Top 5 Tips On Successfully Marketing Your Green Business

May 8, 2010 · Posted in Green Business 101 · Comments Off 

We write regularly about green marketing and why it’s so relevant for companies nowadays. This time, the crew at Kiwano Marketing takes our insights one step further to share the top five tips on how to successfully market a green business.

1. Back up your claims.

Double-check your efforts when starting a green marketing strategy. Our advice is: don’t position yourself as a green business if you’re not walking the talk. Today’s consumers are savvy and inquisitive, and a false claim will seriously damage your brand – what people say about you. A company’s reputation is one of the most valuable assets an organization possesses. Bad publicity spreads quickly (it’s the most viral form of buzz there is), taking years to overcome.

2. Don’t position yourself as the green saviour.

Consumers are looking behind the label, and demand integrity from the companies where they make purchases. You should communicate your environmental and sustainability efforts – but don’t overdo it. Add a modest, sincere tone to your message and that will take you a long way. Consumers relate better with people than with organizations. Give your business a personal, honest image and you will generate positive word-of-mouth.

3. Engage the whole team and communicate your efforts internally.

This is one of the most important green marketing tips. You need internal support to be able to reflect your business green initiatives (consistent communications and continuity are musts for any successful marketing program). It is particularly important to engage your frontline employees: sales teams, the technical support department, and receptionists, in particular! Imagine how it would reflect on your company if your marketing department is promoting your environmental initiatives while the sales team is seen dumping dozens of still relevant brochures after a trade show.

4. Get your supply chain on board.

Engage your partners and vendors on your green marketing efforts. Communicate the pros of green marketing and provide incentives for a faster adoption. Focus on the new joint marketing opportunities you’ll be creating for your partners and suppliers – after all, if your supply chain is also becoming environmentally-sustainable, your suppliers will want to promote the new added-value and generate more business.

5. Don’t just focus on the green argument.

The green marketplace is quickly evolving and it’s not enough to focus your messaging on the green added-value of your products/services. You need to develop your product positioning so it’s a “no-brainer” for your clients to do business with you. This can take various forms, from communicating the quality of your product or service, focusing on the money your customers will be saving in the long term (and perhaps in the short term, depending where your product fits in the price scale), product innovation/design, etc. The goal is not to focus on the green argument uniquely; position your company as an organization that appeals to more than dark green customers.

About Kiwano Marketing
Kiwano Marketing provides green marketing services to small and medium businesses. Based in Vancouver, Kiwano designs affordable web and print marketing programs with high return on investment – generating more sales for your business while serving our local community. For more information, please visit www.kiwano.ca or call us directly at 604.628.0142.

Kiwano would like to extend a special acknowledgement to the entire Marketwire team for their ongoing support.

Sofia Ribeiro owns and co-manages Kiwano Marketing, a sustainable marketing agency dedicated to support small, sustainable businesses located in Vancouver, BC – promoting the city?s economy while improving the community?s environment.

An experienced marketing professional and a green enthusiast, Sofia has an extensive marketing background across both small businesses and large enterprises throughout Europe and North America. Having quit her full-time job as a Marketing Specialist in a leading Vancouver business, Sofia?s expertise lays in guerrilla marketing and internet marketing techniques, paired with a solid experience in copywriting and industry research.

Sofia?s articles are regularly featured in industry publications and she?s a contributor writer at The Green Economy Post. Sofia also volunteers with Stanley Park Ecology Society, Canadian Cancer Society and Metro Vancouver.

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The 4 Business Plan Threats

April 5, 2010 · Posted in Eco Conscious Consumer · Comments Off 

Stripped bombax tree silhouette
Creative Commons License photo credit: Felix Francis

There are four critical areas causing business plans to change. All are changing trends in the business environment. The four areas we will examine are: 1) government trends, 2) economic trends. 3) technological trends and 4) cultural trends. Each one causes a specific impact on our decisions and requires us to make adjustments. Some changes are dramatic and require dramatic reactions to minimize their effect on our business.

First are government trends. There are several different sources caused by changes in regulations, tax policies and new legal precedence. Most of these are not a direct result of what we are doing in our business, but are the result of political and social shifts. On the legal side, changes result from court cases. It is absolutely necessary to address these changes because of both the financial and legal jeopardy. The result will be changes to not only our business plans but also our business conduct.

Second are economic trends. These changes occur because the local, national and international environment changes. Read more

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What Are the Most Profitable Small Businesses – Profitable Small Green Businesses

October 31, 2009 · Posted in Green Business · Comments Off 

Stand Off
Creative Commons License photo credit: Kevin

When looking at what are the most profitable small businesses, there are many avenues to explore. One of the challenges small business owners and home business owners face is marketing their business effectively. In addition to sound marketing methods, marketing to popular trends and markets with growing interest is important.

Advertising can be very expensive, but there are very effective ways of generating free exposure, especially today. With the technologies available via the internet many small business owners are generating massive profits with little or no marketing expense.

There are many opportunities right now for having a profitable small green business. Read more

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Understanding the Green Supply Chain Message

October 26, 2009 · Posted in Business Strategy, Marketing, Sales & Business Development · Comments Off 

Escher Lizards
Creative Commons License 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. Read more

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How to Sell Green & Increase Sales

October 25, 2009 · Posted in Marketing, Sales & Business Development · Comments Off 

Sweet Notes
Creative Commons License photo credit: …..dotted…..

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. Read more

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Differentiating by Going Green

October 19, 2009 · Posted in Business Strategy, Marketing, Sales & Business Development · Comments Off 

Microsoft Office 2007
Creative Commons License 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. Read more

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How-To Land Your PR Campaign On A Trillion Dollar Target

October 10, 2009 · Posted in Green Business, Green Business Investments, Starting a Green Business · Comments Off 

Grand Theft Auto Posters
Creative Commons License photo credit: Paul Lowry

The most important fundamental step to launching a successful PR campaign is to target the right audiences. The one question every business owner will ask is simple, “Show Me The Money”. As a PR professional you want to ensure that you are directing all of you’re PR campaigns on profitable paths.

Many times PR pros can benefit from hot trendy markets. This is an ideal opportunity to create a demand for products and services offered in PR campaigns. The task here is to find solutions to implement products and services that will add value to hot trendy markets. Therefore increasing a demand and revenue earnings. Read more

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Veggie and Green Store – How Going GREEN Can Turn Into a Network Marketing Opportunity Cash Cow

January 6, 2009 · Posted in Eco Conscious Consumer, Eco Friendly Products · Comments Off 

SuperTarget Durham, NC
Creative Commons License photo credit: j.reed

There are a lot of network marketing opportunities with today’s diverse niche products, services, marketing medium, technology and even scientific discoveries.

Health products are the pioneer network marketing opportunity. Marketing supplemental foods of Forever Living is one. Low calorie beers and fortified foods also offer similar opportunity, but they already are in public groceries. They do not require network marketing anymore.

Two network marketing opportunities are vegetables and environment products. Read more

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Home Business Leverage – 4 Powerful Ways to Get Your Business System to Do the Work For You

January 5, 2009 · Posted in Eco Conscious Consumer, Eco Friendly Business, Eco Friendly Products · Comments Off 

publicidad_evolucion_estrategias
Creative Commons License photo credit: Juan Freire

So What Is Leverage?

When considering sourcing a the Best Big Ticket Business Opportunity or Product to market, it is really worthwhile to consider the ‘Power of Leverage’ in running our Business. ‘Leverage’ means to do the work once, and to benefit from what you have put in place again and again and again.

Why work day in and day out doing the same thing over and over again, exchanging your time and your life for money, just like having a job. Read more

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Green Partnership – How Joint Ventures Can Be Taken Into the Green Zone

January 4, 2009 · Posted in Green Business Investments, Green Venture Capital · Comments Off 

Sunken City
Creative Commons License photo credit: Joel Bedford

When a small local entrepreneur decided to sell environment-friendly washable bags to substitute plastic grocery and shopping bags, she had difficulty making them.

One, she does not know how to make bags or even sew clothes. Two, she has no Fine Arts education or even artistic skills to design bags or even draw bag prints. Third, she did not have the time to learn them all. She only has the money and marketing skills for her choice of business.

The local entrepreneur knew however that her place and adjacent communities manufacture bags and she has a circle of visual artist-friends. So, she pushed her plans. Read more

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