The Wall Street Journal updates us on how online advertising is becoming more of a Do-It-Yourself strategy. Is selling 250,000 impressions for $63 really sustainable for the advertising community?

THE CASE STUDY: ...the ad was seen more than 250,000 times. Quickly, Bonobos sold out of Clarks, at $120 a pop. Total cost for the ads: about $63.

Facebook is only one of a rising number of self-service ad options. There are new entrants such as AdReady Inc., AdBrite Inc. and AdItAll LLC. MySpace, like Facebook, is offering do-it-yourself ads that marketers can tailor to individual interests on the social-networking site. (MySpace, like [The Wall Street Journal], is owned by News Corp.)

Time Warner Inc.'s AOL Internet unit and Google have new self-service ad options for the opposite side of the equation -- for Web publishers who want to attract advertising to their sites.

The rising number of self-service options underscores the expanding market for display ads, the graphic- and video-heavy ads in fixed spots on a Web page. The market for display ads reached $5 billion in 2007, according to market-research firm eMarketer Inc. That is far less than the estimated $8.6 billion in spending for text ads tied to online search. But in coming years, the mix is expected to tilt in favor of display ads, thanks to the rise of online video and the increasing push of brand marketers such as car companies into the display market.

But for the majority of mostly small- and medium-size businesses, it remains too difficult and expensive to buy display ads. To create an ad, businesses have to navigate the 15 standard sizes and half dozen standard formats and design something that will be eye-catching. They have to pick which Web sites or networks to buy ad space from, test multiple ads, track which ones draw the best consumer responses and adjust marketing campaigns accordingly. Doing this alone is daunting, and paying an ad agency to do it might cost thousands of dollars. Sites such as Yahoo Inc. often require advertisers to promise they will spend tens of thousands of dollars a month on advertising. SOURCE: Wall Street Journal

As a publisher of original content and aggregated news, I cringe at some of the prices being paid for search ads...there comes a point at which publishers can no longer afford to create quality content that is supported by bargain basement advertising.  Hopefully, the ad networks will be cognizant of that fact and the plight of the traditional media who are now feeling the sting of cheaper online advertising will serve as a warning and guidepost for what can happen to online content development. 

We don't have to kill the goose that lays the golden eggs!

TIP ONE for marketers:  Look at tips for consumers, and reverse engineer the themes and messages that appeal to consumers...for your retail and community clients.  For instance:

Sustainable tourism covers a variety of criteria, from low environmental impact and energy use to respect for the culture and well-being of the local population.

There is more than one way to travel green. Eco-Friendly travel (ecotravel) is tourism that promotes a sustainable environment. By its nature, travel can be both an opportunity for people to experience the environment they visit and at the same time is a threat to it. Destination Villas offers the seven sustainable travel tips.

1. Travel less and stay longer. Air travel leaves the largest carbon footprint than any other form of travel. If you must fly, do it fewer times per year and stay longer, or travel closer to home. 
2. Don’t fly at night. Dr. Piers Forster from Leeds University has discovered that trails of condensation from aircraft - contrails - have a greater warming effect at night, trapping heat but without reflecting any of the sun's rays back into the atmosphere as they do during the day.
3. Leave no trace. Enjoy the beautiful places on the plant but be mindful that your very presence damage it. Do not pick flowers, take rocks or break coral. Don’t liter. Be familiar with cultural mores prior to arrival be respectful of cultural practices.
4. All transportation requires the combustion of fuel, so the greenest thing you can do is use public transporation. When possible, try taking the train or bus instead of flying. If you're driving, try to get as many people in the car as possible, instead of taking multiple vehicles. Always rent a hybrid vehicle.
5. Visit eco-friendly destinations that use renewable energy sources: visit Burlington, Vermont, Dry Tortugas National Park or Vail, Colorado.
   
6. Choose eco-friendly lodging. There is a wide variety of eco-friendly lodging these days. Start with the Green Hotel Association and EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotels.com or DestinationVillas.com.
7. Shop local: Head to local markets, where you can purchase fresh food from local vendors. This benefits the community by increasing their economy, and you will get fresh fruits and veggies and maybe even some handmade souvenirs. Never buy products made from endangered species.
   

Source of Eco-travel tips:  Destination Villas

earthNOW expo is the only conference program dedicated to green retail practices and the marketing, merchandising and selling of green products and services. Learn from business owners and leaders that have hands-on "going green" expreriene.


Eco-friendly, organic and natural product manufacturers that can get their products into retail stores NOW, will be the companies that succeed in the new green economy.

Eco retailing is a $230 Billion Dollar industry and will grow another 38% this year or another $87 Billion Dollars.

This is an extremely viable market, as 70% of consumers are females, the sex that controls consumer spending. These are educated consumers as 73% have bachelor degrees or higher and 31% of these households earn an excess of 100,000 annually.

Research proves that consumers will pay up to 20% more for Green Products they believe in!

Plan NOW to be a part of earthNOW expo June 4-5, 2008 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the face-to-face trade show for consumer product manufactures, retail stores and other green business leaders.

Shipping Services

"On May 12 the USPS will adjust prices for our shipping services — Express Mail, Priority Mail, Parcel Select, Parcel Return Service, and International Mail. For the first time our pricing includes commercial volume and contract prices, rebates, online price reductions, and other new incentives."

Mailing Services

First-Class Mail, Standard Mail, Periodicals, Package Services, and Special Services. The average increase by class of mail is at or below the rate of inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index.

A First-Class Mail stamp will be 42¢.

For more information, visit the US Postal Service Price Increase

Yahoo launched a new Web site aimed at women in March 2008. The site, called "Shine," will feature original blogs and content from major publishing partners including Conde Nast, Hearst, and Time.

The site is Yahoo's latest foray into vertical sites, which include the popular Yahoo News and Yahoo Finance, as well as Sports and Entertainment, and the much less popular Yahoo Tech and Yahoo Green Tech. Shine is also Yahoo's first targeting a specific audience and not just a topic.

Women as a demographic is a good target, particularly given the number of women who use Yahoo (40 million women between the ages of 25 and 54 every month) and the fact that females tend to blog more than males.

This is really a key audience for Yahoo and are addressing women as 'chief household officers'.

Hybrid content includes articles and original blogs from a range of sources, including Glamour, Epicurious.com, Style.com, InStyle, Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar, Women's Health, and Good Housekeeping...and readers.

Eight editors are overseeing the various sections (such as home, parenting, fashion, culture, and career) and the editor in chief is Brandon Holley, former editor in chief of Jane magazine.

Shine readers will be able to start their own blogs and that content, if deemed worthy, can end up as some of the featured content in different sections on the site.

"Shine"

In visiting with a green manufacturer recently, he hopefully asked, "How much more will people pay for green products?"

My answer, "Not much. They pay for additional VALUE, not GREEN."

This is the same challenge conscientious, conservation business people are facing: how do we translate the green benefits into VALUE propositions that people can get instant gratification from?

Some are taking the tact of "glamor". Others, prestige and innovator status with bragging rights among the in-crowd. Others are selling the concept of savings from energy use.

Others are waiting.

Waiting for what? For compliance to kick in. For carbon trading to kick in. For carbon tariffs. For carbon taxes. For prices of oil to rise.

Watching and planning and waiting is what constitutes a "chasm".

This marketing term was coined by Geoffrey Moore who wrote the book "Crossing the Chasm" in 1999 to illustrate how high technology's early bell-curve product life cycle was broken with hesitancy at a predictable point.

2007-2008 is that "Chasm" for many green business-to-business applications.

The Chasm "The Chasm is a pause of undeterminate length in market development, when the early market interest has waned and when there is no preordained or natural customer among the mainstream market for the technology owing to its immaturity and lack of widespread deployment."

The early adopters have been corporations who have bought "test" units and they are testing them. They are communities who have instant savings from long term energy glut applications such as street lights or potential litigation from health impacts such as schoolbuses.

They bought. They're testing and sharing the results with the rest of us. We're waiting for the rules of the game to become clear before we buy more.

But some things are different between the green revolution and the technology revolution in the desktop computer era. We ARE living in challenging times.

Early Market "The gestation period of any discontinuous innovation, characterized by both excitement and undcertainty in the minds of both vendors and customers. Technology enthusiasts (innovators and visionaries) seek out superior solutions, explore them adn pronounce them fit or unfit for general consumption. They are the first customers for anything new!"

Consumers Are Ahead of Business

Recent research showed that consumers are ahead of business in adapting green solutions. They are recycling. Changing light bulbs. Buying organic. Walking and biking. Buying hybrid vehicles. Buying Energy Star applicances.

Businesses aren't putting systems into place for purchasing greener products. They aren't collecting used paper. They aren't replacing paper plates with permanent servicewater. They aren't buying hybrid cars. They aren't retrofitting HVAC systems.

Businesses are waiting for legislation that will affect their tax credits and their compliance behaviors.

Businesses are going to seminars and searching for case studies and testing demo equipment. And waiting.

That's the chasm.

The questions that must be answered is "Then what happens...?"

After the Chasm

Employees are learning about green solutions at home. They are replacing faucets, recyling their trash, measuring their electrical usage, locating biofuel fueling stations.

These innovators will be the leaders in the workplace when it breaks loose...and then, Katie bar the door!

They will be ready. Will you be ready?

The Bowling Alley

The Bowling Alley "Resumption of market development in specific customer segments who are adopting ahead of the general market based on addressing specific problems and on vendors' willingness to provide segment-specific solutions."

The specific solutions in the green market include hybrid vehicles, PV solar energy and organic food, among others. Very specific solutions that are well defined with immediate results that can be demonstrated.

Other green and sustainable solutions, such as water conservation, zero waste, and green retrofits for buildings are harder, provide longer term or less obvious results -- and they will thrive in later stages of the technology life cycle.

Knowing which of your products can be attached to SPECIFIC market applications can help you tailor your marketing and your message to these "bowling alley" buyers.

The Tornado

The Tornado "A period of market hypergrowth caused by pragmatists adopting en masse a new infrastructure that renders the previous paradign obsolete. Remaining pragmatists now flood into the market, highly influenced by the market-leading solution and the company that sponsors it and will tend to behave as a pack."

Green building and development (NEW buildings) is a good example of one segment of the green space that has reached The Tornado stage.

Supported by the USGBC and other green certification and training programs, new green building technology has

• An infrastructure with deployable methods
• Is supported by architects and builders who provide third party endorsement and services
• Is supported by governments who mandate and will buy into the marketplace

New green building has crossed the chasm, has been applied to specific applications such as schools and colleges and state office buildings... and is now an accepted part of the architectural field with training, employment opportunities and materials suppliers all lined up for the ride back up to the bell curve apex.

Cities are strengthening the mandates across the entire development sector that all new buildings must meet tighter building codes that meet green building and sustainable community goals.

Translating "Computer Tech" into "Green Tech"

Times have changed. The challenge is different. Compliance issues are different. And the economic mix has changed. But the chasm concept is partly an observation about how people and how groups work when faced with new technology and CHANGE. And that doesn't change a lot over a few short years.

We will be bringing you more information about how green marketing fits this product lifecycle timeline in future articles and learning platforms.

Resources

The Chasm Companion by Paul Wiefels with a Foreward by Geoffrey A. Moore provides implementation guidance to "Crossing the Chasm" and "Inside the Tornado".

Ecolutionary Selling

Mary Hunt has authored a little, very helpful book on furniture marketing "Ecolutionary Selling".

She guides you through reducing the confusion in the sustainable furniture market and turn GREEN into GR$$N.

Environmental claims are regulated by the FTC -- and it is the manufacturer's and retailer's responsibility to provide credible information. This book about furniture can help you identify those credible claims so you’ll never be accused of "greenwashing" your product(s) when you know the rules.

And, since no one wants to go into new territory blind, Hunt has also included a sample of a Sustainable Standard application, plus a glossary of all the terms you’ll need to know.

Ebook Primer for Designers, Retail Sales, Buyers, Distributors and Manufacturers of Sustainable Furniture.

Most importantly you have the backbone of what makes up a Sustainable Marketing Data Sheet, and how to create your own.

The "Ecolutionary Selling" ebook includes:

• A snap shot of Sustainable Furniture Trends
• An overview of Life Cycle Assessment and why it’s central in a credible standard.
• 24 Criteria that goes into Standards
• Who’s doing what and why?
• A two page comparison checklist of standards you need to know about.

Sign up on her website for a 6 page Summary of what Life Cycle Assessments are and how they are used inside Sustainable Standards. (For anyone who has to guide their company or product line's future.)

SOURCE

Mary Clare Hunt
www.EcoLutionarySelling.com

Comparing marketing channels helps farmers determine how to use each channel, as well as which channel can be most profitable for their specific kinds of produce and time commitment.

Comparing Farmers Markets, CSAs and Wholesale Profits

Where's the core of farm produce profits?

While farmers' markets have become increasingly popular with consumers, farmers themselves are beginning to ask how profitable selling at a farmers market actually is.

UC Small Farm Program director Shermain Hardesty is finalizing a case study of three farms that each market their products three ways: farmers markets, wholesale and through a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program, in which subscribers regularly receive boxes of food from the farm.

Net Revenue for Farm Produce

Preliminary results of research found that

• Farmers markets generated the lowest net revenue return for all three growers
• Wholesale provided the highest net revenue return.
• The net rate of return for CSA revenues was in the middle.

Farmers markets can also provide an outlet for produce unmarketable to wholesale channels and can support new farmers developing new businesses.

To help growers determine the cost and return of their different marketing options, Hardesty and student researcher Penny Leff offered use of their formulaic spreadsheets to workshop participants and walked them through tabulation of their costs and returns. "We want to show farmers how they can determine their actual marketing costs themselves," Hardesty said.

For more information, contact Shermain Hardesty at (530) 752-7774, sfpdirector@ucdavis.edu.

RESOURCE: UC Agriculture and Natural Resources

Marketing the agritourism business is a little different than retail businesses.

Retailers depend on repeat business. Agritourism operators depend on word of mouth between satisfied visitors who visit very rarely (if their visit is even repeated)...but who can tell LOTS of other people to come, see, enjoy and experience the adventure.

On-farm or on-ranch activities are diverse across America...and the globe. Options include

• bed and breakfasts
• on-farm camping
• farm vacation
• ranch vacation
• youth exchange
• Elderhoste
• wagon rides
• horseback rides
• U-pick fruit and vegetables
• on-farm processed product purchases
• on-farm agricultural craft and product purchases
• farm/ranch tours
• school tours
• garden tours
• winery tours
• technical agricultural tours
• historical exhibits
• petting zoos
• exotic animal farms

Potential agritourist visitors read the following types of media (in order of favorites)

• Newspapers
• Travel magazines
• Cuisine magazines
• Environmental magazines
• Internet

Tell Your Story...So That It's Repeatable!

But by far, visitors learn of agritourism sites mostly from FRIENDS and Word of Mouth (79%)! Additional sources include newspaper and magaizine articles, business signs, the Internet, fliers, agritourism map, tourism bureau and magazine ads.

Editorial Coverage is Better than Paid

Although newspaper and magazine articles (which do not typically result in costs to the operator) reached 38 percent and 28 percent of visitors, respectively, paid advertising in similar outlets was considerably less effective, reaching only 13 and 8 percent.

Word and Deed Make up the Successful Agribusiness

Since word-of-mouth advertising has consistently been noted as an effective publicity technique for agritourism sites, operators should keep in mind that a visitor is likely to tell her/his friends about a positive (or negative) experience.

Therefore, in addition to any formal advertising, attention paid to the customer service aspect of an agritourism operation is likely to enhance the reputation of the site and maintain a flow of visitors. After all, agritourism and on-farm nature tourism combine elements of farming and ranching with the service sector. Agritourism operators are thus likely to be most successful when they are able to skillfully manage both.

 SOURCE: UC Small Farm Center

Your Core Story

According to a three-year study by the Advertising Research Foundation and the American Association of Advertising Agencies, ads that tell a branding story work better than ads that focus on product positioning.

As reported by Brandweek, 33 television ads across 12 categories were analyzed by 14 emotion and physiological research firms, with tools that included testing heart rate and skin conductance to brain diagnostics.

Reported Brandweek: "The report contends that in many ways, advertising is stuck in the past. The 20th century was dominated by a one-way transactional focus where ads were pushed at consumers. Today, consumers interact with ads to 'co-create' meaning that is powered by emotion and rich narrative."

While facts and features are important, the authentic narratives become the platform that let a brand take on a life of its own. They create reason to believe, and help transform product utility into experience and connection.

While this phenomenon is particularly evident in smaller businesses, it holds true for many large companies as well.

As companies get larger, they typically use various mechanical media and distribution tactics to extend narrative virtue and achieve scale. We see this happening with virtually every large business, and it's a model many advertising agencies build their businesses on. Of course, the paradox is that with greater scale, the more institutional and faceless a brand becomes, making authentic narratives ever more important -- but challenging to maintain.

Read more about Green Marketing at CaliforniaGreenSolutions.com