In recent posts, we explored strategies you can use to adapt your marketing to the new marketplace.  These strategies are generic — any company can use them.  But general solutions can take you only so far.  To break out of the pack, you need unique strategies that no one else can copy because they derive from your unique qualities and situation.

Where can you find such strategies?  If only you had some resource to turn to, which understood everything about your company and its market.  A resource with vast strategic insight, creativity and energetic drive, that you could harness on behalf of your business right now.  A supercomputer that could not only crunch the data but deliver strategic solutions.   If only you had... your brain.

Yes, I know you're straining your brain already to cope with the current crisis.  That may itself be part of the problem — but you probably already know this, too.  You may know all about the "relaxation response" and how relieving stress can free the brain to perform at a higher level.

But I'm not talking about the relaxation response.  Not primarily.  I am, however, talking about recent research by the man who discovered the relaxation response, Herbert Benson.  The relaxation response was just the beginning.  In The Break-out Principle: How to activate the natural trigger that maximizes creativity, athletic performance, productivity, and personal well-being, Benson details steps to develop creative strategic solutions to challenging situations, time after time after time.

At Amazon, the book gets mixed reviews — some raves, but also some who say there's little new here, it's all been said before.  Of course!  If this is how creative breakthroughs happen, humanity wouldn't have gotten this far without it — and neither would you.

Almost certainly, you have your own ways to tap into your creative potential.  It's how you built your business or career.  But you may not understand the full range of principles involved, or the practices you can draw upon to get results systematically — in business as well as personal life, for groups as well as individuals.  It's a master key that opens countless doors.

So when you read it, don't sell yourself short with a swift, smug dismissal.  Grasp the whole system — for example, the way to select people for a "breakthrough network" and the rules by which they should operate.  The great thing is that at this difficult time, when money is so tight, The Breakout Principle is a way to further leverage the assets you already have — and assemblage of human brains — to answer your most urgent question:  "What the heck should we do now?"

In our last post, we saw that one way to combat the shift in values during the recession is to move green benefits to the back of the list, to match the downshifted values of your customers.  However, one "customer" who's moving green benefits to the front of the list is Barack Obama.

Of course, Obama is budget-constrained like the rest of us.  But at least with regard to climate change, he clearly "gets it" on environmental issues.

• On the campaign trail he spoke of alternative energy in relation to saving the planet.
• One of his first actions as President was to cancel as many of Bush's anti-environmental policies as he could.
• He put billions into the economic stimulus bill for clean energy and other environmental priorities.
• His Energy Secretary is Steven Chu, a Nobel-Prize-winning physicist.  (An Energy Secretary who actually understands energy!  Imagine!)

As the stimulus money starts to flow, some of it may flow your way — either directly or indirectly.  Obviously, this would be good for your business, and you would be wise to make moves to make it happen.  Besides that, though, is there any way you could leverage Barack Obama?

Yes, there is.  Obama legitimizes environmental concern.  On election night, he said we face the challenge of "a planet in peril."  And you can leverage that legitimacy in your marketing.  "The president has said we face a planet in peril.  Acme acne cream allows you to answer Obama's call to help, ensuring both a clearer face and a cleaner planet."

President Obama has called on all of us to help.  He has said he can't solve the problems facing us alone.  If you can position your products as part of the solution, then enlist the participation of your customers in answering that call, you can leverage Barack Obama to keep your turf green (environmentally and financially!) during this difficult economic dry spell.

Look for statements by the president about the environment that relate in some way to your own company's mission.  (No doubt there will be many more as time goes on, so repeat your search every few months.)  For example, search Google for:

+obama +environment
+obama +planet
+obama +green -dress -gown

Add keywords to your search that are pertinent to your own product areas.  See if you can find quotations that you can work into your marketing.  If you can help your customers join Obama's green team, you're doing everyone a favor.  (As we say at Brilliant Green Marketing, "Better for the planet.  Better for you.  Brilliant.")

How else can you adapt your marketing to the new green market as it suddenly turns a dangerous dry brown?  Read our next post to find out.

In our last post, we explored how you might counter the economic downturn by reminding your market that collapses don't take turns — and the environmental crisis is as dire as ever.  Getting this across with impact may help, but you can do more.

For example, try moving the green aspects of your products to the side or the back of the benefits list.

To you, the environmental benefits of your products might be their most important merits.  These green benefits may be important to your customers, too, but in bad times they are less likely to be the most important benefits of your products.  So if you've been leading with these benefits, move them alongside others.  And if you were already presenting them alongside others, you might even want to move them to the back.

Being better for the planet is great.  Indeed, it's crucial.  But in hard times, emphasize instead those aspects of your products that are better for the customer as a separate individual, rather than as a member of society.  (I emphasize "as a separate individual" because of the tragedy of the commons, which is precisely what we're up against here.)

Start with the assumption that, on the average, your customers' values will have shifted from green values toward money, from community values toward personal, and from long term toward short term.  This suggests a hierarchy or sequence in which you should present benefits — tempered by how strong and direct a particular benefit is.

• Your products are less expensive than alternatives, right off the shelf.  (Lucky you!)
   
• Your products are less expensive in the long run, because they last longer.
   
• Your products are less expensive in the long run, because they use less energy, refills or other resources — they have a lower operating cost.
   
• Your products are less expensive in the larger picture, because they render products in other categories unnecessary, or preserve other items or cause less damage.
   
• Your products are safer or healthier for family and pets.
   
• Your products other personal benefits, relative to competitor products or alternative ways of meeting the need.
   
• Purchasing your products now will put in place a system your customers will want down the road, preventing the cost of starting over, or will keep in place a system already instituted.
   

The sequence here is not hard-and-fast, and the list is not complete, but you get the idea.  The point is to rethink the competitive benefits of your products from the standpoint of a prospect customer who has come to feel that buying green is temporarily a luxury they may not be able to afford.  Their attention will be more on costs and benefits to themselves rather than the planet — so show them advantages in terms of costs and benefits to themselves!  Align the presentation of benefits with your customer's new priorities.  It's as simple as that.

And what about the green benefits themselves, when you finally get to them on the list?  How do you present them?  Less as a reason to buy than as a reason to feel good about buying.  "And oh, by the way, when you purchase Acme acne cream, you can feel good knowing that washing your face will put fewer toxins into the ocean that might ultimately poison the polar bears."  (Adapt to your situation and work on the wording, but that's the attitude to convey.)

Does this offend your sensibilities of what's really important?  Then get over it.  First of all, if your customer's self-perceived needs are not important to you, you shouldn't be in business.  But even from a green standpoint, this rearrangement of your benefits list — pushing green benefits towards the back — is not a betrayal of your own green values.  Rather, it's currently your best way to serve and preserve them.

Our next post will explore further ways to sell green during the economic meltdown.

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.

Three great forces are colliding at this moment in history.  You, as a green marketer, are privileged to have even better than a ring-side seat to this spectacle.  You're right in the middle of the smash-up!  The three forces are these:

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

In our last post, we said that that if the depressed economy shrinks your market, you may need to retool your products and prices towards the downscaled values of the marketplace.  But is there a way to turn the situation around and use it to actually get ahead?

What counts is not just the size of the market, but your market share.  Unless the market shrinks to zero, there will still be customers buying in your category, and even at your price/quality level.  These customers must either buy from you or your competitors.  And while the pie may be smaller, the real question is how much of it will be yours.

To answer that, we must look at your competitors, because that's exactly what the customers will do.   How will your competitors respond to the economic downturn?

Chances are, they'll respond like most companies in most downturns.  They'll tighten their belt and try to wait it out, just as you might have thought of doing.  In other words, they'll cut back on spending wherever they can.  One of the first areas for the axe to fall is typically marketing.

Obviously, this is not good marketing strategy — because it's not a strategy!  It's not a creative response to a challenge — it's cowering.  It's hunkering under a bush till the rain stops.  It's reactive, not proactive.  Since this is probably how most of your competitors will respond to the economic downturn, it's actually a marvelous opportunity for you.

If marketing is the first function to feel the axe, this just shows a lack of confidence that the marketing is doing any good in the first place.  (That may be true — which is a whole other discussion.)

But marketing (including sales) is the only function whose purpose is direct generation of revenue.  So when revenue becomes a challenge, the answer is not less marketing but better marketing, strategically targeted to the new situation.

If you separate sales and marketing, consider:  in basketball, even a star scorer needs teammates to guard, pass the ball and set up the shot.  Likewise, marketing's job is to guard, pass the ball and set up the shot for sales. 

The question is not whether you need marketing, but whether your marketing is doing its job.  When times are tough, you need effective marketing more than ever.

Looking at the new landscape — depressed economy, reduced purchasing, more careful customers and more timid competitors, what's your best response?  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?  See our next post.

Keith Borden, Consultant
Brilliant Green Marketing

We've just finished a series of posts on the green wave.  But even as I was writing them, the green wave was colliding with another mighty wave, the current economic crash.

What does the economic downturn mean for green marketers?  There are two parts to the answer, because of the split personality of these curious professionals.  Green marketers are green marketers,  and also green marketers.  And yet they are always both at once — they must market green.  But economy impacts the two halves differently.

So let's first see how the current economic climate affects us as marketers.  Here, we're in the same boat with all other marketers at this moment in history.  Then we'll explore the difference that green makes in our situation.  (It's big.)

So... we know which way the economic winds are blowing.  They're blowing down — although we don't yet know how far.  The question is, how should your business respond?

The first thing to remember is that the winds are blowing down for almost everyone — your company, your customers and also your competitors.  You are not the target — the change is across the board.  So you need to respond proactively to outmaneuver your competitors in winning customers during this economic downturn.

From that standpoint, at least, the downturn is not bad news.  It's not good news, either.  It's just a change.  And as business guru Peter Drucker once said, the job of business leaders is to "exploit change" — that is, to leverage it to your advantage.  So rather than thinking of this as "bad times" during which you need to tighten your belt, look at it as a market change to leverage competitively with the resources you have available.

How do you leverage an economic downturn?  Respond to the total situation.  The cash & credit crunch is only part of it.  More important is how your marketplace will change in response.   So begin by asking, "How will my customers respond?  How will my competitors respond?"  Then you can craft your own response to leverage their responses.

Your customers — and, if you're selling B2B, their customers — will likely be cutting back.  But they still have needs.  In some cases, they'll be putting off the fulfillment of those needs, or cutting down on quantity, and there may be nothing you can do about that (although lower-priced models and extended payment plans can help).

In other cases, customers will still make purchases to fulfill their needs, but they'll tend to do it more selectively.  Or more accurately, they'll shift their selection criteria.  They may downgrade their quality standards in favor of lower price, for instance, and shift from a focus on long-term value to immediate cost.  And their values will shift away from luxury or "frills" towards practicality, the basics.

All of this may indeed shrink your market for the time being, and there may be nothing to be done about it, other than retooling your products and prices towards the downscaled values of the marketplace.  But if you stop there, you've left out the most important part of the picture.

What's that?  See our next post.

Keith Borden, Consultant
Brilliant Green Marketing

Over the last nine posts, we looked at several strands which together weave the green wave, today's growing concern for the environment.  I selected those aspects of the green wave which are most useful for understanding why it arose when it did, why it didn't arise sooner, and why we can't count on it to continue without interruption.

This selection of topics was strategic , but there's more to the story  Before moving on, I want to mention some other factors behind today's green wave.

• the environmental awareness, principles & track record of indigenous people around the world, and their contribution to the green wave
   
• the development of green principles & practices in the East and the contribution of these to the green movement
   
• the complexities of the relationship of humans to nature and the wilderness in the West throughout history
   
• early forerunners of the environmental movement in the West
   
• the social justice movement, which goes back millennia
   
• the increasing convergence of the social justice movement with the environment movement

We'll be expanding on some of these down the road, but they at least deserve mention now as important contributors to the green wave.

Right now, though, the green wave is crashing into another wave — the Great Economic Downturn.  In our next post we'll begin discussing what this means for green marketers.

Keith Borden, Consultant
Brilliant Green Marketing