Here are topics for our upcoming Summit on "Marketing and Sales in the Age of Renewable Energy and Cleantech" (wow, that's a hefty title with big promises!)
"Doing well by doing good" should be everyone's mantra for sustaining their business and deploying sustainability and Green elements that help the bottom line.
The Society for Human Resource Management's recent report shows the bottom line results. Firms with sustainability programs:
• Improved employee morale—55 percent
• More-efficient business processes—43 percent• Stronger public image—43 percent
• Increased employee loyalty—38 percent
Preserve Products has a scientifically-proven recycling method for taking back plastic through Whole Foods Market "Gimme5" bins... so we can reuse and lose the waste. Preserve helps brands tell their recycling story while making great products with recycled material. Check out their toothbrush subscription service - $13 for a new one every few moths (like you are supposed to) - very smart.
So the benefits are there ... the goal is also to let your world know about it. Call it "sustainability marketing" - see Jim Nail's POV about how the lame jump-on-the-bandwagon-Green-washing has fostered a need to do it right.
Sharing is the new efficiency
Here are inspiring examples of innovative services that are more open and succeed by sharing. Lisa Gansky calls it The Mesh...
A Box Life (keeps shippable cardboard boxes in use longer); GoLoco (ride-sharing system that notifies users when their friends or interest groups are going places they want to go); Instant Offices (matches businesses with available office space); Kopernik (connects tools and people where they are most needed); Local Dirt (helps consumers buy, sell, and find local food); Sourcemap (helps consumers find and share stories about where products come from and what they are made of); YouNoodle (users discover and support early-stage companies); and Zopa (helps people lend and borrow money with each other while sidestepping banks).
T.R.U.T.H.
Inc. just posted an inspiring article about what’s helpful "... Pushing companies to be transparent and accountable for their environmental (and social) impacts. Transparency has become the new lingua franca in sustainability -- a demand for companies to account for and report their impacts, commitments, goals and progress. It’s at the company or brand level that this makes sense: Why offer a few good, eco-labeled products if the organization behind them is headed in the wrong direction? Transparency is a fundamental building block of a green economy. It can build trust in companies, and ward off claims of greenwashing.
Being transparent is no longer a question for consumer-facing companies. The only question is whether they do it themselves or have it done for them."
Lastly, for now, Joel Makower says that the Green Revolution never really happened and we (should) be motivated by business results.