Category Archives: Green Marketing

Green marketing (not greenWASHing!)

Climate Change Messages: What’s Most Effective?

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[Editor’s Note: This post is by guest blogger Mandira Srivastava, a freelance writer specializing in business and marketing communication.]

Events like the global climate marches give people the plausible hope that something can be done. What messages do we need to send?

Almost all scientists and people around the world agree that climate change presents dire new risks and vulnerabilities for urban and rural dwellers alike. Clearly, we need to frame messages that can inspire and persuade in the right direction.

To demand and implement urgent action on climate change and increase pressure on. The Global Climate Action Summit (being held Sept 12-14 in San Francisco), activists and demonstrators across the globe poured into the streets on Sept. 8. According to organizers, over 900 marches, concerts, teach-ins, rallies, voter registration drives, town halls, and the world’s largest street mural brought out more than 30,000 people in San Francisco — alongside at least 250,000 around the world.

In the US, the marches were dubbed “Rise for Climate, Jobs, and Justice”, convened by The People’s Climate Movement. (PCM). Their focus? Push government authorities to create new policies to prevent or cope with the worse effects of climate change.

Hmmm…. another protest, another climate conference – is it really something different this time? How will these marches change our behaviors and inspire us to conduct “greener” lives and businesses? How can we promote a non-partisan attitude with slogans we carry at these marches? Continue reading →

How Can We Communicators Address the Environmental Crisis?

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Lately, I’ve been thinking about how we — as communicators — can bring our skills, insights, and understandings into the service of our fragile planet. How can we help move beyond the “doom and gloom” so often seen and heard whenever anyone talks or writes about the environmental crises we face? Can we contribute to creating an effective space of empowerment and motivation?

I recently came across a relatively new academic term: “environmental communication”. The International Environmental Communication Association, the scholarly association for the field, only launched in 2011. Their Executive Director, Mark Meisner, wrote a piece on their One-Planet Talking Blog that I excerpt here because it really speaks to me:

“Better policies, cleaner energy sources, new technologies, carbon taxes and all of the other innovative approaches to dealing with environmental issues will only take us so far. In order to achieve lasting ecological sustainability, human culture (especially in wasteful Western societies) is going to have to change as well. This will require some significant shifts in our views and values towards the natural world, ourselves, and each other. So, how well we communicate about nature and environmental affairs will affect how quickly and thoroughly we can transform our cultures and ultimately how well we address the ecological crisis.”

Wow. I guess we actually do have a role to play!

Just the other day, my 7-year-old cousin and I were reading a book that referred to “global warming” and I was at a loss to explain it without scaring her. I know there are many educators working on this very front for learners of all ages (including us grown-ups). An example is an aptly named Initiative called “Beyond Doom and Gloom: Climate Solutions”.

O.k. This is obviously a huge topic, and I am just beginning to explore it. If you would like to chime in, please do so by leaving a reply.

 

Green Scene: All About Recycled Paper

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We have learned how using the right language can engage readers and potential collaborators as well as influence other changemakers to take action.  But some of the more tangible aspects of our organizations can also reflect just how committed we are to making a difference.

There’s one often-overlooked tool that we use to fundraise, market, and grow our organizations: paper. Unless you are entirely digital and never print anything, you will have to use some dead trees at some point.

My friend Carolina Miranda, founder of Cultivating Capital, has generously allowed us to share much of her article, Making Good Purchasing Decisions for Recycled Paper. The article includes useful tips and information on how we can become more environmentally responsible, while still getting our messages across. Please see below:

The key when buying your paper is to make sure that it clearly specifies that it has ‘post-consumer waste.’

Let’s start with some basics. Here’s a quick rundown of the terms that you might find on a package of copy paper:

  • Recycled – this is an easy one: When paper is recycled and turned back into paper, we refer to that as recycled paper. This is in contrast to virgin paper that is made exclusively from trees and has no recycled content.
  • Post-consumer waste (PCW) – this refers to paper that has reached the end consumers (all of us who are using paper and then tossing it in our recycle bins) and then been turned back into paper.  Paper that contains post-consumer waste (PCW) will clearly state it.
  • Recyclable – this is the sneakiest of the paper industry’s marketing ploys. They label their paper as either being recyclable or made from recyclable materials in order to intentionally mislead consumers into thinking that they’re buying a product made from recycled content. Basically, they’re just telling you that paper is recyclable – that it can be recycled – but we already know that!
  • Processed chlorine-free/unbleached – this means that bleach was not used to make the paper white. The ubiquitous white copy paper that we find in every office has traditionally required bleach in order to give it its white appearance. However, using bleach is not good for the environment, and now there are papers that are processed without bleach.

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The Green Scene: Reframing “Climate Change” Messages

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In recent months and years, climate change has been making an increasingly deeper impact on every one of our lives — across the country and around the world. But the term “climate change” doesn’t seem sufficient to describe the enormous challenges we are facing today: historic fires, droughts, hurricanes, and the sinking of some coastal cities.

As we already know, using the right language can mean a huge difference in successfully winning a grant, engaging a website visitor, or accomplishing a myriad of other essential tasks in our organizations. Just as important, the language we use to define our environmental problems can influence how others see the situation and take action (or not).

How can the right language help? Perhaps renaming “climate change” is a start. “Climate change” doesn’t identify the depth of the challenge, describe why things are happening as they are, or inspire us to address the situation. Susan Strong, Founder and Executive Director of The Metaphor Project (and a former editing client of mine for her book, Move Our Message: How to Get America’s Ear), mentions three steps we can take to use our language more decisively.

Read about her three steps in her blog article, Reframe “climate change,” in 3 Steps!.

 

 

9/8 Interactive Webinar: Copywriting for the Web — Today’s Best Practices

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You’re a professional in the nonprofit or social-mission business world. And I know you have a website. But could it be more effective?

Join the many others who have already benefited from my workshops on web copywriting! This time I’m offering it as an interactive webinar that anyone can attend: Thursday, September 8, via the Center for Volunteer & Nonprofit Leadership. Here’s the description:

Copywriting for the Web — Today’s Best Practices

Have you been putting off making needed changes to your website copy? Not sure what will make the most impact? Need some detailed feedback?

Of course, you know that your website forms an essential part of your organization’s marketing. It needs to deliver compelling content that your readers eagerly engage with. The words and pictures have to jump off the screen and meet your readers where they are. But actually cranking out that copy can sometimes be a challenge.

This webinar will offer you plenty of tips and techniques to make sure your content is web reader-friendly, while it stresses your community impact.

Takeaways:

  • 3 planning fundamentals that help you get the results you want
  • What you need to know about today’s web users
  • How to ensure website usability & accessibility
  • Intro to Search Engine Optimization
  • Recommended resources on the web

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