PR and Marketing in a Sustainable World

I have a new favorite book:  "The New Rules of Marketing and PR" by David Meerman Scott.

Here's a quote:

"Instead of spending tens of thousands of dollars per month on a media relations program that tries to convince a handful of reporters at select magazines, newspapers, and TV stations to cover us, we should be targeting the plugged-in bloggers, online news sites, micro-publications, public speakers, analysts, and consultants that reach the targeted audiences that are looking for what we have to offer.  Better yet, we no longer even need to wait for someone with a media voice to write about us at all.  With social media, we communicate directly with our audience, bypassing the media filter completely.  We have the power to create our own media brand in the niche of our own choosing.  It's about being found on Google and Yahoo! and vertical sites and RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds.  Instead of writing press releases only when we have "big news" - releases that reach only a handful of journalists - we should be writing releases that highlight our expert ideas and stories, and we should be distributing them so that our buyers can find them on the news search engines and vertical content sites."

Can I get an AMEN?  Agreed, agreed, agreed.

As Scott states, we are in a different world when we market our business, our services, and our products. 

If you decided right now that you want to purchase a new coffee machine, what would you do?  Raise your hand if you'd do a google search of "best coffee machines"?  Or would you wait until the Sunday paper came out, thumb through the pages for a snazzy advert for small appliances?  Better yet, would you hope that a flashy TV ad would come on and direct you to a store?  I doubt it.

We get the information we need from the vast and rich knowledge available on the Internet.  Through interactive websites, search engines, blogs, news sites and e-zines. 

So, why are we still stuck with this idea that a PR campaign is not complete without a clip book filled with copies of media bits?  How many trees have to die before we recognize that print advertisement is probably in the final stages before it's full transformation to online platforms?

Sustainable PR and marketing is the New Marketing.  Green campaigns are social media campaigns.  It is not presenting a clip book to your client to show you've done your job, but presenting your client with the attention of targeted BUYING customers.  As a business owner, would you rather have ten newspaper clippings about your company or ten times as many buying customers on your phone?

One last quote from my new favorite book, the New Rules of Marketing and PR

Marketing is more than just advertising

PR is for more than just a mainstream media audience

You are what you publish

People want authenticity, not spin

People want participation, not propaganda

Instead of causing one-way interruption, marketing is about delivering content at just the precise moment your audience needs it.

Marketers must shift their thinking from mainstream marketing to the masses to a strategy of reaching vast numbers of underserved audiences via the Web.

PR is not about your boss seeing your company on TV.  It's about your buyers seeing your company on the Web.

Marketing is not about your agency winning awards.  It's about your organization winning business.

The Internet has made public relations public again, after years of almost exclusive focus on media.

Companies must drive people into the purchasing process with great online content.

Blogs, online video, e-books, news releases, and other forms of online content let organizations communicate directly with buyers in a form they appreciate.

On the Web, the lines between marketing and PR have blurred.

If you own your own company or are in a position to market your company, this book is required reading.  I'm definitely incorporating these ideas into my marketing plan and into the plans I create and execute for my clients.  Thankfully, Greener By Design Consulting's team has always seen the extreme benefit of social media management and the power of the Web.  It's assuring to know that we are not alone and, quite possibly, absolutely correct!

When you read the book, it will either excite you or terrify you.  Be cautioned, though.  If you find the content too terrifying, or you are unconvinced, chances are you may fall flatly into the "left behind" category.  Re-read with an open mind and remember that the Web isn't going away.  It will continue to grow and change, grow and change.  Will you grow and change with it?

Thanks to David Meerman Scott.  Be sure to visit his website and follow his blogs:  http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/

Happy Marketing!

Matisse and the Masters at R. Roberts Gallery

Greener By Design Consulting is proud to be working with R. Roberts Gallery on this exciting event that is just around the corner. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in North Florida for you to aquire works of the masters: Matisse, Chagall, Miro', Renoir, Dali, and Picasso.



"Can I really purchase a Picasso?" Yes...

"You're saying I can invest in a Renoir to pass along to my children" Absolutely...

"What do you mean 'payment plan'?" Call the gallery today to find out....

The event opens with previews on January 8th and closes with two very special events on January 16th and 17th. At 11am on Saturday, the 16th, the gallery is hosting a special children's event with the 81-year-old Pierre Henri Matisse.  Bring your children to meet the step-grandson of Henri Matisse and invest in a legacy piece that will pass through generations.  Imagine your child remembering the day she met the artist and then looking at the piece hanging on the wall.  This is a story that will live through generations....

Public events begin at 6pm on Saturday and 1pm on Sunday.

If you're as amazed as we are about this incredible opportunity to aquire a Masterwork, RSVP for the Matisse and the Masters Show at R. Roberts Gallery. Make an appointment to see the works accompanied by the experts at the gallery and away from the crowds.

Call 388-1188 and ask for Heather or Jen or email heather@rrobertsgallery.com.

This is not to be missed! Visit the gallery next week:  3606 Saint Johns Avenue in Historic Avondale.

Visit the website:  http://www.rrobertsgallery.com/ for a sample and follow us on Facebook:  Greener By Design Consulting and R. Roberts Gallery.

Welcome to your new Green Life in 2010

I found a really great article in last year's National Geographic Green Guide describing the day in the life of someone that pulls in all the pieces of a newly-converted environmentally conscious person. (Italicized and bracketed comments are mine). Here's the highlights:

7:00am:  Read the morning paper online.  Reading a year's worth of newspapers on your computer saves 520 pounds of paper, or about three trees per year.  (And, no stepping outside in your bathrobe frightening the neighbors)

7:15am:  Shower with a low-flow showerhead.  Because low-flow showerheads reduce water consumption, they can save up to 10% on water-heating costs.  (Alert:  money saver!)

8:25am:  Pack your lunch in reusable containers.  Containers and packaging make up one-third of municipal solid waste, more than any other category.  (Again, a money saver.  No purchasing baggies or expensive, often-unhealthy, restaurant food for lunch.)

8:45am:  Brew a cup of eco-friendly coffee at home and pour into a reusable mug.  Because conventional coffee is grown on clear-cut land and requires loads of chemical fertilizers, each household that switches to organic, shade-grown coffee helps protect more than 9,000 square feet of rain forest.  Plus, Americans toss out 16 billion disposable paper cups per year.  (Eco-friendly coffee is often a better quality brew as well.  If you're a coffeehouse addict, purchase their coffee and brew it at home.)

8:50am:  Power down before you leave the house.  TVs, stereos, chargers, and most appliances with clocks drain energy when they're plugged in - even if they're not on.  Its called "standby power" and it accounts for 5% of residential energy, costing US consumers over $4 billion per year.  Plug them into power strips that you can switch off easily. 

9:00am:  Carpool to work.  According to the California Air Resources Board, approximately 50% of air pollution comes from automobiles.  (Depending on where you work, this can either be really smart or rather difficult.  Weigh your options and make changes elsewhere if carpooling is not viable.)

9:30am:  At work, fire up your laptop.  Laptops require much less energy than desktops.  (When your firm makes a change in their technology, suggest laptops all around.  Don't forget to donate your used computers to a non-profit or to a school.)

11:00am:  Print on both sides of the page, single-space your files and decrease the size of margins.  Americans use 5.4 million tons of office paper every year.  You use four times less paper when you print single-spaced and on both sides.  Save even more by shrinking the margins to .75 inches from the standard inch.  (Again, your mileage may vary on this one, depending on layout requirements and readability.  But, at the very least keep a basket near the copy machine for accidents and overruns to be used as scratch paper.)

3:30pm:  Schedule a conference call with a client instead of a face-to-face meeting.  Conference calls cost a fraction of site-to-site travel and save a significant amount of energy.  Replacing one cross-country trip with a conference call saves 0.4 metric tons of carbon dioxide and enough energy to power 7,000 hours of videoconferences.  (With programs like Skype and the availability of webconferencing, you can still experience face-to-face.  Invest in a really good quality web-cam and highest speed connection to make it work at highest efficiency.  If your best client is on the fence, spring for a webcam for them, too.  Low cost gift for them and it shows your commitment to reducing your carbon footprint.)

5:55pm:  Plug your computer into a power strip and switch it off at the end of the day.  Over the course of one year, you'll save 1.5 tons of carbon dioxide emissions, and reduce standby power loss.  (And the boss will love you for working to reduce their energy bill.)

6:00pm:  Text your partner to say you're on your way home.  Text messages sent from a cell phone use 30 times less energy than sending an email from a desktop computer.  (Before you start the car, though...  Don't text and drive!)

6:15pm:  Bundle your evening errands to save gas and reduce pollution.  Starting a car with a warm engine emits one-fifth the pollution created by starting a cold engine.  (And you can get to your dinner and movie quicker by effectively planning your time.)

6:20pm:  At the gas station, tighten your gas cap.  In the US, 147 million gallons of gas evaporate every year from cars with gas caps that are damaged, loose or missing.  Make sure your gas cap is tight by turning it until it clicks three times.  (My dad told me that I had to tighten the cap or the car would explode.  In retrospect, I think he was trying to scare me into doing it.  But, since he isn't an 'environmentalist', I'd say it was probably a cost-saving measure.  What doesn't evaporate, stays in the tank to work for you.)

6:25pm:  At the ATM, say no to a receipt.  It takes two billion feet of paper to create receipts for the eight billion ATM transactions that occur each year in America - most of which end up as litter.  (Really...   are you going to write it down when you get home anyway?)

6:30pm:  Take canvas bags to the supermarket.  In the US, we use 11 million plastic shopping bags every hour.  The trick to using your own bags is to put them back in the car as soon as you've unpacked your groceries - they won't do any good if you leave them at home.  (Target offers a $0.5 discount if you bag your items in a recycled bag.  Hey, 5 cents is 5 cents....  good for them.)

7:15pm:  Before you head to dinner and a movie, print the tickets from your desktop.  Movie tickets printed at home are easier to recycle than the paperboard used to print tickets at the theater.  (And breeze by the line!  That's my favorite part!)

8:00pm:  Eat dinner at a restaurant that serves locally grown, organic food.  Check gengreenlife.com for a list of eateries and food stores that sell environmentally friendly vittles in your zip code.  Or, if you eat at home, choose the right burner and don't preheat the oven until you're ready to cook.  If the circumference of the burner is larger than the size of your pan, you're leaking unused heat into the air.  The longer an oven is turned on but not used, the more energy it wastes.  There's no need to preheat if you're cooking foods for longer than 20 minutes.  (Ahh, our grandmas would be so proud of our frugal methods!  She don't care what we call it...  green, sustainable, eco-friendly.  She calls it frugal.  And she's right.)

-Kate Hanley, National Geographic Green Guide

One other great idea I found was to create a "Going Green" kit and give as gifts to clients, customers, friends, and family:

• Reusable tote bag
• Stainless steel water bottle
• Travel coffee mug
• BYO-lunch supplies - an insulated carrier, untensils, and aluminum foil (instead of plastic wrap)
• Compact fluorescent light bulb

Brainstorm for other items to include in your Kits and share the sustainability!

Have a great week!