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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Whether or not you believe in global warming, no one can debate that the green movement has taken the planet by storm. What started out as a cause has become a because. Because, in every way from the ecologic to the economic, green is not just a good conscience move, it’s a good business move with direct correlation to the bottom line. It’s the domino effect played backward.

By that we mean if you increase your energy efficiencies, you use less power. If you use less power, not only does your energy bill decrease but your need for power decreases so less energy has to be generated. If less energy is generated, less fuel is burned to create more power, less money is spent building plants, and less land is cleared to build energy producing plants, and so on and so on. In the end, even one energy-efficient LED bulb is one bright idea because it can produce a lot more savings than just on your energy bill.

But where do you begin? For many companies, greening their business might start with purchasing recycled paper or using soy inks. This is a good beginning. However, greening your business needs to begin with defining what green is in the first place. So it’s not merely a checklist but a “checking out” of your company’s social, environmental and economic beliefs and aligning them with your goals in order to meet the needs of the present without comprising the ability of the future generations to meet their own needs.

This internal exploration helped our team at Mind Over Markets define what is at the very core of green. We developed several ideas described below.

Green is about first what you believe and second what you buy.

Green is about making decisions, taking the time to decide what you really need, not just what you want. Green people buy from their intellect as well as their values.

Green is about long-term thinking not short-term. It is living as part of something, not apart from everything. It concerns believing in a future for everyone, our kids and their kids.

Green is not about stopping industry or progress. It’s about creating more efficient industry and progress.  It’s about new opportunities and new jobs, new careers and new technology.

Green is education. It is information, making decisions, and knowing that your choices make a difference.  It is about being transparent. Green is not just about the talk, it’s about the walk.

Green is not necessarily about moving off the grid or changing your life. It’s not even about hugging a tree although that would be nice. It’s about trying to walk more softly. It is understanding that we are a species among other species.

It’s about thinking about what you do before you do it. It’s about reusing, recycling, and picking up after yourself, or even after someone else.  It’s about all of us caring about all of us.

Ways to Change

This internal exploration led to an exploration of how we, as a marketing company, can change the way we look at everything in the marketing business and beyond.

Can we host a presentation using Webcams instead of driving to the airport and flying to a meeting?

Can we contribute to the reduction in greenhouse gasses by phone conferencing instead of driving?

Can we send PDF files over the Internet instead of printing brochures?

Can we place our marketing materials and our client’s materials on a flash drive and hand them out at a trade show instead of leaving a paper trail?

Can we allow our employees to telecommute a portion of their workweek?

Can we send our company holiday cards via the Internet instead of using paper and post?

And what about work space health?  Is our flooring off-gassing harmful VOCs (volatile organic compounds) into our workspace air?

Do we use as much natural light as we can?

Do we use nontoxic cleaning products?   All of these things contribute to healthier workspaces, which contribute to greater worker productivity and a better bottom line.

Can we source bleach-free recycled paper and print on both sides?

Can we print on our outgoing e-mails, “Please do not print this e-mail unless you really must?”

Can we encourage our printers to switch to toxic free soy-based inks and recycled paper?

Can we help green industry events by offering organic foods, less paper products, and an acoustic band instead of an electrically powered one?

The answers to these questions for us are yes, and more. Once you start thinking green, green grows all around you. Actually greening our business is an ongoing, highly creative process. It takes a little adjustment to your reflexes to ask yourself questions like, “Do I have to print that e-mail?” What would that little act save when multiplied by 200 e-mails a day, five days a week for a year? A lot of trees and money.

Here’s another good example of green thinking. Simply reducing the margins of our documents to .75” on all sides, results in a total reduction of paper use by 4.75 percent, according to a study by Penn State Green Destiny Conservatree. For one ton of paper, the savings would be 19 reams, which then saves 1.4 trees. Multiplying that by 5.4 million tons of office paper, which is the amount the United States consumed in 2003, saves 6,158,000 trees. Not to mention the energy costs and waste products generated:

1,459,535,366 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions, equivalent to CO2 emissions from 132,528 cars.

584,398,539 pounds of solid waste, equaling 20,871 fully loaded garbage trucks.

4.8 billion gallons of waste water, enough to fill 7,408 Olympic-sized pools.

You see, one margin can go a long way.

Once we recalibrate the decision-making process by thinking of all the ways we can be more efficient and less wasteful, making other adjustments gets easier and easier. Even simple changes like printing our presentation boards on both sides cut our usage in half. It is the domino effect once again. Use less paper, need less paper, need less trees, and less paper manufacturing plants and less energy to run them. By now you get the picture.

How are you greening your business or office? Share it here.

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One of our clients is Dream Designs, a chain of organic lifestyle stores in Vancouver that manufactures and sells organic bedding, sheets, towels, mattresses. fashion and more. They are a perfect example of how knowing your customer informs and molds the advertising messages.

By definition, the Dream Designs customer is educated, affluent, hip, adventurous and interesting.That tells you that the best way to communicate to them is to make the communications as interesting and adventurous as they are. The other challenge is to do all of that in a small media space. No small task.

We created a series of six ads that could be repeated and run on a regular, weekly basis to build momentum around the stores and the products Dream Designs sells. “Are you good in bed? featured their 100% organic sheets was how we began. After all, 100% organic sheets with no chemicals or pesticides in the cotton growing cycle is good to be in bed with. We followed that with “Sleep like an ecolog” featuring their 100% organic mattresses.

Next came ads for their organic pillows, “A case for our pillows” and “Are your pillows a sham?” And then ”Make a blanket statement” featured their organic designer blankets. For their 100% organic cotton towels, we asked a serious question: “Does the “t” in your towels mean toxic?” We even did a fun, 50% off sale ad with the headline “Beddy buy.”

Why did we have so much fun with their ads? We knew that their customers would appreciate the humor and intellectual exercise of getting the meaning and personality of Dream Designs advertising.That way we implied quality without having to say it. We said the stores would be fun to shop in without having to tout it.

When your product is really good, you can show your style and imply all your positive attributes without spelling them out. When your customers can join in on the fun of your communications, you have created a relationship that makes them want you to succeed. Best of all, having your customers actually look forward to your ads and what you are going to say next is the best of all possible worlds.

Be brave, have fun, entertain as you inform and even your small space ads will make a big splash — and a big impact. We can’t wait to do more.

How are you being brave, having fun?

To view more of our work, check out Mind Over Markets.

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We had a lively conversation with Sandy Skees from Communications 4 Good and Irv Weinberg from Mind Over Markets on integrating PR into your marketing mix in today’s sustainability communications world. If you missed it or want to review the many nuggets of PR wisdom that were shared, here’s the link to this information-rich presentation.

PR Strategy in Today’s Sustainability Communications World

The Presenters

Sandy Skees, CEO and founder of Communications 4 Good, a public relations/communications agency, provides businesses, early stage companies and organizations with sustainability communications consulting and program implementation.

Irv Weinberg, Co-founder and Principal at Mind Over Markets, a dedicated green marketing communications company, specializes in creating effective messaging in the maturing green market for over 10 years.

Do you have any PR nuggets or success stories you would like to share?

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PR is one of the most effective and sought after tools for business building, especially in the green space. Our featured guest this month, Sandy Skees, a well-known PR expert and owner of Communications 4 Good, will share ways to leverage communications as a strategic component of your sustainability initiative. Joining her is Irv Weinberg, co-founder of Mind Over Markets, and long-time copywriter and blogger.

In this teleseminar, Sandy and Irv will:

Provide insights on how to assess and maximize the relative value to your sustainable brand campaign of earned media (PR), paid media (advertising), owned media (website) and social media (consumer generated).

Discuss how to integrate PR into your marketing mix and the role it has in creating advocates, removing barriers and accelerating acceptance.

Share insights on how to write a compelling press release that intrigues journalists and gets noticed.

Presenters

Sandy Skees, CEO and founder of Communications4Good, a public relations/communications agency, provides businesses, early stage companies and organizations with sustainability communications consulting and program implementation.

At Communications4Good, Sandy is creating a language of goodness that gives business a way to focus, talk about, share, motivate and implement change in the world — change that values people, respects planetary resources and fosters prosperity. Her trademarked methodology assesses organizational assets, legacy, vision, human capital, business goals and market conditions to unlock the goodness inside of business through the power of language, stories, and communication.

With more than 20 years experience at global and boutique agencies, as well as corporate marketing experience at an international technology company, Sandy is recognized for highly developed problem solving skills that bring communications solutions to Fortune 100 corporations. Previously a partner at Porter Novelli, she managed the global HP account team in 20 cities/10 countries around the world and served on the Global Citizen Task Force and Pro Bono Initiative, working with Vday and Freedom from Hunger.

Irv Weinberg, Co-founder and Principal at Mind Over Markets, a dedicated green marketing communications company, specializes in creating effective messaging in the maturing green market for over 10 years.

He brings with him more than 30 years of senior-level advertising and marketing experience. He has worked for some of the world’s top advertising agencies including Young & Rubicam; Wells, Rich and Greene; LINTAS and Grey Advertising in New York City. Irv has been responsible for heading up the advertising and marketing efforts of Fortune 500 companies such as Coca-Cola, IBM, Club Med, Continental Airlines and General Foods, as well as non-profit organizations and small to medium-sized businesses nationwide.

Irv is also a well-published blogger on many green websites and social communities including his own Green Marketing Blog. He is a featured author in Reuters’ book for C-level executives called Inside the Minds: Greening your Business.

To Register

Date: Wednesday, November 17, 2010; Time: 10:00 am Pacific time; 1:00 pm Eastern time (1 hour)

Click Here to Register for PR Strategy in Today’s Sustainability World.

To hear our October Teleseminar “Leveraging Social Media for Sustainable Business” with Joey Schepp and Carolyn Parrs, click here.

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Advertising Age has just published an article called “Has Green Stopped Giving?”. It seems recent trends and sales curves have started going in the wrong direction, down instead of up. Given the current state of green messaging, it’s not hard to see why. Take the Nissan Leaf launch as an example. The commercial shows a polar bear leaving a shrinking iceberg and giving a Leaf owner a hug. Cute execution, no concept. When are green marketers going to learn to put something in their message to motivate the majority of consumers?

Yes, of course, we want to save every polar bear we can, but when I’m buying a car, especially something new, experimental and exotic like an EV, there had better be personal benefits to me in their communications, not just planetary ones  — especially when “It’s the economy, stupid”. I’d rather have seen a commercial of that man driving by the gas station laughing because it’s not on his shopping list anymore than of him getting a hug from a bear. As one blogger put it, “It’s not easy being green when customers are blue about being in the red.”

I am tired of green marketing going to the obvious, no matter how cute, and getting the “saving the planet” message repackaged for the hundredth time. I am constantly amazed that smart marketers don’t understand that green is a personal thing. It’s a way of treating your home and family better. That’s how to move the needle.

PS: As far as the comment about green being “defeated at the polls” this November that’s not quite true. People voted for what was important to them and when they didn’t get it one place, they went to the other place. It wasn’t anti-green it was pro-individual needs.

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We had a lively conversation with Joey Shepp on how social media principles align with sustainable business principles, and how sustainable business is perfectly positioned to take advantage of this disruptive technology. If you missed this Green Marketing Masters Teleseminar, here’s the audio link: Leveraging Social Media for Sustainable Business.

Here are some of questions we addressed:

1. How is social media good for sustainable business?

2. What is the best way to promote sustainable products without preaching?

3. How can I best use Facebook as a marketing tool?

4. How do you increase your fan base on Facebook?

5. How would you leverage social media in a business to business environment?

6. Is the press release still a viable part of social media marketing?

7. How might I best proceed in setting up and beginning to publish a blog?

Links Referenced in Teleseminar

Electronic Press Kits by Earthsite: Your Garden Show, Social Network for Gardeners; The Ki, Smart Living Event

FTC Disclosure FAQ and Type of Disclosure

Greenwashing: 7 Sins of Greenwashing Report

Presenters

Joey Shepp – Joey Shepp is the Founder and Principal at Earthsite, New Media for Sustainable Brands. Joey believes that social media is the tipping point for sustainability. He is an Internet entrepreneur, professional speaker, and sustainability consultant, and the founder and CEO of Earthsite, a New Media Agency for Sustainable Brands. Joey is also the founder of GreenMaven.com, the world’s largest Green Search Engine. He holds a degree in Ecological Design from UC Santa Cruz, an MBA in Sustainable Enterprise from Dominican University of CA.

Carolyn Parrs – Carolyn is a Co-founder and Principal at Mind Over Markets, a dedicated green marketing communications company that specializes in creating effective messaging in the maturing green market. As part of her passion to help green companies grow, she co-authors the Green Marketing Blog, a definitive, thought-provoking guide to marketing success in the green products world. She is also the Creator and Host of Women Of Green, a multimedia blog and community about turning up the volume of the feminine voice on behalf of the planet and future generations.

November Teleseminar

Join us Wednesday, November 17th at 10am pst / 1pm est when we talk PR with Sandy Skees, CEO and Founder of Communications 4 Good, and Irv Weinberg, Co-founder of Mind Over Markets.

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There are some intelligent choices in the marketplace today, and as green is becoming more and more prevalent, we’re seeing the prices reducing – and efficacy rising. This Women Of Green podcast features MJ Jolda, the Vice President of Marketing at Marcal Paper Products, a leading manufacturer of household paper goods from 100 percent recycled paper. They have introduced an Environmental Facts panel on their “Small Steps” packaging that details information like recycled paper content, how much chlorine bleach was used for whitening, and the use of chemical-based additives like fragrances and dyes.

This whole effort came out of talking with many many consumers, mostly women, on what they want and don’t want in green.

Listen in to her responses to these questions:

Most of your customers are mainstream consumers – what I would call medium to light greens. They would purchase green but it has to really make sense.

What did you learn in your research about what it would take for them to make a green purchase versus a conventional one?

Women buy 80% of the products in our household, that’s tremendous economic power. So how can we rally those women to really have an impact in the marketplace?

How do we educate women, mainstream women, on what’s really happening when they buy that conventional product?

You have said that one of the biggest threats to the environmental consumerism movement is misinformation, or what’s often called greenwashing. How can we really make an impact in the marketplace if so many manufacturers are just spinning a marketing story without the environmental reality behind it?

I love Patagonia’s Footprint Chronicles. What is Marcal doing or not doing well that you would like to change or improve?

About MJ Jolda: She is the Senior Vice President for Marcal Paper LLC, the nation’s leading manufacturer of household paper goods from 100 percent recycled paper. An industry pioneer, Marcal has used recycled paper to make paper towels, napkins, facial tissue and bath tissue since 1950. MJ is responsible for the Marketing and R&D efforts for the Marcal Small Steps brand. MJ’s 20-plus-year track record of brand revitalization spans a wide range of consumer products, concentrating in food, household cleansers and OTC/HBA.

MJ’s links:

Profile of MJ Jolda in Advertising Age

Marcal’s Small Steps website

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