It’s not always about how you market your business. It’s just as important to look at why you should be marketing it. And the issue of marketing your sustainability platform is a great example. Every organization is facing new energy challenges as the world shifts toward a more eco-conscious means of doing business, and the questions about your stance on the environment are being heard from all stakeholder levels. The increased political and societal pressure to curb carbon emissions and produce a meaningful message is inevitable. At this point, it would be detrimental for a company not to have a message created for how it plans to address the environment.

But how is the stance a business takes on the environment marketable? Should it be marketable? That depends on how it is approached. Never has there been more pressure for companies of all sizes to address sustainability. But doing so can’t happen without first understanding the “green” aspects of the business. A shotgun approach could lead to unnecessary expenditures and ultimately a “greenwashing” tag.

In previous posts and in those to follow, we have and will address how a business must look at what it has done to reduce its environmental impact. There are a number of ways organizations can collect that data- an energy audit is just one example. Once that information has been gathered, HY-brid works to help understand what makes sense from a communications standpoint for each of the stakeholders. The EcoMap (as we call it) process builds a message map for businesses to tie their environmental message into the overall corporate mission.

Once this map has been assembled, the sustainability message can be written. It is also at this point a company can determine exactly how much it wants to market what it has done. From the mapping process, a company can also learn how far it has to go to get to a sustainability message it wants to disseminate.

For more information on the EcoMap process, the questions to ask before you take your message to market or, if you simply want to learn more about HY-brid, send us a message, we would like to hear from you

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Cap and trade, energy efficiency, LEED buildings and renewable energy for business. All terms your audiences or customers are hearing and becoming very familiar with. With all the buzz around “green,” how you address your position on the environment is increasingly important. Your sustainability platform must project your environmental message across all audiences, internal and external. One segment taking increasing notice of green is the stakeholder- a somewhat loose term that envelops those from among others, the dealer/retailer audience to the supply chain, to those who own stock in a company.

A key reason for putting your sustainability platform in front of stakeholders is to keep them informed of how the company is addressing the rising number of environmental issues facing businesses of all types. With such a wide audience range, what makes sense from a sustainability perspective to one must also be pertinent to each of the others. That’s not to say that what you are saying to each gets communicated the same. What I do mean is that your platform remains the same but the terms and messages need to be communicated in a way that the audience sees the “what’s in it for me” has been met.

For instance, you may have three green certifications that make your product or service more sellable. To the dealer/retailer the certifications make sense in helping how they package that product and where in their store it is positioned. It also gives them an opportunity to promote their business as eco-friendly. That’s what’s in it for them.

To a stockholder, the fact you have three green certifications means something very different. An immediate question might be– are those labels going to help the price of the stock rise? The answer is maybe, but at the end of the day, what matters to this audience is a more global approach to your sustainability platform. The fact you have one may be enough to make them want to invest in you. If stock prices rise, that investor does better. That’s what’s in it for them.

Clearly there are many within your stakeholder audiences that are looking to work with and purchase stock in organizations with a solid environmental platform. This is another subset of your audience set and it too needs a message that makes sense. We will address this in a follow up post.

All of these examples are addressed in what HY-brid calls an EcoMap^sm. If you’ve been following me you know I have blogged about it before. It’s our way of helping clients understand how to put their environmental platform together—what audiences they have, what messages make sense to each of those audiences and how the platform ladders up to the overall corporate mission.

Have stakeholders asking what you are doing to address the environment? Have an environmental message and just don’t know how to put all the pieces together? The EcoMap is one way HY-brid can help. Questions on what your next steps are in navigating this issue? Let us know, it’s why we’re here.

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After my last blog titled One Green Message, Many Green Voices, I received a great comment from Keith P. His comment is:

Good starting points to take under consideration for establishing the green message within the proper conversations. The only thing I might challenge is how you reply within the social settings of facebook, twitter, tumblr, linkedin, myspace and brighkite when you are not the company spokesperson. Do you empower your employees to talk openly about how they view your green initiatives? Do you allow your employees to express their opinions and how they are helping the company be green? And do you engage people that discuss your company’s attempts at being green?

If the company has answered yes to this then you are a social business going green, if not your a company with a veil of secrecy of your green efforts and that is where you need help encouraging the conversation, because most likely you have bigger cultural issues.

Now if yes how can the EcoMap process help give the employees the framework of communication without sounding like they are talking points? How does the EcoMap process address when your Vendors and Consumers talk about your company? (Personal opinion on the last one–if you are embracing your Vendors and Consumers in a social context the conversation is more constructive, collborative, and innovative, which helps everyone in process make a difference.)

Looking forward to answers to these questions and follow-up blog posts on the process.

Thanks for the feedback Keith. HY-brid works with our clients to establish their environmental (green) platform and it’s not necessarily a one-size-fits-all approach. To that end, it is much more than the green conversation(s) we address in our EcoMap process. We take into consideration such things as type of business, audience set(s), and messages that are not only pertinent to, but resonate with those audiences. This holistic approach to defining green for clients ladders up to the overall business goals and objectives and thus acts as an extension of the corporate mission.

In your comment you reference many of the social outlets being used today. We certainly address these in our communications planning, but it is again very different by client. One important thing to keep in mind is that not all businesses are marching to the same beat on social. We’ve found social marketing and social media are very new to a number of businesses, no matter their size and standing within their industry, and in fact we have visited with some very large corporations whose marketing teams are blocked from social sites. While we certainly encourage our clients to be as transparent as possible on their environmental stance, if they do not have the social tools in their arsenal (yet) we can only counsel them to use the tools they do have to promote their efforts.

But in our overall approach to social for those clients who have access to it, we look at it as a means of brand building. It is an extension of what can be done through traditional ads and PR but puts the brand building experience in the hands of the customer. That’s where being truly transparent plays a key role in how a business uses social in its integrated communications planning. The EcoMap process determines the audiences and messages for each, and from the Map, the tactics that make the most sense for those messages to be disseminated are determined. Social is a key ingredient in that tactical mix.

To answer your question about how we help manage messages when the people in the social space are not the spokespersons, we do give message points with hopes those socially communicating stay to them, but we also counsel our clients to develop social guidelines for employees to adhere to.

Thanks again for the great comment Keith.

Do you have questions about your environmental platform? Have comments on our process or HY-brid’s vision of green messaging and marketing? Let us know– it’s why we’re here.

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Recently I was meeting with a large corporation here in Milwaukee. In the course of discussing how HY-brid could help them take their environmental message to their numerous audiences, it became clear they have a bigger issue than just ensuring the message gets out.

Much like we have seen with other HY-brid clients, this organization has a large number of people in the field who at any time, could be thrust into the role of corporate environmental spokesperson. A scary thing to consider, especially in light of the fact this company has an international presence. As we talked, we fleshed out just how much of a problem not having a universal green message could be. We also discussed how, even if there were a universal message, it would be properly disseminated.

So how does an organization control its environmental message? How too does it ensure that message is laddering up to the overall corporate objectives and messaging? Not always easy, but it can be done. One environmental messaging platform is achievable, no matter the voice from which it comes.

Think about it this way- an internal communications/marketing team is like a sponge gathering up all information pertinent to a company’s environmental stance. As simple examples these might include process and product tidbits, sustainability reporting, community involvement projects, etc. Once gathered, it’s the role of that internal communications team (and their agency of course) to filter it and make it easy to understand based on the audience(s) to which it’s directed. At HY-brid we call this an EcoMap^sm. It’s a process we guide clients through and it results in that singular message, no matter who is in front of the camera- so to speak.

The EcoMap is just a start. Internal teams and the agencies they work with need to put the tactical elements that fall out of the mapping process into action. This can take weeks, months, and in the case of large businesses like the one I met with, it can sometimes take years. These elements are not simply speaking points but more so act as the mouthpiece of the organization and its environmental stance. Things like CSRs, web sites, and social marketing as examples help guide the company in the right green direction while those speaking (all of them) on its behalf put the green message to the masses.

Do you have your messages written and are your spokespersons all talking about it the same? These are questions you should be asking yourself and ones that we would like to help you answer and eventually communicate to your audiences. Questions on what your next steps are in navigating this issue? Let us know, it’s why we’re here.

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Yes, with a capital Y. A recent report from Johnson Controls in which more than 1,400 CEO’s, GM’s and VP’s were surveyed suggests a trend in energy efficiency that only a downturn in the economy could drive. The 2009 Energy Efficiency Indicator Report reveals a clear line between interest in green and action being taken.

The reason for the distinction? Capital, or lack thereof. Of those surveyed in 2009, 46 percent indicated they expected to make efficiency improvements financed with capital expenditures. Admittedly, this is a nice number—until you compare it to last year’s 56 percent who said they would make the improvements. In addition, the number one barrier (42 percent of respondents) to energy efficiency measures being implemented is limited capital availability. The 10 percent drop, coupled with the fact the report even had to introduce the barrier statistic (it wasn’t in 2008’s) shows just how much the economic situation has worked against the push toward environmental responsibility and stewardship.

There is no doubt that business leaders need to do what they can to keep people employed. The fact that green initiatives are taking a back seat is totally understandable, but they should not be cast aside for good. Corporate America seems to agree–according to the study, 45 percent of those surveyed still see building efficiency projects as their top carbon reduction strategy. So we know the want for getting these measures in place is there. The hope of course is that the economy turns around and the number of projects implemented increases with it.

So what side of this issue are you on? It’s a question you should be asking yourself and one that we would like to help you answer and eventually communicate to your audiences. Questions on what your next steps are in navigating this issue? Let us know, it’s why we’re here.

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Clearly, I’ve been living in a cave…or working too many late nights. Has anyone seen the NBC/Universal (NBCU) “Green Is Universal” campaign? Apparently these efforts started in fall of 2007, with an entire “Green Week” dedicated to green-themed programming—with NBC’s full complement of channels in participation. Apparently, Sami and Lucas onDays of Our Lives even had a green-themed wedding. Where have I been?! 

Embarrassingly, I must admit that I first tuned in during the week of Earth Day ’09. Or, perhaps they increased their efforts to the point where it finally reached me (not a big Days fan). In any case, like little spring flowers, “Green Is Universal” ads started popping up all over…on the web, during NBC/Universal programming. Program sponsors tagged their spots with a “Green Is Universal” message. Even the Miss USA contestants got involved, sharing green testimonials. 

I thought, “Well, that’s interesting. NBC/Universal doesn’t have to do this—dedicate part of their programming (and their incredible reach) to raising green awareness. I haven’t seen any other network families doing this. That’s cool.” So, like any curious human, I Googled “Green Is Universal”…right after I checked the local weather…

That’s when I saw this ad on weather.com. 

The Weather Channel was recently purchased by NBCU. The pairing of Hummer and “Green Is Universal” was an unfortunate oversight. Soon, it was being mocked on Facebook. It was a feeding frenzy for green bloggers. I was ready to write the “Green Is Universal” campaign off as another case of greenwashing. 

And then I Googled it.   

It turns out that NBCU isn’t simply talking about green; they’re actually starting to walk it. With an organization this large, I imagine it will be fairly slow going. But hopefully baby steps will lead to bigger ones. Employees volunteered to hold several Earth Week projects in ten different cities. They’ve already made changes internally—using more recycled paper and replacing part of their fleet of cars with hybrids. The NBC Universal Foundation has even partnered with the Student Conservation Association (SCA) to fund a “Green Your School” contest, offering the winning high school a $5,000 prize. 

All very cool ideas—but who knows about it? I didn’t. And I work in advertising. I specialize in green. It took me a couple hours of digging around online to learn most of this—and it was simply to satisfy my curiosity about the “Green Is Universal” TV tags. I’ll bet the average viewer clicked right past that. And even worse than dismissing it…they may have assumed it was greenwashing. Flashy tags on the ends of commercials during the week of Earth Day—and nothing more. 

Lesson: Talking about the honest, green efforts your organization is making internally and making that information readily available will strengthen your external green communications efforts and will give you green street cred. Personally, I was more inspired by what I learned about their internal efforts than by the The More You Know Jimmy Fallon PSA—and I Iike Jimmy Fallon.

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