The following is a guest post from our colleague, Graham Russell of SustainableOfficer.com, a new website that enables you to post questions and requests for information on sustainability issues and receive e-mail responses directly from your peers and experts in the industry.

Green and sustainable business is a hot topic. That’s good news: a rapidly growing number of business people are beginning to get the message that environmentally and socially responsible initiatives can reduce costs, drive technology and business process innovation, build brand equity and enhance employee satisfaction and loyalty.

That’s also bad news because when something becomes a hot topic, thousands of new websites, online newsletters and advisory services spontaneously develop, offering every possible variety of information (and misinformation) on the subject, much of it coming from folks who two years ago couldn’t spell sustainability and thought green business was what went on at golf clubs!

There is so much stuff out there on this subject that it’s possible to spend many tens of hours stumbling from one website to another or searching disorganized blogs and LinkedIn sites and still fail to get the answers you need. If you’re just starting down the path of thinking how best to initiate green or sustainability programs in your organization, you’re probably like a lot of others who are frustrated by this process and wondering how you can quickly find the specific information you need, get fast, relevant answers to your questions, and build a network of trusted peers and experts in the sustainability profession. Even seasoned practitioners of sustainability frequently encounter issues they haven’t seen before and have trouble finding a peer who’s been there, done that and who can help them avoid reinventing the wheel.

If you’re in this boat and it’s a big one, you might want to check out Sustainable Officer, an online information exchange and networking site created for those involved in developing and implementing green and sustainable initiatives in their organizations. Developed by a major Rocky Mountain business publication in collaboration with several local sustainability professionals, SustainableOfficer.com has built a large online community of sustainability experts and professionals who are engaged in a lively exchange of questions and answers on every aspect of green and sustainable business. Participation in SustainableOfficer.com is free and the site keeps the identity of all who participate private unless they choose to reveal it.

Once signed up as a member of the community, you can post an information request or question on any aspect of sustainability. A Site Moderator acts as gatekeeper to ensure that questions are relevant to sustainability, couched in terms that are concise and easy to understand, and not sales pitches disguised as questions. Questions are sent out daily to the entire community, members of which respond directly via e-mail to the requester with answers, advice, relevant information or other useful information. If responders like the information they receive, they can make direct contact with those who provided it and begin to expand their network of trusted colleagues in the profession.

SustainableOfficer.com is expanding its community nationally so that everyone in the sustainable business profession can quickly and easily reach out beyond their local community and tap into leading edge ideas and initiatives that have been developed in other parts of the country. You can learn more about how it works and see examples of questions being asked and answered, go to: www.sustainableofficer.com.

Check it out and let us know what you think right here at Green Marketing Blog.

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This is a guest post from (drum roll, please) Chris Brogan, author of “Trust Agents,” but better known as the “rock star” of social media.  

The marketing game has changed. It used to be all about mass communications and a tight message spread across every medium you could afford. The goal was to hit as many people as you could touch, and hope for a low percentage of them to convert. Who knows? Maybe you’re STILL doing it that way. If so, how’s that working for you? If you’re looking at trends, the new growth and success in marketing is coming from niche marketers who understand their community and can protect you along the way.

My area of knowledge is in using social media tools and methods to build sales opportunities, increase engagement, and converting audiences into communities. One way to accomplish this is by writing compelling blog content that opens conversations that may lead to potential lead conversion. Not every bit of the content is designed for sales. There’s a relationship component to all this as well, but the point to building great content for a business is to help that business earn attention, gain a reputation, and develop trust.

Find the right niche marketer, who has a strong relationship with the community you’re seeking, and partner with these organizations for your success. I’m writing this guest post for Carolyn Parrs and team at Mind Over Markets because I was so taken with what she and the organization were doing in the space of green / ecological marketing. In this new space, marketing is about connecting and building relationships that yield. Your opportunities are tied to how you choose to reach these markets, and how you intend to take your first steps towards earning their trust. Instead of selecting based on price, seek some results-driven guidance from marketers who you feel will know your audience’s challenges and reservations, and select them. That’s what I do.

–Chris Brogan is President of New Marketing Labs, LLC, and co-author of the NYT/WSJ bestselling book Trust Agents. He blogs regularly at chrisbrogan.com

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