They’re marketing’s top buzz words. Sales of organic products were expected to top $20 billion last year, up from $10 billion in 2003.

Convinced that green is here to stay, marketers are scrambling to find attention-grabbing ways to get the environmentally conscious to buy green and only green—and to convert those who haven’t yet joined the eco-chic bandwagon.

Marketers are discovering that “Save the Planet” doesn’t work as a tactic for convincing people to buy green. Most people’s brains can’t encompass the idea of saving the entire planet—we think, “I’m just one person. Will switching from bottled water to filtered tap water really make a difference, in the large scheme of things?

Instead, marketers are relying on the tried-and-true tactics they’ve always used: they’re appealing to the consumer’s self-interest.

I’ll use one of our clients, Washington Tree & Lawn Care, as an example of how this works. Washington Tree & Lawn Care professionally applies fertilizer and disease/insect control sprays to their customers’ lawns, trees, shrubs, and home perimeters. They are the front-runners in developing and perfecting applications that use either conventional products, organic products, or a combination of both.

They don’t tell their customers: “Switch to organic and save the earth.” That’s because many of their customers prefer to use the same conventional insecticides they’ve always used. Many of their new customers, however, request the “natural” program. And some prefer a blend of traditional and organic applications.

Instead, they appeal to their customers’ self-interest by tailoring their services to each individual’s needs:

• They conduct a free analysis of your yard and make recommendations based on the type of vegetation you have.
• They don’t require you to sign up for a program; you can mix-and-match applications to your heart’s content.
• Once you become a customer, their technicians will stop by at your request to troubleshoot problems…again, for free.
• They’ve been in business since 1948 and know pretty much everything there is to know about fertilizer, weed ’n feed, and insecticides.

Those qualities—not the fact that I will be doing my part to save the earth—are what motivate me to consider trying their services.

What about you? What motivates you to buy green?

How Do I Know It’s Green?

Check out these helpful sites:

Greenwashing Index
www.greenwashingindex.com
An interactive forum that allows you to evaluate advertisements that make environmental claims.

Environmental Working Group
www.ewg.org/
Evaluates consumer products and recommends ones to avoid, based on chemicals & other unhealthy ingredients.

EcoLogo
www.ecologo.org
Certifies “green” products in more than 120 categories.

Green Seal
www.greenseal.org
Promotes the manufacture, purchase, and use of environmentally responsible products and services.

Energy Star
www.energystar.gov
A joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy that promotes energy-efficient products and practices.

Terra Choice
www.terrachoice.com/files/wallet_card/E-S.pdf
“Six Sins of Greenwashing” Wallet Card – download the PDF, fold it, and take it with you everywhere for inspiration!

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Let’s take a look at an example: Read the first sentence of this post again. It works. It’s okay. But can we tighten it? Yes. A lot. Try this:

The first thing my broadcast journalism profs hammered into my brain was to write tight.

You probably know to eliminate the word ‘that’ whenever possible. But look at the other words I took out: ‘classes’, ‘the lesson of’, ‘I took’. We went from 26 words to 15 words without losing the message or meaning of the sentence. This is the area where beginning writers can make the biggest leap forward in their skills.

Can cutting out words be overdone? Of course. Sometimes so much is sliced off there’s nothing left but the bone. But if we are to err, I would suggest doing it on the side of brevity, rather than on the side of pontification overload. I fight this all the time myself and have to continually self-edit in order to kill the words that are unnecessary and dull my prose.

Now, if you really want to play, stop here. Take everything I’ve written above and see if you can tighten it. After you’ve finished yours, take a peek at what I did:

The first thing my broadcast journalism profs hammered into my brain was to write tight.

If you can express your ideas in ten words, great. Seven words? Even better. Read the first sentence of this post again. It’s okay. But can we tighten it? Yes: The first thing my broadcast journalism profs hammered into my brain was to write tight.

You know to eliminate ‘that’, when possible, but look at what else I cut: ‘classes’, ‘the lesson of’, ‘I took’. We went from 26 words to 15 words without losing the message. Learning this skill is typically the biggest area of growth for beginning writers.

Can it be overdone? Of course. But if we are to err, I would suggest doing it on the side of brevity. I fight this myself and have to continually self-edit to kill unnecessary words that make my prose dull.

Want to play a game? Stop here. Take my post above and tighten it. When you finish, check out my attempt:

First time: 249 words Second time: 166.

Did we lose anything with the 166 word version?

Remember: Always write tight.

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Flora keeps Pacific Northwest gardeners up-to-date on the latest happenings in the local gardening community . She covers everything from wildflowers to rhodies to how to pair wine with food (for your garden parties)

Check out Flora’s tips on Simple Ways to Live Green, Part 1 and Part 2

San Francisco Flower & Garden Show – Jasmine’s blog
http://mygardenspaces.com/SFblog/

Flora’s Bay Area counterpart, Jasmine, has gone absolutely ‘green’ lately! She wrote about The Big Green Bus, powered with waste vegetable oil, ‘Green’ business practices, and how to create a sustainable garden design.

She’s also got a whole series on wine tasting, for you wine aficionados who are heading to the Napa Valley this summer:

• Tasting the Fruit of the Vine
• The Nature of Wine Tasting
• Tasting Tips
• You Can’t Judge a Wine by Its Label

Rich’s for the Home
http://richshome.typepad.com/blog/

Rich’s blog has a gardening theme going, too. You’ll get tips from an expert gardener about how to successfully grow an orchid, learn how to accent your backyard retreat with bamboo–or, perhaps, a tiki thatch canopy.

You’ll also pick up some delicious grilling recipes:

• Sweet and Sour Fruit Salad
• Perfect Pasta Salad
• Grilled Pizza Tortillas
• Cherry Teriyaki Pork Chops
• Grill Goulash
• Summer entertaining menus

Alderbrook Properties
www.alderbrookproperties.com/blog/

Speaking of food, have you tried Geoducks lately? (in Washington state, we pronounce these monster clams “gooey-ducks”). You’ll find ‘em aplenty on the Hood Canal, at Dosewallips State Park (that’s “doe-see-wallups” for you non-natives).

What, exactly, is the Hood Canal? Is it a stinky, waste-infested swamp? No, not at all! In fact, the Hood Canal is a beautiful fjord. Read all about it.

If you’re planning to visit—or move to—the beautiful Pacific Northwest, be sure to read up on all the latest happenings along the Olympic Peninsula, brought to you by Alderbrook Properties.

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No? Well, you’d better get right on it before your infant or toddler labels you hopelessly old-fashioned and un-cool.

Yes, it’s true. TotSpot debuts today. Your young ’un can have her own free page, where she can post photos and videos of her first tooth, first step, and first temper tantrum. She can highlight milestones such as “fully potty trained” and “smeared face with chocolate frosting on third birthday.”

And, of course, your youngster can invite other babies to be her “friend.” And all her “friends” will receive an e-mail whenever she posts new content (your baby does have an e-mail address, right?)

Like me, you’re probably wondering: But what about security? Won’t this site be a haven for predators? Adam Katz, co-founder of the site, says that only invited family and friends can view your page.

But what if your “friends” aren’t really friends at all? And what if no one wants to be your “friend”? Won’t that irrevocably damage your child’s self-esteem?

I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

If you yearn to introduce your child to the world of social networking now, before he’s six years old and the whole social networking thing becomes old hat, you’d better plop that baby on your lap right this second, click over to TotSpot and help him create his very own page.

Let us know how it goes. Really. We want to hear what you (and your child) like/don’t like about the concept.

Also in this series:

• Doggone Bloggy: Glenn Close Starts ‘Lively Licks’ Blog

• Working Mother magazine builds business via blogs

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Follow our tweets at http://twitter.com/heblogssheblogs

This is what our Twitter logo looks like, so you can spot us easily:

Do you tweet? Let us know your “handle” in the Comments area so we can check you out!

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In their seminal marketing book, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing: Violate Them at Your Own Risk!, Al Ries and Jack Trout argue against the concept of line extension—which is exactly what Daniel is trying to do with his products. The “law” is this: trying to introduce new products under your established brand is almost impossible to make work.

Once you’re in the consumer’s head with one product, it’s hard to get into their head with another.

Example:

When Xerox was the god of the copier world, they decided to start selling computers. The huh? going through your head right now is testament to the fact they failed miserably. They were known for copiers, but computers? No way. They spent millions trying to establish themselves as a computer manufacturer. Whoops. (By the way, IBM tried to sell copiers; it worked about as well as Xerox’s idea to sell computers.)

Would you buy a DVD player from Nike? Probably not. I know, that’s extreme, but would you buy a soft drink with the swoosh on it? History says no.

Did you know A1-Steak sauce spent $18 million dollars on A1-Poultry sauce? Yeah, I’m not using it on my chicken these days either.

On the other hand we have Amazon that started out in books and has successfully extended their brand to include almost everything in the known universe.

So why did it work with Amazon and not with the other examples noted above? We’ll explore that next time and talk about whether Daniel (our 12-year-old entrepreneur) is going to succeed or not with his plan of line extension.

Also in this series:

• 10 Marketing Lessons from a 12-year-old Entrepreneur
• What’s Your Passion?
• 5 Tips for Becoming an Expert at Your Craft
• 5 Ways to Stay Motivated
• Get Them in Your Gravity Well
• Grass Roots Marketing
• What is Your Product Worth?
• How to Market Your Product
• Business Card Marketing
• Yellow Page Advertising: Waste? Or Found Wanting?
• Yellow Pages, Revisited

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Anyway, the latest publisher to sound off is the British unit of Hachette Livre (commonly referred to by us authors as “Hatchet Livers”). They’re calling Amazon a bully for demanding a bigger percentage of the revenue that is currently shared between the publisher, author, retailer, printer, etc.

In retaliation, Amazon has removed the 1-click buttons from thousands of popular titles, which means that Amazon book buyers must now click that mouse button at least three times to purchase a coveted book through Amazon’s open marketplace (which links them to third party booksellers).

As an author, I have mixed feelings about this dispute. I can see why publishers are upset, as they already sell books to Amazon at a huge discount (which gives the publisher the opportunity to potentially move a lot more books, but at a significantly lower profit margin). Why should Amazon, a company that is already a major player in the bookselling market, use their clout to make it even more difficult for publishers and independent booksellers to stay in business (can anyone say Wal-Mart?).

On the other hand, I realize that a fairly high percentage of my own books are sold via Amazon. I’m happy that Amazon promotes my books, 1-click or not (incidentally, neither of my books have a 1-click ordering option available).

The vast majority of authors are no-names whose books rarely appear on the shelves of brick-and-mortar bookstores. We receive miniscule—if any—royalty payments. Whatever the discount Amazon negotiates with our publisher, we shrug and say, “Well, at least my book is being promoted in cyberspace and there’s an opportunity for it to sell.”

I’m going to do some more thinking about this issue, but I’d love to hear from you. Has Amazon gotten too big for its britches?

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First, Rick, who says the Internet isn’t necessarily the final alternative to dumping the yellow pages. He’s right, Google and search engines are a bit of the Wild West right now, but for the sake of this argument, let me simply say while it’s not ideal, money placed with Google Ads is much wiser than any size ad in the yellow pages.

Next, James Edward Hicks III and Filobeto, who bring up valid questions:

• What do you do when the Internet isn’t easily accessible in your market?
• Or the majority of your prospects have molasses-in January dial-up speed on their computers?
• Or your business targets an older demo, not as versed in using the Internet?

For sake of argument, let’s jump into our imaginative time machines and go back twenty years before the time of Google and widespread Internet use. What would I recommend to businesses back then?

Don’t waste your money in the yellow pages.

Let me repeat, the yellow pages is a phone book full of phone numbers. If you own a business, and have a business phone line, you will be listed in both the white pages and the yellow pages. If I look you up in the white pages your business number will be there. If I look you up under the yellow pages, you will be there.

This brings us to the primary question that should be asked of any marketing plan or dollars to be spent. The question should never be, ‘Will it work?’ Or, ‘Is it a good use of my money?’ but, ‘Is it the best use of the money?’ If a business has a dominant presence on radio, on TV, in newspaper, in direct mail, on billboards, magazines, etc., and they want to dump money into the yellow pages, fine. But that’s ludicrous. No one has enough money to be dominant in all media at the same time. Media is more expensive than ever, and continues to fragment. Who has money to spend $$ that aren’t finely targeted?

And don’t you want to use your money to create new customers who don’t know about you or your business? Wouldn’t you like to be known BEFORE people get to the yellow pages?

What if I took my yellow page money and put it into a radio campaign? If a market is small enough to have weak Internet penetration, you can buy radio spots there for a song, and they’ll write and produce your commercial for free. Or how ’bout buying cable TV, which can be targeted to individual zip codes, just like direct mail? Or what about using that money you’d waste in the yellow pages to create a killer Web site, or a tantalizing blog?

By doing this, a business reaches potential customers before they even consider opening the yellow pages. So when/if customers go to the yellow pages, they look right past the big ads, because they already know about you. (By the way, I’ve had clients do exactly what I’m talking about and reap significant results.)

A nationwide yellow page study was done in the early part of this decade. It asked 1,500 people across the country, who had used a plumber in the past 12 months, how they found the plumber they ended up using. If there’s any category you’d believe has to be big and bold in the yellow pages, plumbing would have to be near the top.

Survey says … seventeen percent. Only 17% of the people used the yellow pages! The rest asked friends or family or already knew about a plumber to use. My guess is if other categories were surveyed, on average, they’d be be even lower.

So if you’re willing to spend 83% or more of every dollar to reach that elusive 1%-17% that will use the yellow pages to shop for your business, do it. Just know what your marketing dollars are buying, and what they are not buying because of it.

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“Why don’t you sell more CDs?”

My friend explained:

• CDs are expensive to stock
• People download individual songs from their home computers to MP3 players instead of purchasing entire CDs
• Customers can create custom CDs right in the store

“Custom CDs? How does that work?”

He explained that customers can listen to thousands of albums from the kiosk in the store, click the tunes they want to purchase, and a custom CD is burned right then and there and pops out of the kiosk, ready for the customer to purchase.

How convenient! It reminds me of photo kiosks, where you plug in your storage device and a few minutes later, you walk out with professionally-printed photos.

This innovative combination of digital and in-store products illustrates Marketing Lesson #7: Make it easy for customers to purchase your product.

Our 12-year-old entrepreneur, the custom pen-making Daniel, does just that with his clean, easy-to-navigate Web site, Pens By Daniel.

• His home page contains a series of descriptive navigation buttons, so you know how to find exactly what you’re looking for.
• Daniel’s home page pictures him, hard at work. Visitors feel an instant connection with the master craftsman.
• Click on any of the navigation buttons and you’re redirected to a page that showcases Daniel’s pens and displays thumbnail images of each pen style (which you can click on to view full-size). A slideshow helps you efficiently scroll through all your purchasing options.
• Each image includes a PayPal button, so when you find a product you want to purchase, you are re-directed to Daniel’s shopping cart.
• As an added bonus, we learn that Daniel supports breast cancer research; a page on his site showcases a special pink pen. Daniel donates 33 percent of the profits of each pen sold to the Susan G Komen For the Cure foundation.
• If you’re still confused about how to order, Daniel includes a separate page that explains multiple ways to order, and yet another page that includes contact information.

If a 12-year-old can do it, so can you.

• What product or service do you sell (or want to sell)?
• What steps are you going to take this week to make your customers’ shopping experience easy, convenient, and rewarding?

Let’s share ideas, folks. Put your #1 goal for the week in writing, right here in our Comments area. Next week, tell us what you’ve done to meet that goal.

Also in this series:

• 10 Marketing Lessons from a 12-year-old Entrepreneur
• What’s Your Passion?
• 5 Tips for Becoming an Expert at Your Craft
• 5 Ways to Stay Motivated
• Get Them in Your Gravity Well
• Grass Roots Marketing
• What is Your Product Worth?
• How to Market Your Product
• Business Card Marketing
• Yellow Page Advertising: Waste? Or Found Wanting?

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They expect their passengers to help protect the environment, too. Because it takes more fuel (i.e., more carbon emissions) to haul heavy planes from point A to point B, Derrie-Air has developed unique, sliding scale ticket prices:

The more you weigh, the more you pay.

A ticket from Philly to L.A. costs $2.25/lb. So, for instance, if you (and your luggage) weigh a total of 150 pounds, you’ll pay $337.50 for a ticket. Weigh in at 200 pounds, and you’ll pay $450.

If you’re a thin person, here’s more good news: every seat on Derrie-Air is first class! Some of the amenities include:

• Gorgeous air hosts and hostesses
• Golden-age Rat Pack films
• Top-shelf vodka Martinis
• On-demand video blackjack
• Spacious private washrooms outfitted with porcelain fixtures and gilded faucets
• Gourmet snacks
• On-board masseuses
• Loofah scrubs
• Digital cable

Are you snickering yet, wondering if this is some elaborate hoax?

Well, you’re right. The hoax was perpetuated by Philadelphia Media Holdings. They, along with Gyro ad agency and the owners of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, ran a one-day ad campaign Friday to test the results of their print and online advertising.

News of the prank was picked up by the Associated Press, and was splashed in media worldwide. Just goes to show that a bit of creative thinking can reap a heap of free publicity.

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