One of the reasons that I started my business, MarketGarden, was to help Green Businesses, those that offer green/sustainable products or services, market themselves. Often times these start-ups or smaller companies can not afford a variety of agencies – a marketing firm, pr firm, web developer, and advertising agency – to do so. I wanted to offer all of those services in a more efficient, cost effective way. In order to be true to my mission, I needed to find better ways to market – greener ways, more cost effective ways. Over the last year, I have realized that this balance is not just for Green businesses, but all businesses.

There has been a shift toward global agreement that we must to take more responsibility for the health of our planet and reduce our Carbon Foot Print, but balancing that with building a business and in a difficult economic climate can be overwhelming. That said all of these challenges require a more creative strategy that can benefit from the newest marketing tools. Market smarter (have a good strategy) and have your tactics work harder (lower cost, targeted and more impactful.)

Market Your Business – Use Green Marketing Methods – Reduce Costs, this marketing Trifecta is possible and effective. Here are some tips for you to use to reach your goals.

Direct Mail

• Use a more targeted mailing list. This reduces your list size and increases response rates. You can use the postage savings on more effective creative, possibly variable printing.
• Make sure to purge and update your lists
• Reduce waste by mailing smaller pieces – driving recipients to your web site for more information. This will also reduce postage costs.

Printing - Use green printers such as Greenprinter.com and Printingforless.com that offer green printing solutions and operate their business with a reduced Carbon Foot Print.

Electronic Collateral – Limit your use of printed materials, but emailing brochures and presentations, rather than printing them. This is a huge cost savings. Many retailers offer online catalogs rather than mailing them out.

Invoicing and other communications – Try using email for invoices and statements, once again saving on postage and printing. You can always offer mailed and emailed versions, and let your customers choose.

Websites

• Have your website do more of your “heavy lifting” by posting communication items such as –brochures, annual reports and newsletters, on your site where they can be viewed or downloaded as needed. FTP large documents or information, rather than overnighting them. You can send emails out with links back to your site for more information.
• Spread the word through blogs and social networking sites
• Post videos on your site or YouTube to tell your story show a demonstration of your product or service or provide tutorials.

Need inspiration? There are some great publications and websites out there that showcase unique and effective green marketing campaigns. One my favorites is USPS’s publication Deliver Magazine, http://www.delivermagazine.com/. The site offers white papers, podcasts and case studies as well as a subscription to the publication.

To find vendors to help you with your marketing campaigns, visit Resource Nation’s online business center.

These are difficult economic times that send shivers down the most optimistic entrepreneur’s spine, but there is a silver lining. It is during difficult financial times that the smartest, forward thinking companies rise to the top. The biggest challenge is to survive and the best way to do so is with a good plan.

Often times as sales decrease, the first thing companies cut is their marketing budgets, but in order to maintain or increase sales, it is important to have a strong market presence – keeping your company’s product or service out there and top of mind. That said it is possible to cut back on costs and increase outreach by developing a smart marketing strategy. Just having a good plan can save time, design and printing costs and cut down on waste.

For many a marketing plan may seem overwhelming or unnecessary. For some, when sales really slow, they feel a need just to do something; an ad or a direct mail piece, or some other marketing opportunity – taking a shot gun approach and hoping to hit something. In the end, this approach can be costly and ineffective. So make a plan, it can always be changed if it is not working. Here are some steps to make the process simpler:

To begin, first determine a marketing budget for the year. Depending on the profit margin of your product and service 2% - 5% of gross forecasted sales should be a minimum budget. If you have a high profit margin, you could increase that percentage a bit. If you do not have forecasted sales numbers, focus on a sales goal for the year.

Next, once you have that budget number, begin to divide up the amount by your marketing tactics. I recommend the following tools – collateral, web site, electronic and print advertising, direct mail, events, etc. When looking at these options, also keep in mind your target market and the mediums they respond to the best. Be sure you have a mix of tactics to ensure a solid “cross-media” strategy. If you find your budget is too tight to do all the items you would like, shift more of your budget to areas that offer a higher return on investment or allocate more of your budget to specific times of year which historically have provided better response rates. Build in a mechanism to track response to your marketing efforts. Web and e-marketing will have analytics built in, but just always asking, “How Did You Hear About Us?” is valuable information.

One tactic that should be included as a component in your marketing plan is a loyalty program. During a time when everyone will be reviewing their spending, customer loyalty is very important. It is easier and less costly to keep a customer than to get a new one. Service is a big part of loyalty, but special programs, deals and communication to your “regulars” will go a long way in keeping them. Plus, they will be the best source of referrals and viral marketing.

Finally, remember to review your plan throughout the year. Re-evalutate, look at actual sales vs. forecasted sales and adjust your budget numbers appropriately. Also, you should check to make sure you are getting the greatest return on investment (ROI) for each tactic you use. When one tactic out performs another, than you should shift dollars to increase the effectiveness, cutting out what does not work. Marketing methods are always changing, new markets open up, and technology is playing a greater role every day so try some new things too! Good luck.

Hurricanes, floods, lawsuits, financial meltdowns, earthquakes…I’ve handled them all as a PR professional. And now, as the nation deals with the aftermath of Hurricane Ike and the Wall Street meltdown, we not only need to pray for those affected, but we should also take the time to ensure we’re prepared if something like this happens to us.

Handling a crisis as a public relations professional takes intelligence, grit, experience, and sometimes a general ability to be at the right place at the right time. You want your employees and customers to know that you’re in control of the situation. That means, wherever the conflict, that’s where you’re at…being a physical presence at the scene, ready to handle the media and customers.

When the island of Kauai was hit by a horrific hurricane some time ago, my company had a great number of customers and employees affected. Within 48 hours of the eye hitting landfall, I was on an emergency cargo plane packed with food rations and water — enough to last me for four to seven days. My mission was to ensure our customers knew that if they needed help, our company was ready and prepared.

When I arrived at the island airport, I was concerned because of the long lines of people waiting to get OFF the island. Rental cars were just parked and abandoned on the curb. Nothing looked normal and in fact, the scene looked like it was straight out of a war zone.

The first thing I did was nab a rental car that was sitting at the curb with its keys still in the ignition. From there, I ventured off to find a hotel for which I supposedly had a reservation. I found the hotel in the dark. I went to the lobby to check in. Even though there was no running water or electricity, the hotel actually had a room for me. No matter the conditions, I was there.

You see, to handle an extreme disaster, it’s important to be where the media is. The day after my arrival, I struck up a relationship with the local radio station that was running regular island updates to help keep its listeners updated on the island’s situation. They gave me regular access to airtime so that I could inform my customers about what they should do and what our company was doing to help them. In addition, I tracked down CNN, the Los Angeles Times and a San Francisco radio station, all within 48 hours of my arrival, to show them how our organization was responding to the incident. Despite the conditions and perilous situation, we managed to make our presence known.

The lesson here is not so much on how to deal with the elements…but how important it is to be at the disaster site as soon as it happens. That’s because all of your stakeholders – employees, customers, partners, and vendors — need to be assured that no matter the circumstances, your company is a partner with them…in good times and in bad.

There’s an old saying that if you want people to know that you care, tell them…and if necessary, use words. Being at “ground zero” speaks volumes about your company’s commitment. That kind of message is priceless.

The dreaded question asked daily by some poor small business owner who finds himself with a dead server or workstation and all of the company’s data gone forever. Like most people, we never think it will happen to us so we either choose to ignore the risk or the “I’ll get to that tomorrow” strategy. The sad thing is that having a solid back-up and recovery plan is fairly quick and easy to do and quite inexpensive when you think of the possible financial impact of lost data.

As a SMB you need to:

* Think and plan for disaster recovery (DR) and business continuity (BC) contingencies. Most people use these terms interchangeably when they are really quite different in levels of coverage and timing. A good DR plan should have you back up and running in 24-26 hours. A BC plan that is actually implemented and tested should have your business back online in less than four hours.

* Additionally, it is critical to weigh the risks against the benefits and costs to determine which strategy is best for your business but you need to do something before you find yourself asking “Now what?”