In our last post, we saw that the economic downturn will make people less green -- in effect, at least — in their values and purchasing decisions.  (Of course, when it comes to purchasing decisions, "in effect" is the reality.)  This bad news is undoubtedly not news to you, but it may be helpful to have deeper insight into the psychodynamics behind it.

What can green marketers do about this?  Before we can arrive at good strategies, we've got to hold fast to the right attitude.  Sure, the situation we're facing is bad for green business.  But what is green business?  Why are you green in the first place?  Early on, we defined "green" as better for the planet.  That means that "less green" is worse for the planet.

That's where we need to keep our attention — in how we think, and especially in how we communicate.  Nobody will care that your business is in trouble, but people still ought to care that their planet is in peril.  Remind them of that, and you'll at least catch their ear.

Collapses don't take turns.  Right now we are facing an economic collapse, but we were already facing an environmental collapse (climate, biodiversity, fisheries, forests, farmland — you know the list.)  The environmental situation was dire a year ago.  It was more dire six months ago.  Is it any less dire now?  Did the impending environmental collapse politely step aside to make room for the newly arrived economic collapse?

Of course not!  Economic collapse may have shoved aside environmental collapse in people's minds, but it didn't shove it aside in the world "out there."  So to the extent that people are now less green in their thinking, the economic collapse has caused their minds to become misaligned with reality.  That's dangerous for anybody — including your customers.

In reality, we have not shifted from facing environmental collapse to facing economic collapse.  We have shifted from facing environmental collapse to facing both environmental and economic collapse.  The fact that the economic collapse is already upon us does not make the environmental collapse any less imminent.  In fact, the environmental collapse is not "on its way" — it's already here.  It's happening at this moment, on an enormous scale.  It's just hidden behind an ever-shrinking facade of affluent appearances.

Nor is the environmental collapse separate from the economy.  In the skyscraper of civilization, ecological services are the foundation and first three stories, the economy is floors four through ten, and all the rest of society is built up from there.  When the foundation and first three floors crumble, what will happen to floors four and above?  If bailing out the banks is hard, try bailing out the ocean!

Most informed people would still agree that saving the environment is important.  But many would argue that fixing the economy is now more urgent.  That's the cognitive error we as green marketers must strive to correct.  One urgency has not displaced another; rather, the urgencies have multiplied.  Unfortunately, the human mind does not easily comprehend multiple urgencies, but that's a reality our species must now outgrow — or else (as Hobbes put it)  we'll soon return to a world where life is nasty, brutish and short.

In the end, even realizing all this, people may still make less green purchasing decisions due to budget constraints.  But the first step in stemming the tide is to help them keep straight in their thinking.  Keep them in touch with the planet.  Let them feel its scream.

Is that all we can do to market green effectively in the new green market?  No.  Read our next post for more.

In our last post, we suggested visiting your own website as well as those of your competitors, "shopping around" with the pretended intent of making a purchase.  What draws you?  What stops you?  What gives you confidence?  What confuses or repels you?  What's missing, that's needed in order to reel you in and close the deal?

Now do the same with other "touch points" of customer contact:  print collateral, sales presentations, customer service, technical support.  Walk into a store.  Whatever applies to your particular company.  Again, enlist others, to supplement your efforts or where it is not practical to do this yourself.  (For example, if Steve Jobs tried to pose as a naïve Apple customer, he just might be recognized.)

This kind of survey is something you should do from time to time in any case, but especially when there is a significant change in the marketing environment.  And an economic downturn is certainly that — and in many ways, simply that.  A change.  Be sure to conduct the survey with a customer mindset appropriate to the change.

This exercise will almost certainly give you a bunch of ideas for improvements — or at least a list of things that need improving.  That's good.  Whenever I don't get the results that I want, I review my strategies for obtaining those results.  I only get worried if I don't find room for improvement (but fortunately, I always find it).  Room for improvement is good.

The first things to change, of course, are the obvious problems.  But then go beyond that, and ask how in these tight times you could make your company the obvious choice over your competitors.  In other words, think strategically.  Ask, answer, and act.

This economic downturn could be an economic upturn for you.

Or rather, it could be an economic upturn for some companies.  But you're a green marketer.  What difference does that make?  What impact will the economic downturn have on the green wave, and green marketing — and the future of the planet?

In our next post, we'll begin examining these issues.

Keith Borden, Consultant
Brilliant Green Marketing

In our last post, we said that your best response to the new marketing landscape — depressed economy, reduced purchasing, more careful customers and more timid competitors -- is to take proactive measures to ensure that when those more careful customers compare you with your more timid competitors, you'll be their supplier of choice.

But how can you know what proactive measures to take?  Put yourself in the place of a potential customer.  One who has a need for something in your category -- a strong enough need for them to make a purchase despite the fact that times are tight.  Because times are tight, they'll be more careful in their selection.  They'll be less likely to shop where they've shopped before.  Hoping to minimize costs, they'll take a fresh look at the field.

That is, they'll take a fresh look at your competitors — and you.  (This is true of new customers, your competitors' customers and your current customers.)  When they make this comparison, what will they be looking for?  And what will they find?

Very likely, their search will begin (and perhaps end) on the Web.  So first make sure that one of the things they find is your website.  There's an old saying, out of sight, out of mind.  Today's version is, out of Google, out of business.

Amazingly, considering all the SEO, marketing and web design firms as well as business writers out there, this phrase is not in Google at the time of writing (October, 2008).  This is proof that with all the myriad marketing messages pouring out each day, someone with originality and insight can still say something new and noteworthy.

Okay, so they find your website, and they find the websites of your competitors.  What will your competitors' websites look like?  Probably pretty much the way they do now, except perhaps for lower prices and special offers.  As we said, most of your competitors will probably try to "wait it out."  The more severe the downturn, the more likely they'll do nothing.  They'll wait for the good times to somehow return.

But the good times may not return to them.  Not if you grab their customers now.  And it's much easier to be competitive now.  When the market is hot, it's hard to out-maneuver competitors because you don't know what they're about to do.  Everyone is making moves.  But when the market is down, most companies go into slow motion, so if you don't, you've got the dance floor to yourself and can dance circles around your competition.

So imagine yourself as that careful customer, with a tight budget and a strong need.  With that mindset, go to the website of each of your competitors, and also your own.  Shop in your customer's shoes.  It's a good idea to enlist others in this also, who may see with less sophisticated, less biased eyes — people without your insider's perspective.  Ideally, you can enlist people who are similar to your customers, if not actual customers.

At each site, "shop around" with the pretended intent of making a purchase.  What draws you?  What stops you?  What gives you confidence?  What confuses or repels you?  What's missing, that's needed in order to reel you in and close the deal?

And then — well, see our next post.

Keith Borden, Consultant
Brilliant Green Marketing