Recently in Green Marketing for New Products Category

Do you have (or know of someone who has) a company producing green, sustainable, or high performance solutions?

We are launching a "green directory with a difference" -- you get a real opportunity to tell your green solutions story in the listing!  Up to 600 WORDS...and your listing can be included in FIVE categories. 

We also include BOTH Business-to-Business and Business-to-Consumer categories.  IF we don't have the right category for your solution -- let us know and we'll seriously consider adding it.

The SolutionsforGreen.com site is highly "search engine optimized" and the listings will probably appear higher on Google searches than your own company's listings for key word phrases.  We work hard at building a robust platform of sites to help drive traffic to the directory.  We're serious about greening our world...and want to help others who are also serious about the challenge facing us.  And who have solutions!

We would  love to have your company, nonprofit organization...or even public agency list your green products, green services...and green programs.  You don't have to be in the commercial market.  You just need SOLUTIONS!  Employee programs.  Festivals. Innovator groups. The broader the variety of solutions, the better! 

"Necessity is the mother of invention"...my mother taught me.  And we have necessity.  Now it's time to implement some great, innovative solutions.

And then get the word out for replicating good results.  So add your listing, already :-)

SolutionsforGreen.com

I was working with my marketing advisor this morning about refining our green marketing strategy and the term "gap analysis" came up as a description of what I wanted to work on.  I did what most people these do in the information gathering phase...I visited Google.

Resource one that caught my eye:

The GAP Analysis Program
"Keeping Common Species Common"

The goal of the GAP Analysis Program is to keep common species common by identifying those species and plant communities that are not adequately represented in existing conservation lands. Common species are those not currently threatened with extinction. By identifying their habitats, GAP Analysis gives land managers and policy makers the information they need to make better-informed decisions when identifying priority areas for conservation.

I always learn from natural systems...so this was interesting.  Community matters! Survival matters!

Resource two:

gap analysis definition  -  from BusinessDictionary.com
Technique for determining the steps to be taken in moving from a current state to a desired future-state. It begins with (1) listing of characteristic factors (such as attributes, competencies, performance levels) of the present situation ("what is"), (2) cross-lists factors required to achieve the future objectives ("what should be"), and then (3) highlights the 'gaps' that exist and need to be 'filled.' Also called need-gap analysis, needs analysis, and needs assessment. www.businessdictionary.com/definition/gap-analysis.html

Change...yes!  List factors.  Cross factors, and objectives.  Highlight gaps.  Fill them!  An updated needs assessment.  That makes sense.

Resource three: ... this was a synthesis of what I was looking for!

Image results for gap analysis

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Gap analysis is a very useful tool for helping marketing managers to decide upon marketing strategies and tactics. Again, the simple tools are the most effective. There's a straightforward structure to follow. The first step is to decide upon how you are going to judge the gap over time. For example, by market share, by profit, by sales and so on.

This will help you to write SMART objectives. Then you simply ask two questions - where are we now? and where do we want to be?

What is Gap Analysis?

Your next step is to close the gap. Firstly decide whether you view from a strategic or an operational/tactical perspective. If you are writing strategy, you will go on to write tactics - see the lesson on marketing plans. The diagram below uses Ansoff's matrix to bridge the gap using strategies:

Strategic Gap Analysis.

You can close the gap by using tactical approaches. The marketing mix is ideal for this. So effectively, you modify the mix so that you get to where you want to be. That is to say you change price, or promotion to move from where you are today (or in fact any or all of the elements of the marketing mix).

Tactical Gap Analysis.

This is how you close the gap by deciding upon strategies and tactics - and that's gap analysis.

Thank you Marketing Teacher!

... the only problem is... these are not traditional times!  Traditional marketing methods don't necessarily apply. Do they?

With social media, and YouTube and Google and Ebay and the Obama Stimulus Plan... do the old rules apply?

Having been around for a few decades, my husband and I have been through this recessionary cycle before.  And we've seen long recoveries and deep drops...like this one.  And the latest fads in marketing all came tumbling down.  Just like now. 

I hope Google survives.  I hope YouTube survives.  I hope...well, I'm not so sure about Twitter.

But good companies need to survive.  Good products are needed to put food on the table and connect us to our loved ones and get us to our jobs ... if we still have them.   What we've observed is that during down times, fluffy marketing strategies fall away and we get back to basics.  Product, price, promotion and place. 

PRODUCT: Product adjustments are in order:  people and companies are buying ESSENTIALS. Things to fill definite NEEDS.  As in "find a need and fill it," kind of business.

PRICE: Prices are adjusting.  Banks are once again trying to gouge their best customers to bail out their mistakes,... but for the rest of us, we are adjusting our prices to balance between what we need to survive and what our customers can afford to pay during these stressful times.  We respect our customers' needs as much as our own.

PROMOTION:  It still starts with the people we already know.  I know...the giant blogosphere is tempting...but strangers use us and throw us away because their best bud or their cousin drops by and offers them a deal they can't refuse!  Internal promotion to your own customers and the folks who know you will work best during these lean times.

PLACE:  Distribution is still rather local, rather bricks and mortar.  We know that shop owner down the street.  Local is back.  When times get tough we band together and distribution becomes a matter of supporting one another because we care as much as because it's the best price.  That is, IF we have any of those relationships! 

So the four P's of marketing still matter.  They still can shore up a business during tough times.  They still make sense, even in the era of YouTube and Twitter.

People are asking themselves the ageold question...who will take care of me when I'm down and out?  That's who will get their business after they come to their senses.  And if we're smart, we'll come to our senses before we burn all our bridges -- our relationships with the people who make our food, make our cars run, educate our children, manufacture our clothes and pass the word along to readers like you :-)

That's gap analysis and gap solutions! 

Carolyn, your steadfast friend, right?

Gaming is rapidly becoming the phenomenon equal to the explosion of the Internet on the communications scene. If you're not familiar with the role of gaming in today's business, advertising and public discourse, you might want to click your way through this overview of today's gaming world. Gaming is strategy. Gaming is revenue...in the making for a wide swath of the business marketing and communications sectors.

Green printing is more than using recycled paper.  California is one of the forerunners in recognizing that not only does the ink and paper matter -- but the printing processes including washing the press after every run.  Many operations you never see make a difference in green printing.  Including getting the printed product TO you.

GreenPrinter has put together a solid green printing strategy.  They offer a variety of FSC certified paper stocks for your diverse needs -- from weights to finishes.  They offset transportation by purchasing offsets.  They participate in their local green business certification program as well as FSC certification.  This is good!  I always love to see a company's growth in their green strategies and I've watched GreenerPrinter for several years. 

My hat is off to this greener approach to resource management and quality business service.

Eco-friendly design, printing and online print ordering from GreenPrinter

Conduct your printing online using recycled papers and a green certified company. GreenerPrinter delivers green  quality printing and design and they're 100% Wind-Powered via Renewable Energy Credits (REC's).

That's why in addition to featuring recycled papers exclusively, GreenerPrinter also:

• Adhere to the strict environmental standards of being a locally Certified Green Business.
  
  
• Operate on 100% Wind Power through investments in Renewable Energy Credits (REC's).
  
  
• Print using only water-based coatings and soy & vegetable based inks.
  
  
• Offset the carbon emissions of our shipments through the purchase of carbon offset credits.
  
  
• Adhere to the practices outlined in GreenerPrinter's FSC Chain-of-Custody Certification.
  
  
• Eliminate dangerous chemicals and compounds from the GreenerPrinter production facility.
  
  
• Invest in printing technologies that reduce makeready and ink wash-ups, and eliminate plate processing.

Greenprinter
Berkeley, CA 94710
http://www.greenerprinter.com

Green Products Under Scrutiny

Many manufacturers claim their products are environmentally-friendly, but how green are they? Priya David reports.

Green is the catchword for natural resources conservation in today's marketplace. The short is short and sweet, almost genetic in its core understanding. We love green...the trees and grass and food sources.

But green products and services require a healthy dose of realism and conscience beyond those universal understandings. By one count, manufacturers launched 328 supposedly environmentally friendly products last year, up from just 5 in 2002.

"Environmental" claims such as rcycled content, non-toxic ingredients, lower emissions, etc. must pass Federal Trade Commission standards on packaging and in advertising.

Certifications such as USDA organic, EnergyStar, LEED, and Canadian EcoLogo auditing and verification programs help consumers sort "marketing slime" from verifiable, measurable, specific claims.

The FTC is cracking down on green marketing. They are accelerating review of  aging FTC "environmental claims" requirements ahead of their normal scheduled review. Watch for increased scrutiny...and labeling specifics. Get ready to have your products tested, reviewed, certified and audited if you want to tap into the green marketplace.

Reference: CBS Interactive. May 18, 2008

Eco-Seals, Seals-of-Approval and Certifications

Environmental seals-of-approval, eco-seals and certifications from third-party organizations imply that a product is environmentally superior to other products. Because such broad claims are difficult to substantiate, seals-of-approval should be accompanied by information that explains the basis for the award. If the seal-of-approval implies that a third party has certified the product, the certifying party must be truly independent from the advertiser and must have professional expertise in the area that is being certified.

The FTC analyzes third-party certification claims to ensure that they are substantiated and not deceptive. Third-party certification does not insulate an advertiser from Commission scrutiny or eliminate an advertiser's obligation to ensure for itself that the claims communicated by the certification are substantiated.

Federal Trade Commission:  Greenguides

Innocentive

InnoCentive was set up by Eli Lilly in 2001 as an experimental way to farm out some of the giant drugmaker’s biggest product development challenges by posting them on the Web and inviting people around the world to submit competing solutions, with a substantial monetary prize as the reward for the winner.

Two years ago, Lilly spun out the company as an independent venture, and it has since diversified beyond the life sciences to a range of disciplines, such as computer science and cleantech. And today, the organization announced that it’s raised a new pile of venture money—$6.5 million altogether, which it will use to upgrade its platform and expand its network of “solvers,” people who submit solutions in hopes of winning awards that range from $10,000 to $1 million.  To date, solvers have collected over $3 million in awards, according to InnoCentive.

It works like this: Companies (called “seekers”) work with InnoCentive to craft a well-defined challenge and pick a dollar amount for the award. InnoCentive then alerts its network of solvers, and those who choose to engage in a particular challenge are given access to online project rooms containing proprietary details about the seeker’s project. At the end of the challenge period, the seeker evaluates the solutions and chooses one as the winner; InnoCentive then helps transfer the rights to the solution from the solver to the seeker’s organization.

It isn’t “crowdsourcing” in the typical Web 2.0 sense of throwing open a problem and soliciting thoughts and contributions from thousands of random Internet surfers. It would be more accurate to describe InnoCentive’s platform as a mechanism for soliciting RFPs (requests for proposals) from a much broader cross-section of experts than any company could reach through the traditional business consulting process.

InnoCentive CEO Dwayne Spradlin says, "it’s ready for prime time. In the past six months, we’ve added challenge categories including business and entrepreneurship, engineering and design, physical sciences, and mathematics and computer sciences. We’ve increased the number of tools we offer—we used to focus on deep research-type tools but now we also offer “ideation” tools that help large numbers of people brainstorm very quickly, and electronic RFPs so that clients can find business partners very quickly, and help managing intellectual property rights. So we’ve gone beyond the proof-of-concept stage to the stage of getting InnoCentive into the hands of as many organizations as possible."

Planet Eureka

Companies like Procter & Gamble use Innocentive’s system to find new product ideas faster than they might on their own, and the model has even inspired imitators such as Ohio-based Planet Eureka, which launched last in April 2008.

READ MORE: xconomy.com

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.

Wal-Mart sustainability scorecard standards
15%	will be based on Greenhouse Gas (GHG)/CO2 per ton of Production
15%	will be based on Material Value
15%	will be based on Product/Package Ratio
15%	will be based on Cube Utilization
10%	will be based on Transportation
10%	will be based on Recycled Content
10%	will be based on Recovery Value
5%	will be based on Renewable Energy
5%	will be based on Innovation

Sustainability Planning Resources:

Design Guidelines Available Online

• SPC – Design Guideline

• Association of Post Consumer Plastics has a design for recyclability guideline

• FTC Guidelines

Sustainable packaging: Is beneficial, safe & healthy for individuals and communities throughout its life cycle; Meets market criteria for performance and cost; Is sourced, manufactured, transported, and recycled using renewable energy; Maximizes the use of renewable or recycled source materials; Is manufactured using clean production technologies and best practices; Is made from materials healthy in all probable end of life scenarios; Is physically designed to optimize materials and energy; Is effectively recovered and utilized in biological and/or industrial cradle to cradle cycles. The criteria presented here blend broad sustainability objectives with business considerations and strategies that address the environmental concerns related to the life cycle of packaging. These criteria relate to the activities of our membership and define the areas in which we actively seek to encourage transformation, innovation and optimization. We believe that by successfully addressing these criteria, packaging can be transformed into a cradle to cradle flow of packaging materials in a system that is economically robust and provides benefit throughout the life cycle—a sustainable packaging system. SOURCE: Sustainable Packaging Coalition

Whether it's called sustainable packaging, green packaging, biodegradable packaging, or natural packaging, there is a growing consumer demand for sustainable products. There is also a growing sense of urgency from product manufacturers - especially consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs) - to develop sustainable business practices based on the increasingly limited availability of traditional packaging materials.

Optimizing packaging materials, reducing shipping weight and cube, and increasing packaging cubic densities can lead to significant savings. While there may be minimal material savings in direct packaging costs, it can have a multiplier effect on the cost of transportation, handling and storage. A change in packaging can create a ripple effect throughout the supply chain producing efficiency gains, dramatic cost-savings and reduced energy consumption.

In spite of sustainable packaging becoming more mainstream (i.e. more major brand owners using sustainable materials for their packaging), finding sustainable solutions to meet consumer demands and corporate citizenship objectives is still a daunting challenge for packaging professionals.

The Packaging Summit Expo and Conference
May 13-15, 2008
Donald Stephens Convention Center,
Rosemont, IL
262-782-1900
www.pkgsummit.com