Sunday, November 30, 2008

Two Tips for B2B “Green” Marketing

If you have a product or service that can help your business customers “go green” or “go greener,” here are two tips on crafting marketing messages that will get their attention:
  1. Focus on the business case. Definitely put something in the headline/intro that lets your audience know you’re talking about going green, but thereafter focus on the business case. First, everyone knows the societal reasons for going green by now. Second, most people know that there are ways to go green that make good business sense, so they’re not going to look at purchases that are green for their own sake. It is definitely okay, however, to remind them (in a postscript, say) that their smart purchasing decision is helping to save the planet too.

  2. Learn the lingo. This is always true in B2B marketing, but is especially important in green marketing. There are two reason for this:
    • Trust. Whenever there’s a bandwagon, everyone jumps on, including the scammers. There’s so much green hype out there that businesses have become increasingly wary of green sales pitches. A technical error in your marketing may well get your materials tossed into the circular file.
    • Effectiveness. Knowing what environmental categories your product or service falls into will steer you to the right target markets. Knowing that you can help your customers become more “energy efficient” will attract one set of prospects; if you help them convert entirely to “sustainable” energy, you’ll attract another.