will develop services and products to help fulfill this desire and offer new solutions to high performance at work and in private life. Most importantly, eco-conscious behaviors, adopted from coaching sessions , workshops, webinars, or home study courses will provide a more fulfilling and joyful life.

The combination of success and joy is what we all try to find, and a heightened level of eco-consciousness will lead us there. It will be mind-boggling and eye-opening to demonstrate that eco-consciousness means more fun, more success, mire joy, more comforts, and not less, as many officials have lead as to believe for way too long.

I am excited about the prospects and hope to receive a lot of feedback, suggestions and participation as we develop a range of services and products to help everybody lead a more eco-conscious life.

Axel Meierhoefer is an eco-conscious performance coach, author, and the founder of Axel Meierhoefer Consulting (AMC LLC). His motto is” Helping others help themselves achieve success”. If you’d like to get on his E-mail list for more articles, or like more insights, goto http://www.meierhoefer.net/blog or email AM@Meierhoefer.net

photo credit: James Cridland

While planning your 2008 business goals and objectives, why not plan to go green and pocket more profits at the same time?

When it comes to the environment, being a good global citizen starts in your own business.
From recycling to using alternative cleaning products, minor changes can add up to real benefits for the planet. Not to mention your own health and happiness.

And every little bit helps.

1) Telecommuting: Video Conferencing can be used for telecommuters in your business. Employees will be able to work from a home office and still be able to meet face-to-face and collaborate in real time just like they would if they were in the office.

Did you know that Americans waste an average of 47 hours every week during rush hour traffic? That’s 23 billion gallons of gas wasted and thousands of pounds of carbon dioxide pollution.

Not only is the reduction in weekly travel time beneficial to the environment, but the added time to their day will improve worklife balance.

2) Board of Director and/or Sales Meetings:It’s challenging for businesses to arrange meetings around everyone’s schedule. By moving just one sales meeting or presentation online, you’ll save the environment 2,690 pounds of carbon dioxide pollution.

Two people traveling from Chicago to San Francisco save 4,696 pounds of carbon emissions. If every business canceled one business trip alone, carbon dioxide pollution would be hugely decreased!

3) Access to Remote Clients or Customers: Business employees often drive across town or travel across the globe to meet with clients to go over important documents or to give powerpoint presentations.

Video conferencing can eliminate that business trip and allow you to meet face-to-face to mark up architectural CAD files or present that new marketing campaign in real time just like would in person.

And you won’t have to fight long lines, delays, and tight security at the airport.

Your business can make a huge impact on lowering carbon dioxide pollution in the atmosphere by staying off the road and out of the skies.

These are just three ways your company can use video conferencing to go green – starting tomorrow. To get your company ahead of the curve, consider implementing a video conferencing solution now to do your part in saving the environment.

photo credit: thingermejig

There’s one thing you need to know about the green consumer. They want to know.

According to the Roper Green Gauge, over 50% reported they would do more if they only knew what and how. So moving your communications to educate and inform can do a lot to grow your green business.

While representing an eco-friendly paint company, we raised the issues of indoor air pollution which is caused in part by the out-gassing of toxins in conventional paints, stains and cleaning products. We built into their quarterly consumer catalog an educational component called “Did You Know?” Sprinkled throughout the pages were various statistics that enlightened consumers.

For instance, using EPA statistics, we informed them that “indoor air pollution is two to twenty times worse than outdoor air pollution even in a heavily industrialized city.” A few pages later, a statistic from Scientific American stated, “A baby crawling on a conventional carpet inhales the equivalent of four cigarettes a day.”

These eye-opening facts broadened their audience considerably, bringing many mainstream people into their consumer base who now understood the close-to-home benefits of their products. Then we launched the branding line for their non-toxic paints, “Beauty without the Beast.” We struck the balance between the reasons people buy their products: To beautify their homes AND avoid unnecessary toxins – the real reason for that “just painted smell.”

Most of us trust the marketplace to bring us products that are safe, useful and effective. Consumers have not trained themselves nor felt the need to examine everything that’s out there before they purchase. But that’s beginning to change.

The thousands of recalls of everything from children’s toys to chopped meat are beginning to wake up and energize a more informed consumer. They’re demanding to know more before they buy and that has profound implications for marketers.

You can build a viable base by telling an educational story. By informing how your product or service does the job well and helps the environment at the same time. That way the message is not just about saving the planet out there but improving their life right here.

No one, whether they’re an environmentally-conscious consumer or not, wants to bring unnecessary toxins into their homes, or buy unsafe toys, or use potentially harmful products. They just didn’t know they were.

When you educate, you marry emotion to intellect, the heart to the head, the planet to the person. The more you educate your customer, the more you build trust. The more you build trust, the more likely you are to win their business.

http://www.greenmarketingblog.com

photo credit: Flyinace2000

1. Create an environmental impact statement. If you want to host a green meeting, you’ll need to get buy in from all your stakeholders. The best way to do that is to create an environmental impact statement. Don’t worry. We’re not suggesting a long legal document. In fact, we suggest creating a short description with a couple bullet points to highlight the areas that are important to you. For example, you may say that your organization is committed to reducing solid waste and conserving energy at the event. Share this information with other stakeholders at your event.
2. Use paperless technology to manage your event. In the past, organizing an event meant folders full of paper and piles of lists. Not anymore. Web-based registration and attendee management solutions are making it easier to manage any type of event online in a paperless environment. Take registrations online, send automatic emails to follow up and share reports digitally through a web link. Not only do these practices reduce your environmental impact, but they also reduce your workload and expense.
3. Use paperless channels to market your event. In the past, most event organizers reported that direct mail or print advertising played a major role in their invitation process. This has changed. In fact, at a recent event planning users event, less than 10 percent of the room reported using direct mail. Consider relying more heavily – if not completely – on paperless technologies to solicit and collect registrations. Email is, in most cases, more effective and less expenses than mailers, and even the most traditional event organizers are moving quickly to email technology to cut costs while reducing their environmental footprint.
4. Stay close. Try to reduce travel emissions by reducing travel needs at your events. If you have people traveling to your events, try to book venues close to the airport. And if you have a large event, book all your sessions close enough that people can walk from venue to venue. If you have events that force your attendees to travel long distances, you may want to consider having more regional events that only require air travel for a few of your staff members.
5. Choose a green hotel. Before you select a hotel for your event, take the time to understand their commitment to the environment. More and more hotels are crafting environmental impact policies. Make sure your hotel and venue are committed to green policies, including recycling and energy conservation. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts has created a policy called “Eco-Meet,” which pushes its venues to provide things like waste-free food and beverage, recycling bins in every room, recyclable amenities and organic cuisine. To better understand the policies in place at your hotel of choice, create a survey to poll the hotel on its adherence to different elements of your own impact statement. You may want to ask them if they recycle or if they apply water conserving fixtures, for example.
6. Eat green. Look for a green caterer when planning your event. Many caterers are adopting green business practices, which include everything from cooking with seasonal and local vegetables to using recycled and compostable materials. A Spice of Life catering in Boulder, Colorado has a zero waste policy, which means the organization serves its food on compostable cups and plates made from corn and uses only 100% recycled materials for things like garbage bags and to-go containers.
7. Go digital. One of the most expensive, and environmentally impactful, pieces of an event is the stacks of hand outs that organizers and presenters print for attendees. Many event organizers are getting away from this wasteful practice by sharing the information digitally. Some organizations provide it on their web sites so attendees can review it online – or pick what information they would like to print. Other organizations have placed hand outs on a USB flash drive that attendees can take home with them. Whatever you decide to do, find an alternative to handing out paper that many people don’t use.
8. Reuse. And Recycle. When choosing materials for your conferences and meetings, focus on using materials that can be reused or recycled. Ask your caterer to use washable plates and silverware when possible. Create printed materials that can be used for multiple events. And when selecting hand outs, look for items that are printed in vegetable-based inks on recycled paper. For example, The CERES Conference used binders that featured 60% post-consumer paper content in the frame and 39% post-consumer steel in the rings. Plus, the conference printed its brochures with soy ink on recycled paper.
9. Bulk up. Providing bulk food and condiments for your events can dramatically reduce your environmental footprint. Serve meals buffet style and provide things like salt and pepper, milk, ketchup and beverages in bulk, re-usable containers. If you have leftovers, consider donating those items to a local food bank or homeless shelter.
10. Pass it on. The best way to guarantee a greener event is to share your knowledge with others. Make sure your vendors, exhibitors, presenters and staff all know what they can do to reduce their environmental impact. They’ll thank you for it because it may also save them money.

Jeramiah Demery is an online event specialist for RegOnline.com the leading event management and planning software company. To date, Regonline has hosted over 3 million registrants and over 100,000 events. Create custom event websites, online registration forms, and manage event attendees and registrants from one easy to use web-based system.