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Green Light Distrikt
Green Light Distrikt is about entrepreneurship focused on the cleantech sector. Edited by Chris Williams with frequent guest posts from friends, experts and industry insiders from clusters across the globe. Our goal is to provide a place where cleantech entrepreneurs in various clusters across the globe can learn from one another. Green Light Distrikt is creating the "Hitchikers Guide to Clentech" to provide a resource for cleantech entrepreneurs. Read more
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Tag Archives: Marketing
August 23rd, 2011
Boston GreenFest 2011: Green Gone Bad
TOPICS: BOSTON, Local Events, Marketing
Last Thursday, August 18th through Saturday August 20th – City Hall Plaza hosted the 3rd Boston GreenFest. Having gone in the past, I wanted to return to this popular event to learn about new green solutions that companies and non-profits had to offer.
What I found was a bunch of pushy car salesmen-like reps who would speak at me with a rehearsed, un-personalized pitch. On the opposite hand there were a lot un-staffed tables or staff who were sitting and looking down at their mobile devices. I initially (and excitedly) thought was to monitor and engage with their Twitter following – but I learned that was sadly not the case. An alarming percentage of (B2C) companies I spoke with had no social media strategy (at all) apart from tweeting the ole; I’m at @BosGreenFest from 12-6 or setting up Google Alerts. Many of them had shunned their following – by not replying or even following them. I also saw a lot of overflowing trash and unsanitary food prep. The free juice samples were nice, but the event staff could not answer how sustainable the manufacturing process was – except having all natural ingredients. Thought there was a handful of vendors who were upbeat, prepared and engaging – my overall experience was that it felt flat and not genuine.
So what would have made the event a success? How could the event organizers improve for next year? First, I’d recommend allocating resources and volunteer time to improving GreenFest’s website SEO and usability – and utilizing social media to truly connect with audience rather than just pushing out event info while helping to set example for exhibitors and sponsors. Creating an event hashtag as well as identifying digital ambassadors would allow the conversation to play out simultaneously online as well as at the event for word-of-mouth and ROI optimization. Including links to exhibitors’ websites (and their social media channels) would also help to further engage visitors and help keep this event top of mind.
As far as vendors? I would have liked to have seen more listening – and less me, me me. Again, utilizing social media to identify and connect with people who were talking online about the event/company/organization would have been an easy way to acknowledge the very people (and their following) they want as customers/members. I also noticed a ton of paper collateral and only one vendor with a QR code. I would have also liked to have seen an exhibitor develop and execute a social media campaign designed to showcase their though leadership on how their unique solution helps address an environmental concern. To that end, most companies I spoke with could also benefit from watching a recent talk by Laura Fitton (@Pistachio), titled: Social Media Bootcamp for Startups and implementing her advice to; listen, learn, care and serve…not just push-out marketing info. Because no one wants to be subjected to used-car salesman monologues, and especially not online!
How was your experience? What did you find interesting or disappointing?
Tagged boston greenfest, greenfest, Marketing
1 Comment
January 25th, 2011
Sharing is Caring: Why Having One Car per Person is Not Working and How We Can Change
TOPICS: BOSTON, Transportation
Perhaps because I live in the suburbs and share one car (by choice) with my husband I notice it more acutely; cars left in driveways, parking lots and meters for days. Since I work from home, live within walking distance to public transportation and bike whenever possible I’m able to remain fairly mobile. Truth be told, I also need to be creative and have on occasion borrowed my neighbor’s car. My situation is advantageous, I know that there are many living in the Midwest with no access to public transportation and poorly developed pedestrian infrastructure. While living in a society where we drive to the gym – borrowing someone else’s vehicle must seem preposterous. What can I say; I like to live on the edge!
Others are also taking note of our car-centric culture. Anne Lutz Fernandez a former corporate executive turned car culture critic (whom I had the pleasure to interview for this post), along with her sister, anthropologist Catherine Lutz co-wrote Carjacked: The Culture of the Automobile and Its Effect on Our Lives, to explore our hidden relationship with the car. Ann explains, “The automotive industry spends more on advertising than any other sector. This investment has resulted in a remarkably successful effort to convince Americans to buy cars more often than we need to; to buy more car (in horsepower, size, weight, and gadgetry) than we need to. In 2003, the number of vehicles in the national fleet surpassed the number of Americans with a driver’s license for the first time. Today, more than 250 million cars, trucks, SUVs, and motorcycles ply the roads as nine out of ten U.S. households own a car and most now own more than one. In the 1960’s, just 20 percent of households owned a second car; now over 65 percent do. Because sharing cars even within our own families has become anathema, at the same time that cars have grown larger, the number of people in them has declined; the average occupancy rate is 1.6 people per car.” At nearly 7B people, we would probably need to pave Earth’s entire surface to accommodate for such a demand on a global level.
Tagged Marketing, relayrides, traffic, transportation, two billion cars
December 7th, 2010
Social Media & Cleantech: Why the Latter is Not Using the Former
BOSTON -
As I’ve written in the past about Sustainability and Social Media – the mix works well and should be embraced in particular by new companies looking to effectively connect and communicate with their stakeholders; prospects, clients, press & media, investors, competitors, industry & trade associations, just to name a few. Yet, to my surprise many are dismissing Twitter, Facebook and even LinkedIn as kid’s toys. Uncovering the reasons behind this trend, I turned to some experts to help understand why the adoption of social media (especially within the cleantech vertical) is so low.
Andrew Becker, Director of Business Development at LittleFoot Energy mentioned “difficulty in developing content compelling for customers.” He is also not sure if it reaches his target audience of C level executives, but maintains a social media presence, “to develop targeted recognition for our brand (but) less for landing new clients.” A conversation with Brendan Endicott, Senior Manager, Energy Markets at EnerNOC revealed that he “does not believe that social media will play a significant role in helping the company generate leads until its target audience – mainly energy and facility managers – adopts the new medium.” This seems to be the standard answer.
In my interview with the Queen of Twitter, Laura Fitton, CEO/Founder of oneforty
she explains that it’s “Fear – it’s internal fear. Companies need to open their minds to where these new channels are leading and what now becomes possible.” Laura adds that, “Even if your target audience isn’t even on Twitter – and that’s pretty unlikely these days – there are serious benefits to engaging there. We’ve identified five: SEO, research, content generation, the “word of mouth pass-along” value, and of course the PR value given how many journalists are there researching stories and looking for sources.”
Tagged cleantech, Marketing, social media
July 27th, 2010
Green Marketing or Green Washing?
TOPICS: BOSTON, Marketing, What is 'green'?
So last month I spouted off about labels on food and the enforcement behind them. The topic is a confusing once since there is very little regulation, which leads to consumer confusion. There are however, guidelines with the FTC that prevent green washing in marketing under the banner of Truth in Advertising. Unfortunately most businesses have very little knowledge of these guidelines, due to their lack of enforcement, and therefore even the most sustainably-minded companies are often guilty of green washing. But the Obama administration has stated that enforcement of these guidelines is a priority going forward, so consumers are about to get some clarity!
To check out the green guides for yourself you can read them at the FTC website. Or you can keep reading for a snarky summary. 
Continue Reading >
Tagged advertising, FTC, green business, green guides, green marketing, green washing, Marketing, Obama, Sustainable Business
June 10th, 2010
What do These Labels Even Mean?!?!?! Thoughts on Greenwashing
BOSTON -
So, I was surfing the web yesterday and I came across the most fantastic invention to date: bacon stuffed hot dogs. Oh. My. God. Yumm!
I know, I know. As a total, annoying, scold your friends for being wasteful, Greenie, my love of meat is a bit of a contradiction. We all have our vices. I have several Michael Pollan books sitting on top of my “too read” pile and the greenness of a meat vs. vegetarian diet debate will have to wait until another day. On the plus side, the 4505 hot dogs are made with all natural ingredients, uncured, and hormone & antibiotic free. So, that is sustainable and healthy right?
This got me thinking. How “natural” and healthy can you make a hotdog stuffed with bacon? What does “all natural” even mean? Is this just the completed product? Does it include all the ingredients? Is this a representation of the entire life cycle of the product from birth of the animal until it ends up in my mouth? I obviously need more hobbies.
This is a big issue, however, and there is a lot of confusion among consumers in the market place. The big labels that exist are “certified organic,” “organic”, “100% organic”, “Made with organic ingredients”, “contains organic ingredients”, “all natural”, “natural”, “free range”, “sustainably harvested”, “no drugs or growth hormones”, etc. Phew…….no wonder there is confusion. So what do all these labels mean?
Tagged food, green, green washing, health, labeling, Marketing, natural, Organic, regulations, Sustainability, USDA
June 7th, 2010
Being a Solar Hero and Lessons on Leadership
TOPICS: BOSTON, Renewable Energy
I am a solar hero. Well, almost. For the past month I’ve been running a crew installing solar in Roxbury. I’d say we’ve installed about 50kW in the past month, not bad on a pitched roof. This is some of our work to the right. The name solar hero started as a joke around the job site but mainly is used to talk about anyone who kicks a#$ and takes names while installing solar.
Over the past 3 months I’ve learned 3 things about leadership, its kinda like a 3 steps process to becoming a leader type stuff. By leader, I mean someone who others would willingly follow. I have to admit the working construction was the last place I thought I’d be learning about leadership but here goes.
Step 1: Gain Trust
The first thing I learned is that you need to gain people’s trust and respect. People don’t listen to the words coming out of your mouth, but they listen to if the source (ie you) is credible. Credibility is determined by trust. This is hard in the beginning because trust usually comes over time. These are not my words either, you can see The Leadership Challenge
Step 2: Provide a vision.
Once you have gained everyone (or most peoples trust) the next step is to provide a vision. Sometimes this can be a direct vision, “we are going to put solar panels on the roof today” or a lot of times I’ve found the best way to get a vision is through asking good questions “what do you guys think is the best path?”. This not only increases trust, but it involves others in the decision making process so they’re more likely to buy in to the last decision.
Step 3: Help Others
Here is the key part. Help everyone else as much as you can to do their jobs even better to reach the vision. When you help others, they will WANT to help you in return.
From my time in school and in past jobs, I’ve noticed a huge difference between formal power structures and informal ones. Most leadership comes down to informal structures. You may ask what is the difference? If you had a group of guys and asked them who they would want to follow, whoever they point to is most likely a leader type figure to them. Even though this might not be their direct boss. Why would they follow this person? Because they probably trust who they choose and he/she helps them to do their job the best. Sometimes people get this confused with formal power structures, where people will do things when they are told because their boss is telling them.
How can we use this to further Renewable Energy adoption?
What I’ve started to think about is how can I use these learning to further renewable energy integration, specifically on a political front.
Here’s what we need to remember, no one will listen to us if they don’t trust us first. It does not matter if every thing about global climate disruption is true, if we are not trusted then we won’t be listened to.
So, here’s the challenge, how do we make ‘non-renewable energy believers’ trust us? Simply stating what we believe to be facts over and over again will not do it.
Tagged leadership, Marketing, Renewable Energy, Solar PV
May 21st, 2010
Sustainability and Social Media – A Match Made in Marketing Heaven
BOSTON -
With the constant fluctuation of energy and natural resource prices, more and more companies are evaluating and embracing sustainability not only to cut and stabilize energy costs, but also to drive innovation and ensure competitive advantage. “Becoming environment-friendly can lower your costs and increase your revenues. That’s why sustainability should be a touchstone for all innovation” states a 2009 Harvard Business Review article. Walmart’s new Supplier Sustainability Assessment is the strongest indicator yet that sustainability is quickly becoming a valuable business tool. A well executed sustainability program can reduce employee turn-over and enable for a methodical and process driven approach to evaluating resource use, a prevailing theme at this year’s CRO Summit.
The social media tie-in? A recent Burson-Marsteller study found that “79 percent of the largest 100 companies in the Fortune Global 500 index are using at least one of the most popular social media platforms: Twitter, Facebook, YouTube or corporate blogs”. Clearly, if Fortune 500 companies see value in engaging in sustainability efforts and are communicating about them via social media channels, it is a sure sign that a critical mass has been reached. Just like that lonely tree in the forest, if you’ve got a breakthrough idea and no one knows about it, it may as well be useless. Green and clean-tech companies should be especially in-tune to digital media as it not only allows them to look for prospects, but also funding, partnerships, and visibility. Social media (in conjunction with an integrated web strategy) can provide significant leverage to that effort. Engaging stakeholders about sustainability efforts in a meaningful way helps to build credibility and the sales pipeline. According to McKinsey & Company “Digital channels can unify that experience and prevent the leakage of opportunity. Across a range of B2C and B2B clients, we’ve seen companies accelerate revenue growth by tightening the coordination of the end-to-end experience.” With the potential of a 10-20% revenue increase, social media can make a powerful impact. This free (aside from staff time) low-hanging fruit can also do wonders for overall SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts as well.
In Boston (referred to by some as the Silicon Valley of the East) companies like enerNOC, Harvest Power and GreenTech Media these companies speak sustainability and communicate their learnings through social media. As innovators, these companies naturally appeal to progressive, early adopters who are tech-savvy entrepreneurs. Harvest Power provides a good example of a well executed social media campaign because they take the time to share and engage with their online-constituents via Twitter @HarvestPower and their blog. Harvest understands that like any other communication vehicle, Twitter is just another platform where the conversation happens to be just 140 characters in length. Companies who fail to keep up with social media are allowing technology to pass them becoming obsolete and irrelevant. This is a huge mistake as they are passing up an effective, measurable tool that helps with lead acquisition, nurturing, visibility and branding.
While advising clients on how they can start building a social network I always recommend starting with goal setting and developing a solid communications strategy that incorporates various on-line and off-line channels. Starting small and testing the waters is often the best approach. With so many great (and free) ancillary tools available to connect, grade, and analyze, users can quickly fine-tune and optimize online campaigns. At the end of the day communicating about sustainability needs to be succinct and engaging, according to the CSR Reporting blog. Those afraid to harness these new communication tools do so at the risk of alienating their companies from the now mainstream web 2.0 digital world we live in.
Does your company use social media to communicate sustainability initiatives? What were the results and what did you learn?
Tagged CSR, harvard business review, Marketing, social media, Sustainability
