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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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Marketing
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.”
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September 29th, 2010
Let’s Build a Movement… But Which One?
BOSTON -
Back in January, Chris wrote a post on the difference in framing between “greentech,” “cleantech”, and “enertech”. In reference to Bob Metcalfe’s preferred “enertech”, Chris writes:
Metcalfe’s perspective is interesting but I think it misses the point, “green” and “clean” are more than just about energy. It’s about food, building materials, toxins, yadda yadda yadda.”
I was reminded of that when I read this post by David Roberts of Grist, arguing that “environmentalism”, as a movement, just isn’t equipped to deal with climate change. Writes Roberts,
“A clear understanding of that challenge renders comically absurd the notion that it can or should be the province of a niche progressive interest group. It’s just too big for that.”
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
July 21st, 2010
Getting Social in the Boulder Sustainability Scene
-I moved to Boulder, Colorado a little over a month ago from Madison, Wisconsin. All I had to my name was a few hundred bucks, a Toyota Yaris packed with everything I (decided) to own and a drive to make a fresh start on my career and overall life in a beautiful, thriving place.
Luckily I had some resources already in the area where I was moving to: my girlfriend, a cousin and some friends from the Boulder Startup Week that I had met when visiting in May. I’ve become somewhat of a proficient social networker with my past experiences in social media, so I figured that the strong base I had established when visiting Boulder Startup Week would help me get into a renewable energy or cleantech company easily. + Continue Reading
June 23rd, 2010
What is Content Curation and How Can it Help Shape Green Business
BOSTON -
Content curation refers to the work of aggregating and editing digital content (news, blogs, social media, events, etc) as part of an online strategy to nurture leads and build an online community. Just as a museum curator is in charge of collecting, displaying, editing and cataloging relevant gallery objects for a physical display, so to does a website content curator with digital resources. Providing automation enables web content publishers and curators to focus on providing relevant, contextual and topical information for its users, while stretching its marketing budget which is especially relevant for new, green companies entering the marketplace.
It is becoming increasingly important to consider content curation to help synchronize a community (Christy Barksdale, PR 20/20), bring order to information overload (Steve Rosenbaum, Fast Company & Magnify.net), and is the key to building visibility, authority and value (Robin Good, MasterNewMedia). The tipping point may have been reached when, WordPress, the world’s biggest blogging platform added a curation feature recently. According to Pawan Deshpande, the CEO of HiveFire, content curation is a win-win because it allows companies to more effectively use marketing dollars while providing a better service to its end-users.
Weather it’s done solely by a human or with the help of automation software, many green businesses are paying attention. A good example content curation in action can be found at Greentech Media, Green Data Center News and Go Green Web Directory. By providing current and contextual information companies can provide considerable value to its users, building their sales pipeline and positing your company as the though leader – a win/win for everyone.
Challenges for adoption include rules and ethical questions around content aggregation, as well as budgetary and ROI considerations. There are several players in the content curation space, namely HiveFire (Boston, MA), Magnify.net (NY, NY) and OneSpot (Austin, TX).
Does your company utilize content curation? Why or why not?
