The Clean and Green Club

About Shel & This Newsletter

As a marketing consultant and copywriter… award-winning author of eight books… international speaker, blogger, syndicated columnist — Shel Horowitz shows how green and ethical businesses can actually be *more* profitable than your less-green competitors. His most recent book is category bestseller Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet. Shel also helps authors/ publishers, small businesses, and organizations to market effectively, and turns unpublished writers into well-published authors.

He was inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame in 2011.

Shel Horowitz’s consulting firm, Green And Profitable, is the first business ever to earn Green America’s rigorous Gold Certification as a leading green company

He began publishing his monthly newsletter all the way back in 1997, making it one of the oldest marketing e-zines (it’s changed names a few times along the way).

“As always, some of the links in this newsletter earn commissions—because I believe in the products and services enough to promote them (I get asked to endorse lots of other programs I don’t share with you, because I don’t find them worthy).”

Living in Oneness 5 Pillars For Success Summit, from Humanity’s Team, offers training in the 5 realms of Self, Parenting, Relationships, the Business/Professional world, and Leadership and Public Service.

Featuring Neale Donald Walsh, don Miguel Ruiz, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Patricia Ellsberg, Gay & Katie Hendricks, Bruce Lipton, James O’Dea, and many others. https://vg165.infusionsoft.com/go/lio14reg/shorowitz

Hear & Meet Shel–A TEDx Talk, Green Festival & More

April 21 through May 2: I interview all 16 other presenters on the Business and Marketing For a Better World Telesummit. My overview call describing all the other calls will be available at any time. And then on the last day, Tom Antion interviews me about how business can create sweeping social change AND make a profit. No cost to register, and you get all the other presenters too: https://business-for-a-better-world.com/telesummit

April 26, NYC, 12:30 p.m. (note time change) Speaking on Business For a Better World AND message points for different audiences at the NYC Green America/Global Exchange Green Festival. I’ll be signing books afterward. The Green Festivals are wonderful events. I spoke at one in 2010 and have attended a couple since then. Pier 94, 55th Street and Hudson River. https://www.greenfestivals.org/nyc/schedule

May 8, Shelburne Falls, MA: Speaking on Business For a Better World at a TEDx salon! Who-hoo! Speaking at a TED event has been on my to-do list for years. If you’re in Western Mass, please come. McCusker’s market, 7 to 9 p.m. Contact: stacy at TEDxShelburneFalls.com

May 6, Tech SandBox, Hopkinton, MA, near the I-495 interchange off the Mass Pike: The brilliant entrepreneur and networker Ken McArthur, bestselling author of The Impact Factor and a really nice guy, is doing a one-day Boston-area intensive with a bunch of other very smart marketers. I’ve traveled as far as Florida to and one of his events, and I don’t remember him doing one north of NYC before. I’ll be attending, and though I’m not formally a presenter, if past experience is a guide, I’m likely to have some role as a resource.
Also, if past is a guide, he will put together an awesome group of people who have a lot of knowledge to share. I expect to take lots of notes :-). Let’s put out a great New England welcome for him. $497 Early Bird price. https://onedayintensive.com/boston

May 10, Hartford, CT: I will once again be presenting at CAPA University, a one-day book publishing program in Hartford. More info: gaffney AT kanineknits.com

May 16-18, Hadley, MA: Marketing Green in the Wider World: 3-Day Intensive.

Another Recommended Book—An Edible History of Humanity

An Edible History of Humanity, by Tom Standage (Walker & Co., 2009)

Standage argues convincingly that most of the major changes and many key events throughout (and preceding) history are about food. It’s a fascinating and well-written book,

I was particularly drawn to it right now, as I’m launching Business For a Better World—with the idea that most of our current biggest social problems are resource-related.

He starts the history some 10,000 years ago, when humans began to domesticate crops and move from hunter-gatherer to agricultural societies. He notes that very early, people started selecting for grains that were more appealing, even if they were less resilient.

Agriculture began the process of allowing people to develop skills beyond feeding themselves and their families—because, as agricultural surpluses began to accumulate at least as early as 3200 BC, not everybody had to be involved in food production. Thus, Bronze Age toolmaking, crafts, and eventually, industries. With irrigation, these trends increased and spread around the world.

And this led to a move away from the egalitarian hunter-gatherer ways to stratified societies of professionals, laborers, and of course, a ruling elite.

Standage offers a new, food-related view of so much of what we take for granted. And he draws a fascinating parallel between the amount of democracy (including a free press)—and food security. Authoritarian regimes tend to have a lot more problems feeding their populace.

Examples: Did you know the Dutch used violent suppression and caused eco-catastrophe in order to monopolize clove production on two islands, all the way back around 1700? Why Stain’s dictatorial regime was based in his complete misunderstanding of agriculture—and how Mao repeated and multiplied the mistake, causing the greatest famine in human history and 30-40 million deaths? (Post-Mao China, however, has made huge strides in food sufficiency, and at least some progress on democracy.) How Mugabe’s country-destroying rule in Zimbabwe saw 80 percent decline in agriculture, 10,000 percent inflation, 20 percent reduction in life expectancy, and unemployment at 85 percent?

He looks at positive and negative aspects of the Green Revolution’s roots in the development of synthetic ammonia and other nitrogen fertilizers, and of the much more recent shift to GMO (genetically modified) crops. Personally, I think he’s rather too uncritical of some of these technologies—but I do recognize that the Green Revolution, in particular, helped create a more solid footing of sufficiency.

He also looks at how enlightened consumers have used food purchases to support a social agenda, starting with the first known values-based food boycott in 1791, when Quakers started refusing to buy slave-produced sugar. (I guess he doesn’t see the Boston Tea Party as values-based.)

At the end of the book, he shares some startling and deeply disturbing statistics about genetic diversity. I find it very scary to learn that in the 20th century, 6800 of 7100 American apple varieties have gone extinct, as have 75 percent of varietals across all crops. Yikes!

The Clean and Green Club, February 2014

13 Feb, 2014 No Comment

Having trouble reading this as e-mail? Please visit www.thecleanandgreenclub.com to read it comfortably online.

Shel Horowitz’s Clean and Green Marketing Tip,

February 2014

Two Exciting Green Business Training Opportunities for You

1. Happy Valentine’s Day. And here’s a Valentine’s Day surprise for you: a series of no-cost teleseminars from mostly NOT the “usual suspects.”

Business and Marketing for a Better World Telesummit

You’ll get to hear from at least ten groundbreaking experts: some who run successful green businesses, some who are pioneers in new marketing techniques–and some who combine both green businesses and creative marketing. Presenters hail from at least four different countries, and one of them–a great speaker and a major influence in making coffee a much more sustainable industry–actually won the Right Livelihood Award (known as the Alternative Nobel Prize).

To name a few: On the marketing side, you’ll learn about cool success stories like building an online community of more than 8000 people, green perspectives on Guerrilla Marketing by the late Jay Conrad Levinson (never before released) and secrets from a wildly successful “blogging goddess.” In the green world, we’ll look at how sticking to your values can change a whole industry, what it’s like to run a green business in a very conservative area, and humor as a tool for global change.

I’m still finalizing the lineup (might be adding a few more speakers) and working out the tech–I’m expecting to start in March. I’ll send an email out to everyone when I have a registration page. If you want to be SURE you get notified, hit reply and change the subject line to “Notify Business and Marketing for a Better World Telesummit,” I’ll also send you a personal email.

2. The first-ever Green Marketing and Social Change Intensive at my beautiful solarized antique farmhouse in Massachusetts is happening Friday, May 16 through Sunday, May 18. Only 12 seats will be sold and the price goes up after March 1 (and again April 1). Registration is now open at https://making-green-sexy.com/come-learn-with-shel-3-day-green-marketing-intensive-in-beatuiful.html.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, there will be almost no overlap between the telesummit (which has expert instructors from several disciplines and industries) and the intensive (I’ll be doing all the formal teaching, but of course, we’ll all learn from each other).

The intensive will cover (among other things):

• Writing your marketing plan

• Identifying story ideas that will be sexy to the media

• Creating talking points for multiple audiences

• Locating the people who already reach your best prospects, and creating offers that make them eager to help you

Yes, You Need Goals–But It’s Okay to Shift Them

Two months ago, I shared my goals for 2014 with you and challenged you to turn your own goals into reality.

Now, I’m going to tell you how and why my goals made a radical shift, just a few weeks later.

The goal of signing a contract with a major publisher and a large advance to do a three-book series (my ninth, tenth, and eleventh books) is not likely to happen this year, and I’m totally OK with that. In fact, at the moment, I don’t plan to write a book at all this year.

Instead, I have a much bigger goal: to begin shifting the business culture to address the biggest problems of our time: things like poverty and hunger, war, and catastrophic climate change. And oddly enough, I don’t see a book series as the best path to that goal.

My thought in the summer and fall was that I’d need to lay the groundwork with the first two books in the series: one for green business people, and another for green consumers–to widen the concentric circles of my influence and create enough of a base that the real book I wanted to write could find a market. But by that time, a few more years would have passed. And there was no guarantee that I would even find a publisher who was willing to commit major resources to this project.

But my amazing business coach Oshana Himot has been leading me through a very exciting process of looking at my deepest goals and examining how to turn them into viable parts of a viable business. And with her guidance, I’m convinced that I don’t have to wait several more years to do the work I was put on the planet to do. The work I’ve done for the past 12 years around green and ethical business practices as success principles should be enough of a springboard. And the time is now.

–> The mission: to rethink the interaction of business and natural resources so powerfully that we can address the biggest problems of our time. Issues like hunger and poverty, war, and catastrophic climate change.

I believe we can make significant progress on these issues, and that the business community is the most powerful lever we can have to make those shifts. To this end, I’m creating a new brand around the concept of Business For a Better World. Already, just a couple of weeks into this I’m tremendously energized and full of plans and ideas. At age 57, I think I may have finally figured out what I want to be when I grow up ;-). I’ve always wanted my legacy to be a reduction of these huge problems. And now I think I have actually found a role to play and a way to play it.

I hope each of you will join me on this journey. Together, we can accomplish far more than we can alone.

Connect with Shel on Social Media

About Shel & This Newsletter

As a marketing consultant and copywriter… award-winning author of eight books… international speaker, blogger, syndicated columnist — Shel Horowitz shows how green and ethical businesses can actually be *more* profitable than your less-green competitors. His most recent book is category bestseller Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet. Shel also helps authors/ publishers, small businesses, and organizations to market effectively, and turns unpublished writers into well-published authors.

He was inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame in 2011.

Shel Horowitz’s consulting firm, Green And Profitable, is the first business ever to earn Green America’s rigorous Gold Certification as a leading green company

He began publishing his monthly newsletter all the way back in 1997, making it one of the oldest marketing e-zines (it’s changed names a few times along the way).

“As always, some of the links in this newsletter earn commissions—because I believe in the products and services enough to promote them (I get asked to endorse lots of other programs I don’t share with you, because I don’t find them worthy).”

Friends who Want to Help

Creating Joy in My Life and Society is a 6-week teleseminar which assists you to create joy in your life and to achieve your goals. Joy enables us to use our creativity more fully, communicate in ways which empower ourselves and others, and accomplish our goals. To hear more this class, which begins March 18th, email Oshana Himot, at oshanaben@yahoo.com.

–> Also, if you want to open yourself up to the kind of amazing transformation I’ve experienced, I heartily recommend Oshana as a business and clarity coach who can help you find paths to your true goals, develop products and services (and revenues) in line with them, identify needs and opportunities from within your community. She does have a few openings in her schedule; contact her at oshanaben@yahoo.com, 480-353-7312 (9 a.m. to 5 p.m. US Pacific Time). NOTE: She did not ask me to do this, and I am not an affiliate for her. I am doing this because I’ve experienced the power of her work and I know what it can mean to you.

Cut your trash bill in half–pay only a portion of your savings
Reminder: If you run a business big enough to have employees and a location outside your home, you can cut your trash bill–often by 50 percent or more–and it doesn’t cost you a thing. Visit https://greenandprofitable.com/slash-your-solid-wastetrash-bill-50-or-more-at-no-cost/ to get the scoop on how Brendan can save you some big bucks.

COMING NEXT MONTH:

The Coolest Mobile Marketing Platform I’ve Ever Seen
Fund Your Favorite Charity with Every Merchant Card Transaction You Process

Hear & Meet Shel

FEBRUARY 24: I’ll be Jim Glover and Dave Hayduk’s guest on Ask Those Branding Guys radio, 1 p.m. ET/11 a.m. MT/10 a.m. PT. Live stream: https://www.santafe.com/stream/?station=thevoice Podcast: https://www.santafe.com/podcasts/ask-those-branding-guys
Santa Fe-area listeners: KVSF, 101.5 FM

MAY 10, Hartford, CT: I will once again be presenting at CAPA University, a one-day book publishing program in Hartford. More info: gaffney AT kanineknits.com

–> Remember: you can earn 25 percent of my speaking fee if you get me booked someplace. Who do you know that needs a speaker on green business profitability/green marketing? View my demo video, workshop descriptions, and other goodies at https://making-green-sexy.com/speaker.html.

May 16-18, Hadley, MA: Marketing Green in the Wider World: 3-Day Intensive. See description near the beginning of the newsletter.

Replay of Corey Pinkney’s interview with me on Self Reliant Radio https://www.blogtalkradio.com/selfreliant-now/2014/01/29/self-reliant-now———-green-and-profitable

Another Recommended Book—Farm City

Farm City: The Education of an Urban Farmer, by Novella Carpenter (Penguin, 2009)

“And so I became a pusher. A chicken pusher. Everyone in our neighborhood had a hustle, and this became mine. Chickens are, after all, the gateway urban farm animal. I wanted others to join in the fun. ‘You’ll get tons of eggs,’ I would whisper to my coworkers, ‘lots of fertilizer.'”

Urban food self-sufficiency has been an interest of mine for decades. I had my first garden in my tiny yard in Brooklyn, in the 1970s. And I remember that I was talking about New York City’s rooftops as sources of both food and solar energy even before I moved away in 1980.

So when I saw this book on the bargain table at Denver’s fabled Tattered Cover Books during a recent visit to parts west, I grabbed it.

This is a memoir, not a how-to. It’s about life in a dangerous ghetto neighborhood in Oakland, California, raising animals and vegetables as a squatter on a vacant lot adjoining her apartment, in a place where many people think nothing could grow. And it’s about building community with a wonderful and very diverse cast of characters from homeless Bobby to the Vietnamese former farmer Mr. Nguyen to colorful Lana who runs a nightclub/speakeasy in her apartment.

She even spends a month on a “100-yard diet,” eating only what she can grow, raise, or scrounge on her own block.

And she has some fascinating trivia thrown in: Epicurus was urban farming in ancient Greece, before the time of Christ. Densely populated Shanghai, China grows an astonishing 85 percent of the vegetables consumed by its 14.35 million inhabitants.

Carpenter writes with a sweet, light touch about everything from chasing escaped poultry down the street to Dumpster diving to feed her voracious pigs. But be warned—she’s not shy about the gory details of turning her animals into meat.

Yet, even though I became a vegetarian 40 years ago precisely because I didn’t want to kill my own food and didn’t think I should have others do it for me, I was not offended by the intimate details of her adventures as a chicken, turkey, and rabbit slaughterer (the pigs, weighing more than the author, were taken to a slaughterhouse). I don’t miss meat and don’t ever want to kill animals for food, but I recognize that if you’re going to eat meat, raising and killing your own and processing it all is a way of eating meat with integrity.

Maybe I wasn’t turned off because she’s just such a good storyteller. The book, the humans in the neighborhood, and her animals are brimming with personality, and she has a wonderful eye for the humor and irony of what she’s doing. She also has a social conscience. As the daughter of 1960s hippie back-to-the-landers, she knows she could do a more typical back-to-the-land lifestyle in the country, but she chooses the heart of the city, and has sharp observations about how society keeps the downtrodden down.

The Clean and Green Club, January 2014

12 Jan, 2014 No Comment

Having trouble reading this as e-mail? Please visit www.thecleanandgreenclub.com to read it comfortably online.

Shel Horowitz’s Clean and Green Marketing Tip,

January 2014

Before we get to the tip: three important things

1. Slash Your Trash, and Your Trash Bill
How cool is this? You can cut your waste hauling bill, sometimes as much as 50 percent. You can generate less waste and be better for the planet. And you can do this without spending a penny out of pocket.

I’ve partnered with a solid waste expert who wants to save you big bucks—and he gets paid a percentage of what he saves you.

This is important enough that I’m going to be sending you a special mailing on it toward the end of the month. If you’re too excited to wait that long, go ahead and visit https://greenandprofitable.com/slash-your-solid-wastetrash-bill-50-or-more-at-no-cost/ right now.

2. A Few Minutes of Your Time = Great Gifts from Me
Some of you received an invitation to speak for a few minutes with my associate–my business development coach, actually—to help me set priorities to serve you, and the planet, better. Here’s the key result:
—>People see the green world bubbling up into the mainstream, and want to create communities around this. I’m considering organizing a community like that, and I’d like your input into what would be most helpful to you.

The responses we’re getting are so fascinating, we’d like to get a bigger sample.

If you help me with this, I’ll reward you with your choice of
1) a no-charge 15-minute consultation with me on any aspect of green business, marketing, or book publishing
2) or a review of the effectiveness of any single marketing document (up to five pages)—worth up to $195

Either way, you’ll also get another gift: my acclaimed e-book, Painless Green: 111 Tips to Help the Environment, Lower Your Carbon Footprint, Cut Your Budget, and Improve Your Quality of Life-With No Negative Impact on Your Lifestyle.

To participate: just hit Reply and tell us
Your name
Your phone number
Your country and timezone
Times you like to be called
Your business
Which of the two main gifts you prefer (you get the e-book either way)

The original request was called “Green World on the Cusp of Greatness—Let’s Make it Happen Together.” You might find it hidden in your inbox already. If you don’t have it and want to see the full invitation, hit reply and ask me to send you that e-mail. Just use the subject line, “Cusp of Greatness”

(Tip: If you use GMail, highlight just the part of the email you’re replying to, and your reply will only quote the relevant part–pretty cool, huh?)

3. My First Intensive, Marketing Green in the Wider World, Coming in May
The survey results also point to some strong desire for more in-depth training in the green business world. As a result, I’m going to be leading an intensive green marketing and social change training in my historic 1743 farmhouse, the weekend of May 16-18. I’m getting really psyched as I’m working out the agenda (and what I’ll cook for you :-))—this is going to deliver extreme value. I’ll be back to you with the details in a few weeks. There will be a maximum of 12 seats, and up to four of you can actually stay in my house. The price for this first one will be under $1000 (I expect to raise it for future intensives—my co-author charged $4997 for his three-day in-home intensives). With so few seats available, let me know ASAP if you’re planning to come.

Is Turkey on the Brink of a Green Marketing Revolution?

I spent two weeks of December in Turkey, a fascinating destination and one I’d recommend heartily to most travelers other than those with walking disabilities. Whenever I travel, I keep my eyes open for trends in the country’s environmental progress. And in Turkey, I see a lot of evidence that the country is about to bubble up with environmental awareness—but it’s certainly not there yet. Here’s some of what I noticed:

Alternative Energy:
Everywhere we went outside of Istanbul, water is heated by the sun, and stored in rooftop tanks. From the look of them, a large percentage of these tanks are many years old and had no visible evidence of insulation. Even in frigid Cappadocia, where the temperatures dipped well below freezing every night of our visit, the water is stored outside. I wonder if these tanks are drained in the fall, or if the Turks have found a way to keep the water from freezing and bursting the pipes. The water temperature patterns in all our hotels were consistent with solar.

I saw very little photovoltaic. Wikipedia’s article on solar in Turkey notes that the country is just beginning to take photovoltaics seriously. Currently, most PV installations are off-grid (and thus likely to be in very remote locations, not near power lines). The installed base for PV is only 5 megawatts across that vast and sunny country, compared to 10 gigawatts—2000 times as much—for solar hot water.

Consider that Germany, much smaller and with a far less solar-friendly climate, is already generating 35.5 gigawatts of PV, which is 7000 times as much as Turkey. Clearly, the government and private industry have some pretty big incentives to move Turkey much farther up the solar ladder.

And the government realizes this; one planed 100-megawatt facility alone will multiply the amount of photovoltaic power by 20 when it goes online. I’m confident that as it becomes more affordable to the average Turk, solar will grow rapidly.

I noticed that Turkey has a lot of volcanic areas and lots of natural hot springs. So, while I didn’t actually see any, I wasn’t surprised to learn that geothermal is a significant contributor to the energy mix. As of 2010, the country generated 100 megawatts of geothermal electricity, and another 795 megawatts of direct energy capture.

I did see a few wind farms. Turkey has embraced wind and is on a massive growth path: from just 19 megawatts in 2007 to 3 gigawatts (3000 megawatts) today, and permitting already in place to bring that up to 10 gigawatts.

Eating Green:
Turkey is one of the easiest places I’ve experienced for vegetarians. Nearly every restaurant has half a dozen choices or more: lentil soup (and they all brag about how theirs is the best), esme (a spicy salad of tomatoes and paprika, ranging from just a little prickly on up to salsa intensity), thick and wonderful yogurt with various herbs, eggplant dishes, bulgar salads, vegetarian versions of gozleme (filled crepes), humous, white beans or green beans in tomato sauce, vegetarian stuffed grape leaves, vegetarian pides (similar to pizza), an enormous variety of very fresh cheeses, nuts, dried fruits, fresh fruits, and even the occasional vegetarian kebab–which is not always roasted on a stick. Fresh bread is everywhere, but whole-grain is rare.

It would be harder, but not impossible, to eat vegan or gluten-free.

But it would be very hard to stick to organic. We did see some, but surprisingly little. Given the emphasis on ultra-fresh foods, this was puzzling. I’d think after a year or two of educating its public and establishing distribution, a Turkish natural foods industry would be extremely popular.

As for beverages…Turkey is really schizophrenic. Quality is either superb or absolutely awful. As an example, it’s very easy to get fresh squeezed pomegranate or orange juice, which is absolutely delicious (and you can feel the vitamins flowing into your blood stream)—but we were also served something resembling Tang. The tourists tend to be served lots of tea: usually either Lipton Yellow Label or apple tea—the latter usually from a powdered mix that’s mostly sugar, unfortunately, and at least one brand of which contains no actual apple. But the Turks themselves favor a strong, bitter brewed black tea. The markets offer a bewildering array of herbal blends, but I didn’t encounter people actually drinking them much. One of our hotels did offer bagged Lipton herbal teas in choice of sage or apple. The sage was quite delicious and the apple was a big improvement over the instant mix. And one pomegranate juice vendor, in front of a mosque in a small town where most of the tourists were Turkish, did offer organic, from his own trees. He seemed to be doing quite well.

I saw no one drinking tap water, even in the cheapest restaurants. I read that the objection is on taste, not health—which means there should be a nice market for eco-friendly water filtration systems—though when brushing my teeth, I thought it tasted pretty good. Bottled spring water is inexpensive, readily available, and tasty; if you know where to look, a single lire ($0.47 US) gets a liter and a half as of December 2013, even in on the streets of touristy Old City Istanbul—but there’s no evidence of consciousness about the harmful environmental effects of bottling. A lovely yogurt drink called ayran is popular, as is Turkish coffee. The local beer, Efes, didn’t impress me, but I liked raki, an anise liqueur.

Public Transit:
Between cities, you can get pretty much anywhere on buses and trains. And the buses are sized appropriately for their ridership. In many places, dolmuses (minibuses of 20 seats or so) or even minivans take the place of full-sized coaches. Most cities and towns also have internal bus routes.

Istanbul has a complex and very heavily used transit system, including trams, subways, buses, ferryboats, and even a funicular and a cable car. The system is well-maintained, but do expect crowds. Yet, enough people drive that traffic is a big problem, both on the narrow streets and the big boulevards. Stick to the tram and metro where possible.

Hear & Meet Shel

Connect with Shel on Social Media

About Shel & This Newsletter

As a marketing consultant and copywriter… award-winning author of eight books… international speaker, blogger, syndicated columnist — Shel Horowitz shows how green and ethical businesses can actually be *more* profitable than your less-green competitors. His most recent book is category bestseller Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet. Shel also helps authors/ publishers, small businesses, and organizations to market effectively, and turns unpublished writers into well-published authors.

He was inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame in 2011.

Shel Horowitz’s consulting firm, Green And Profitable, is the first business ever to earn Green America’s rigorous Gold Certification as a leading green company

He began publishing his monthly newsletter all the way back in 1997, making it one of the oldest marketing e-zines (it’s changed names a few times along the way).

“As always, some of the links in this newsletter earn commissions—because I believe in the products and services enough to promote them (I get asked to endorse lots of other programs I don’t share with you, because I don’t find them worthy).”

Marketing Green in the Wider World: 3-Day Intensive, May 16-18, Hadley, MA See description near the beginning of the newsletter.

January 29, noon Eastern/9 a.m. Pacific, I’ll be Corey Pinkney’s guest on his brand new Blog Talk Radio show, Self Reliant Now. https://www.blogtalkradio.com/selfreliant-now/2014/01/29/self-reliant-now———-green-and-profitable (yes, that funny-looking URL is correct)

May 10, 2014, I will once again be presenting at CAPA University, a one-day book publishing program in Hartford. More info: gaffney AT kanineknits.com

–> Remember: you can earn 25 percent of my speaking fee if you get me booked someplace. Who do you know that needs a speaker on green business profitability/green marketing? View my demo video, workshop descriptions, and other goodies at https://making-green-sexy.com/speaker.html.

Friends who Want to Help

Take Your Business on the Road, with Help from Marcia Yudkin
Want to chuck your desk for a few months and get out and explore the world? But you still have a business to run! This Udemy course from Marcia Yudkin walks you through, step by step, all the infrastructure and systems you need to run your business from far away, and even ways to make the trip pay for itself and build your business. Normally, it’s $37. While that’s a very reasonable price, I’ve arranged for you to get it during January only for just $17. Visit https://www.udemy.com/take-your-business-on-the-road/?couponCode=ShelH between now and January 31, 2014.

Another Recommended Book—Billions Rising

Billions Rising: Empowering Self-Reliance, by Anita Casalina with Warren Whitlock and Heather Vale Goss

Want a good solid dose of inspiration to start your 2014 on a good foot? Every time you encounter naysayers who tell you we’re stuck with the world we have and can’t make things better for ourselves or others, grab this book and open at random. Think of it as a megavitamin, pumping up your immune system to ward them off. As the authors say within the first two pages, “a very basic idea we can spread to the whole world at zero cost is that, no matter where we happen to land in life, none of us is permanently stuck there.”

The authors recognize that there are times when people need some old-fashioned charity to get over a crisis–but their focus is on developing self-empowerment and community-empowerment tools that build resiliency, end dependency, and prime the pump for long-term success—through entrepreneurship, deeply involving elected and community leaders, and massive creativity.

Page after page of wonderful people doing wonderful things: creating alternatives to poverty and hunger, building individual and group self-reliance, and giving a permanent hand up to the most disempowered people in our world. And doing so, for the most part, with lean, green, collaborative organizations that lose little or nothing to bureaucracy, reduce pollution, and can be set up with very little money or infrastructure.

Here are just a few of the many inspiring world-changers you’ll meet (some well known, most not):

Scott Harrison, founder of Charity: Water. He says that bad water causes 80 percent of all diseases, and bad water is easy and cheap to fix—$20 per person can eliminate the problem.

Dean Kamen, inventor of Segway, who developed a water purification system that can produce 10 gallons of clean water every hour, with just one kilowatt of electricity.

Gretchen Anderson, teaching urban farming and chicken raising so that even economically marginal urban Americans can have a dependable source of protein—and showing how to overturn restrictive laws that interfere with food self-sufficiency.

Howard Buffett (Warren Buffett’s son), who offers desert land in Arizona at no charge to researchers combatting famine in the arid parts of Africa.

Tonya Prince, who developed and teaches a six-point program for women recovering from abuse.

Wafa Al-Rimi, who led a team of teenage girls in Yemen to develop and market solar-powered lanterns, fans, and even patio umbrellas—in a society that faces not only unreliable grid electricity but social mores that encourage women and girls to stay home and uninvolved.

Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, who discusses (in her commencement speech to Harvard’s Class of 2008) the benefits of failure: “Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have fund the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realized…rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”

Billions rising uses these and many other stories to explore successful examples of collaboration and alternative institutions, often started or run by people from disadvantaged communities (including youth), often using technology and existing infrastructure creatively—I particularly love the example of how Kamen partnered with Coca-Cola to deliver clean water to potentially billions of people.

The book does have some flaws. It could have benefited somewhat from one extra editing pass. It cries out for a more modern and appealing design. And worst of all, it has no index, which means you’ll need to take good notes with page numbers if you’re going to get real value out of it, because otherwise you probably won’t find your particular inspiration a second time.

But jot down those pages; it’s worth the effort. This book could easily start you on a journey to make the world a better place while creating a very nice livelihood for yourself.

The Clean and Green Club, December 2013

11 Dec, 2013 No Comment

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Shel Horowitz’s Clean and Green Marketing Tip,

December 2013

Will My 2014 Goals Inspire YOU to Greatness?

Recently, on a LinkedIn discussion group, someone asked about our goals for the coming year. I thought my response, as well as some of what I posted as follow-up, might be very helpful as you think about your own goals for the coming year—as well as the action steps necessary to make them real—and perhaps encourage you to think a whole lot bigger.

Here’s my first post on the topic.

1. Find a publisher for the three-book series I’d like to write next—or figure out a viable path to reaching the size audience I want to reach if I self-publish (I’ve self-published successfully several times, but the number of people I each that way is smaller than what I need to achieve what I’m trying to do, by orders of magnitude)

2. Make my monthly column financially viable and/or develop other passive-income or very-light-workload sources that can support me as my 60s draw closer (I turn 57 next month).

3. Find more paying markets for my speaking on green business profitability, especially in exotic locations.

This was a very spirited discussion, with more than 70 comments so far. The original poster asked me, publicly, how big an audience I wanted and what held me back. To which I replied:

I really appreciate your question to me…

—> I had kind of forgotten that a lot of the reason why I started the monthly column was to build my platform large enough that a big NYC or NYC-style publisher would find me worthy of their attention—in a world where they’re looking for 20,000 Twitter fans and I have (as of this morning) 6502. That seems to me the easiest place to focus, because it should vastly increase my desirability to the people who can bring about #1 and #3. Thank you for reminding me of that.

Meanwhile, I’ve also started building up my youtube channel, redone my speaker demo video and both my speaking and consulting onesheets, improved my Making Green Sexy talk both visually and verbally, put up a new website offering green marketing audits (with another one to follow once the design is improved, for marketing audits not focused on the green world) and approached a few literary agents with a onesheet about the three-book series. In short, I’ve done a whole lot to grow my business, but basically nothing to grow the column. I think focusing my own energies on that direction could bear some good fruit in all these areas.

This has also been a year of intensive professional development. Among others, I went to a four-day speaker training very early in the year, which I found quite useful (and resulted directly in both the improvements in my visuals and my commitment to have a meaningful video presence) and a six-day business-growth intensive, which unfortunately (despite its very high price) did not add much to my tool bag and so far, six months out, has not led to any new work either directly or indirectly.

I’ve actually just hired a very bright outside contractor who is leading me through a strategic process and will then be calling companies on my behalf: sounding them out about where they need help in the green marketing world, and then making an individual offer that addresses that need: a marketing audit, creating new marketing materials for them (which I hope will flow from the audits), speaking or training, and/or the column. Hopefully she will produce some great results.

I have both the asset and the liability of being interested in everything; I always say that’s why I became a writer. It keeps me fascinated by the world around me, which is a great skill for a speaker/writer/consultant—but it does lead to a lack of focus and a case of shiny-object syndrome. If anything has been holding me back, it’s that—trying to grow my business in too many directions at once, and therefore not bearing down with single-minded focus to accomplish one of the tasks.

I’ve tried to mitigate that by unsubbing from 50 or so newsletters and discussion lists this year, but that still leaves another 50 clogging my inbox. I’ve also essentially declared e-mail bankruptcy and am ignoring most of what comes in. I flip through on the servers and note the 10 or so I need to respond to—and yet it still takes a couple of hours a day. I could probably find more time in the day by backing off my participation on online discussion groups…

After several people offered reality checks on the nature of book publishing, I went pretty deep on my latest response:

Having published four of my books (plus six foreign editions) with traditional publishers, I’m well aware that most publishers do almost nothing for most of their titles. I’m always telling my clients this, and many of them opt to have me guide them through true self-publishing.

However…most publishers do put significant resources behind the handful of titles they have chosen for superstardom—you could call them (tongue firmly in cheek) “the 1 percent.” These are the big-print-run books that have a chance at changing the culture. Yes, I am aiming high—but I think I can be one of them. This is an audacious goal for someone who’s always been a modest-selling midlist author. To use Kevin’s lovely phrase, I want to “be epic.” It’s not so much that I want to be a household word (though that would be lovely)—it’s that I want to change the culture. I want to be able to arrive at the end of this lifetime knowing that I made a difference not just to the few thousand people whose lives I’ve already touched, but to millions of people being beaten down by poverty and war…and to a planet that has been heavily harmed by our particular species. And I think I’d have a hard time living with myself if I felt that I *could* have done this but backed away because it was too scary. It took me a long time and a lot of work to be able to think this big. I am not a megalomaniac but I really do think I was put on this earth to make a big difference. And the small but significant differences I’ve made in my time here so far have prepared me to really make an effort here to make a much larger difference.

I am a realist. I know this is a huge goal. And I know that the odds are long—particularly for someone with a track record of eight books including two from big NYC publishers (and two from small commercial publishers too, not to mention the various books I’ve produced for my self-publisher clients) that didn’t come anywhere near this success level. This is one of the several reasons why I really want to build up my syndicated column, Green And Profitable—and get my first clients for the sister column, Green And Practical, aimed at consumers. In order to be taken seriously at that level, I need to demonstrate that I already have a much larger audience by orders of magnitude than I did at my last at-bat in the book industry (almost four years, now). I know that I may not make it to that level—but this is my deep motivation.

I’ve felt comfortable enough here to share my deeper goals and motivations, and now you have more of the context.

So my questions to you as the New Year approaches: do you take the time to work not just IN your business but ON your business? What are your goals for 2014, and how will you turn those goals into reality?

Please respond to shel AT greenandprofitable.com with the subject line, “Newsletter subscriber: 2014 goals. Tell me whether I have permission to publish or excerpt your response on my site and;/or newsletter, and how you’d like to be attributed.

Hear & Meet Shel

Connect with Shel on Social Media

About Shel & This Newsletter

As a marketing consultant and copywriter… award-winning author of eight books… international speaker, blogger, syndicated columnist — Shel Horowitz shows how green and ethical businesses can actually be *more* profitable than your less-green competitors. His most recent book is category bestseller Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet. Shel also helps authors/ publishers, small businesses, and organizations to market effectively, and turns unpublished writers into well-published authors.

He was inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame in 2011.

Shel Horowitz’s consulting firm, Green And Profitable, is the first business ever to earn Green America’s rigorous Gold Certification as a leading green company

He began publishing his monthly newsletter all the way back in 1997, making it one of the oldest marketing e-zines (it’s changed names a few times along the way).

“As always, some of the links in this newsletter earn commissions—because I believe in the products and services enough to promote them (I get asked to endorse lots of other programs I don’t share with you, because I don’t find them worthy).”

I’m under consideration for a few exciting speaking opportunities (including a couple in other countries). But so far, the only definite is

May 10, 2014, I will once again be presenting at CAPA University, a one-day book publishing program in Hartford. More info: gaffney AT kanineknits.com

–> Remember: you can earn 25 percent of my speaking fee if you get me booked someplace. Who do you know that needs a speaker on green business profitability/green marketing?

Friends who Want to Help

No offers for you this time. I guess everyone’s in holiday mode. Best of holidays to you and your loved ones.

Another Recommended Book—The Three Secrets of Green Business

The Three Secrets of Green Business: Unlocking Competitive Advantage in a Low Carbon Economy, by Gareth Kane (Earthscan, 2010)

This UK book has quite a bit to recommend it: an attitude that green can be good for business, a thoughtful and not-much-seen analysis of a number of the issues involved in transforming society (e.g., should you sell off your renewable-energy credits, or take them out of circulation so other companies have to work harder to meet their targets?), a holistic approach influenced by the likes of deep-thinking and deep-acting practitioners like Amory Lovins of Rocky Mountain Institute and the late Ray Anderson of Interface Flor, and the rare combination of a strong technical background with the ability to explain things in simple, understandable terms—at least if the Britishisms don’t throw you.

Kane’s three secrets:
1. Follow the business case; be able to justify your green initiatives on economic grounds
2. Follow—where possible and practical—”the ecological model of sustainability—Solar, Cyclic, Safe”; where not practical, strive for at least a 10-fold increase in efficiency
3. Take both huge leaps and small stepsEarly in the book, he proposes that green entrepreneurs strive for something deeper than mere regulatory compliance. Rather, do the best you can at engineering a deep-green solution. First, you won’t have to do it over every time the laws get tougher. Second, you begin to address the core issues of your company’s role in the world. And third, that gives you bragging rights in the marketing sphere (as I’ve been pointing out for years, most notably in my eighth book, Guerilla Marketing Goes Green).Some of the advantages ripple through. If you cut the weight of a component down, you might be able to cut the weight of other components that support the original one.Additionally, that perspective leads to what he calls “Industrial Symbiosis”: turning “waste” from one process into raw material for something else (you can see a great example of this in my profile of the Intervale, an integrated industrial complex near Burlington, Vermont, US: https://www.frugalmarketing.com/dtb/intervale.shtml ). I’ve been a fan of the concept for years, but the term is new to me, and I like it. Kane notes that you should put your Industrial Symbiosis systems into place before you focus on reducing the volume of waste. After all, if you can use it somewhere else, it becomes an asset. He cites one business that diverted 150,000 tons from the landfill while creating a multimillion dollar revenue stream.

As this concept begins to integrate itself into your operations, you can even design for easy disassembly, and thus easy reuse and recycling.

Kane is quite a fan of biomimicry, pointing out that in nature, recycling does not degrade the product quality. When trees produce the oxygen that we breathe, and we in turn convert it to carbon dioxide that the trees need, there’s no friction loss, no fall-off in production or quality.

But when we humans recycle, too often, we go from higher uses down to lower ones. High-quality printing paper is turned into newsprint or toilet paper. Plastic soda bottles become tote bags. Drinking water runoff could become graywater to feed plants, and then from there to run an industrial process, and then at last for sewage. This, of course, is far better than wasting it, but not as good as nature’s zero-waste, zero-degradation model. The best Industrial Symbiosis systems avoid this rap. A lesser alternative is to balance out any downcycling to lower functionality with upcycling to a higher purpose.

A particularly useful concept for going deeply green is “backcasting”: reverse-engineering from your goal, rather than your impact projecting forward. Again, I’ve been a fan but didn’t have the language to name it. This is an extremely useful technique that has led to major innovations including the light bulb. Combine it with biomimicry—looking to nature to model how to solve problems and achieve our goals—and the power is palpable.

On a less big-picture level, Kane also has a lot of solid practical advice to green and improve any business. For starters, he notes the importance of an engaged workforce. Too often, he writes, he tours industrial sites where hoses are left running, cracked windows sap heating and cooling energy, and so forth. Creating a climate that replaces “why doesn’t somebody fix that” to “let’s take care of this together” may be a very high-ROI investment—not to mention other benefits like improvement in morale and productivity.

The book is also full of useful checklists like the Top 10 recycling tips for offices and factories, as well as water conservation tips (did you know that push faucets can save 50 percent of your water compared with traditional turn faucets?), environmental questions to ask before any purchase, and—going a little into my bailiwick—five tips for more effective messaging.

In short, the book is very useful. Recommended highly.

The Clean and Green Club, November 2013

11 Nov, 2013 No Comment

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Shel Horowitz’s Clean and Green Marketing Tip,

November 2013

Read This Paragraph NOW
Why am I sending this on the 14th instead of the 15th, as usual? Because I want to give you time to get my talk tomorrow for Global Movement makers on your calendar. If you register today, you can tune in any time after about 6 a.m. tomorrow to hear my interview, and you’ll also get access to the many other luminaries participating: 12+ hours of inspirational tips, strategies, wisdom, and advice from people like C.J. Hayden (Get Clients Now), Cynthia Kersey (Unstoppable), Noah St. John (Success Anorexia/Afformations), and Susan Harrow (Sound Bite Siren). I’ve been listening to and benefiting from several of the speakers already. Sign up (no cost) at https://shelhorowitz.com/go/GlobalMovementMakers/ – you’ll have unlimited access to ALL the calls through November 25. If you want permanent access, there’s an option for that, too.

This Month’s Tip

Why NOT to Develop Apps

If you’ve read this newsletter for a while, you know that I’m a huge fan of marketing partnerships. Usually, I recommend finding someone with more marketing clout to partner with (as, for example, I partnered with the late Jay Conrad Levinson to create my category-bestselling eighth book Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green).

Jeff Kontur, from fatfreemarketinggroup.com, has another slant on this: Yes, mobile marketing is a hot trend that you might want to be part of. But rather than spend oodles of time and money developing, debugging, and marketing something from scratch, why not partner with someone who has the technology chops and could use your marketing skills? His example is app development–but the principle applies in many ventures. I’m pleased to bring you his guest article.
–Shel

Adopt An Orphan App

By Jeff Kontur

Whether you already have a smartphone app for your business or not, you might consider “adopting” an existing app. LL Bean did this recently with the “Oh, Ranger! ParkFinder” app. This handy little app lists public parks and recreation areas within 100 miles of you (or any location you specify). It’s searchable and the list can be filtered.

But most relevant is that the app caters perfectly to the very same demographic as LL Bean’s customers. By adopting and co-sponsoring the app, both LL Bean and the app’s makers benefit. LL Bean benefits by being able to serve its customer’s interests better without incurring any cost for doing so. The makers of the ParkFinder app obviously benefit from exposure to LL Bean’s very large customer base.

So what existing apps can you partner with and just what might be involved in such a partnership? Let’s start with the easy part.

Forging A Partnership

The terms of the partnership you establish with the maker of an existing app will almost certainly be negotiated on a case-by-case basis. Having said that, here are some things you might consider offering or asking for:

Promote or distribute the app to your customer list

Ask for sponsorship mention within the app, such as on a splash screen

Paid advertising placement within the app (provides income to the developer and advertises your business to the app’s users)

Highlighting or priority placement of your products or locations in lists returned by the app

Provide content for lists and/or information used by the app

Offer to host all or part of the app’s online content on your web server(s)

A partnership could involve some form of financial transaction but doesn’t need to so long as both parties receive value from the arrangement.

Finding An App To Partner With

It’s much more difficult to generalize about finding apps to partner with so let’s just examine some hypothetical ideas to get a sense of what’s possible and what angles to take.

If you’re a Veterinarian

A pet medical records app
Listing of pet-friendly hotels
Holistic pet food recipes

Dentist

A game where players extract teeth from a crocodile
Dental care alarm clock with alarms for brushing, flossing and even checkups

Auto Mechanic

Troubleshooting and diagnostic tool
App to find the best gas prices
Auto accident reporting checklist
Flashlight app

Hotel or Bed & Breakfast Owner

Vacation planner
App that makes restaurant recommendations
Calendar app
Road trip app (i.e. to help your patrons and prospects find the world’s largest can of spinach)

Skating Rink or Skate Shop Owner

Roller derby apps (used by officials to run a derby bout)
An app that shows skate-friendly paths (similar to jogging or biking paths)

The connection between your business and the function or focus of the app you adopt needn’t be direct. The ParkFinder app has nothing to do with LL Bean’s business of selling clothing. There should just be some logical correlation in order for the partnership to benefit both parties.

I’m Jeff Kontur and I’d love to see you succeed! Finding an app to adopt is just one instance where personalized assistance might be beneficial. Contact me, jeff@fatfreemarketinggroup.com, if you would like to have a professional marketer handle this for your business.

Fat-Free Marketing Group is dedicated to helping “green” businesses make sales, spread their message and educate customers. In short, we help them make the world a cleaner place.

Hear & Meet Shel

Connect with Shel on Social Media

About Shel & This Newsletter

As a marketing consultant and copywriter… award-winning author of eight books… international speaker, blogger, syndicated columnist — Shel Horowitz shows how green and ethical businesses can actually be *more* profitable than your less-green competitors. His most recent book is category bestseller Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet. Shel also helps authors/ publishers, small businesses, and organizations to market effectively, and turns unpublished writers into well-published authors.

He was inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame in 2011.

Shel Horowitz’s consulting firm, Green And Profitable, is the first business ever to earn Green America’s rigorous Gold Certification as a leading green company

He began publishing his monthly newsletter all the way back in 1997, making it one of the oldest marketing e-zines (it’s changed names a few times along the way).

“As always, some of the links in this newsletter earn commissions—because I believe in the products and services enough to promote them (I get asked to endorse lots of other programs I don’t share with you, because I don’t find them worthy).”

Spend Three Minutes with Me On Youtube
… and view my brand new speaker demo video, focusing on green business profitability through smart marketing. It took several months to get this done, but it was worth the wait; I’m very pleased with the results. https://youtu.be/DByWN4Feaj0 If you’re pleased, remember that you can earn a very generous commission if you get me a paid speaking gig.

By the way, increasing my video presence was one of my goals for 2013, and to that end, I’ve put up several brief interviews with people doing interesting things in the green world: rooftop urban farmers, the owner of a bookstore that carries many green books, the organizer of a tomato festival, an executive at a high end. See them at https://www.youtube.com/user/shelhoro/videos

Planning way ahead: May 10, 2014, I will once again be presenting at CAPA University, a one-day book publishing program in Hartford. More info: gaffney AT kanineknits.com

Friends who Want to Help

If you missed last month’s Vibrant Business Summit, organizer Laura Orsini has put together summaries of each of the three days. No charge: https://www.writemarketdesign.com/yvb/deliver/claim_recaps.htm

Another Recommended Book—Helping

Helping: How to Offer, Give, and Receive Help, by Edgar H. Schein (Berrett-Koehler, 2009)

On the surface, this is not a book about marketing or about green business. And do we really need a whole book about the dynamics of offering, requesting, and accepting help? What could go wrong?

But stay with me a moment.

All successful marketers need a deep understanding of psychology. And a key element of psychology is how people offer and accept help. What could go wrong? Lots.

Differences about giving and receiving help, after all, are at the core of why so many of us have conflicted relationships with our parents, spouses, and children–and often, a source of conflict with our own clients and suppliers; help is offered inappropriately, ignored or belittled, and used as a wedge to create personal conflict. And thus, helping encounters can be fraught with problems.

The dynamics of helping are especially relevant to marketers, because all of our products and services are essentially an offer of help in exchange for money–and because our marketing positioning both as service providers and as members of the business community and the neighborhood is greatly influenced by whether we’re seen as helpful or predatory, caring or callous. In the green world where many of you are, this is especially true, because the green world expects its businesses to be helping-oriented and to be good neighbors.

Schein uses the terms, “helper” (person offering the help) and “client” (the recipient). In his view, all helping interactions–not just marketing interactions–are really transactions. Every time you provide help, you raise your status relative to the client. Every time you request help, you lower your status relative to the helper. And if you’re providing that help as a paid supplier, you have the extra barrier of needing to establish yourself as trusted and knowledgeable, which can make it harder to locate and diagnose the real underlying issue or need.

It’s important to note that whatever you do has an impact. Even the choice to do nothing, to refuse to get involved, has an impact. So it’s important to understand the dynamics and likely results of all the available choices.

One way around this dynamic is to offer help before it’s requested–but to be willing to walk away with no ill will if that offer is declined. As an example, if you see someone with a physical disability struggling with a task, you can offer to carry something, hold a door, etc.–but it may be important for the person’s self-esteem to accomplish the task without outside help. If the offer is declined, the helper doesn’t need to be offended.

Of course, there are situations where you want to help whether or not that help is wanted. If you’re talking someone out of committing suicide, you can’t let yourself be deterred by the unwilling client. Schein suggests you say something like “let me talk to the part of you that doesn’t want to commit suicide.”

The flip side is situations where the client is begging you to solve the problem, whether or not the recommendation you can make based on your own knowledge and experience is appropriate. He suggests, “I’m not in your situation. But when I was in a similar situation, here’s what worked for me.” Another possibility is to throw it back on the client by providing two alternatives. Forcing the client to examine and choose is more empowering than providing a single answer.

Schein draws a big distinction between helpful and unhelpful help. Helpful help is perceived by both sides as reciprocal, fair, and equitable. It is invited or welcomed by the client. It usually involves asking probing questions to get to the heart of the issue, rather than making assumptions and jumping prematurely to recommendations. It honors the client’s intelligence and recognizes areas where the client needs support or could grow. And it results in the client not only being helped, but feeling heard and validated.

Without ever reading Schein’s analysis before, this is how I’ve run my marketing consulting practice for decades. And I’d suggest this is a lot of the reason why so much of my practice is repeat and referral business.

What’s your experience in your own business?

The Clean and Green Club, October 2013

11 Oct, 2013 No Comment

Having trouble reading this as e-mail? Please visit www.thecleanandgreenclub.com to read it comfortably online.

Shel Horowitz’s Clean and Green Marketing Tip,

October 2013

This Month’s Tip

Haircuts and Photos and Branding, Oh, My

At a conference this spring, I happened to meet a professional image consultant, who gave me some freebie advice. Among her suggestions: try my hair very, very short (but not a buzz cut)—and that if I was dressing for business, I could ditch the tie and just wear a jacket.

I’ve always loathed wearing ties; they make me feel like I’m choking, and I’m not very good at tying them (tying, in general, is not a strength for me; I was eight years old before I could tie my shoes). So of course, I was delighted with her advice. It felt really liberating.

So the next time I needed a haircut, I tried it her way. It was a look I’d never tried before. In the past, I’d had really long hair (which I finally cut when I found myself basically unemployable after college) and moderately long hair, and for about ten years, short-ish hair with a long, thin braided tail at the back. For the past ten years, I had pretty much settled into a mid-60s short-haired look, parted at the side, requiring almost no maintenance, and able to grow several months between cuts without looking too funky.

And I loved it! I thought it made me look sharp and cool and hip, it required even less maintenance than my previous look, and after three months, it was still only about as long as my previous look right after a haircut. I got it cut again anyway. This is what it looked like about ten days after the first haircut.

Shel Horowitz, July 2013. Photo credit: Andy Morris-Friedman

Why am I telling you this? Because there’s a branding lesson in here.

Last week, I got a consultation from an expert in speaker branding. Ahead of our phone call, I’d sent her my speaker onesheet, which is a couple of years old. She loved the material I work with, but she hated the flier. And one of the things she hated most was the formal suit-and-tie picture, taken by a professional photographer in his studio:

She told me it didn’t feel authentic to her—that she could tell, without ever meeting me, that I was not a suit-and-tie guy—just from the content of my onesheet (and other materials I’d sent). And she’s right. Even though she wanted me to go after corporate executives in my speaking flier rather than small business owners, she felt this picture wasn’t “speaking my truth.” She didn’t even know that it’s five years old and needed to be replaced (or that I had already done the shoot that got me the new photo). She somehow knew that this was not the real me.

Now, I write about authenticity in marketing; it’s part of my brand. I had always found that picture rather cold, and I never really liked the way my hair came out. Plus, I started wearing glasses all the time a few months after this picture was taken. In fact, for all but the most formal settings, I had been using several pictures from an even earlier photoshoot done by a friend of mine, because I felt they represented me much more accurately—at least as I was seven years ago—even though I had obviously forgotten to get a haircut first:

All of these photos came out of sessions where many shots were taken. In the 2006 shoot, I’ve rotated among three pictures. For both the 2008 and 2013 sessions, the one you see was the only good one of the batch.

But one good photo is all you need. I’ve been getting extremely positive feedback on my new one, which was taken at the farmstand across the street from my house. The gentle hill you see rises up to the summit of Mount Holyoke. I have lived here for 15 years, and founded the movement that saved and permanently protected the mountain next to this one.

I feel this photo shows me as relaxed and confident, and some of that is because I’m in my element, outside on the farm and walking distance from the mountain I helped save. This is very in keeping with my green marketing brand, and it’s authentic. And the speaker branding consultant, who still has not met me, said it was a great photo.

So will I throw away my neckties? No. I will save them, however for situations where not to wear one would be considered rude or a gaffe—for instance, a speech to a high-level corporate audience in a very formal culture like Japan, or a funeral.

Hear & Meet Shel

Connect with Shel on Social Media

Follow on TwitterFacebook Profile

About Shel & This Newsletter

As a marketing consultant and copywriter… award-winning author of eight books… international speaker, blogger, syndicated columnist — Shel Horowitz shows how green and ethical businesses can actually be *more* profitable than your less-green competitors. His most recent book is category bestseller Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet. Shel also helps authors/ publishers, small businesses, and organizations to market effectively, and turns unpublished writers into well-published authors.

He was inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame in 2011.

Shel Horowitz’s consulting firm, Green And Profitable, is the first business ever to earn Green America’s rigorous Gold Certification as a leading green company

He began publishing his monthly newsletter all the way back in 1997, making it one of the oldest marketing e-zines (it’s changed names a few times along the way).

“As always, some of the links in this newsletter earn commissions—because I believe in the products and services enough to promote them (I get asked to endorse lots of other programs I don’t share with you, because I don’t find them worthy).”

Note: In last month’s newsletter, I confused my notes about the Global Oneness Summit (in this section) and Global Oneness Day (in the Friends who Want to Help section), and ran the wrong link. If you planned to sign up for Global Oneness and actually signed up for Global Movement Makers, please follow the link in this issue. Sorry for any confusion.

October 23: Global Movement Makers Summit
I’m honored to be included in a telesummit jam-packed with smart and dynamic speakers including C.J. Hayden (Get Clients Now), Cynthia Kersey (Unstoppable), Noah St. John (Success Anorexia/Afformations), Susan Harrow (Sound Bite Siren) and other equally bright lights. The summit runs from October 23, 2013 through November 12, 2013; my interview is October 23, 3 pm ET/noon PT https://shelhorowitz.com/go/GlobalMovementMakers/

October 24: Vibrant Business Summit
Another exciting telesummit! I’ll be doing “Making Green Sexy: How to Craft Message Points to Reach Green AND Nongreen Audiences” as part of the Vibrant Business Summit: https://shelhorowitz.com/go/vibrantbusinesssummit/

Planning way ahead: May 10, 2014, I will once again be presenting at CAPA University, a one-day book publishing program in Hartford. More info: gaffney AT kanineknits.com

Friends who Want to Help

Global Oneness Day, October 24, featuring acclaimed teachers like Jean Houston, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Michael Beckwith, Neale Donald Walsch, and even green pioneer Hazel Henderson (who I’ve been following since the 1970s) and my personal friend humorist Steve Bhaerman (a/k/a Swami Beyondananda). No cost to listen live, or during the 48-hour open replay period. https://shelhorowitz.com/go/GlobalOneness2013/

Rerelease of Choices and Illusions by the ‘Mind Master,’ Eldon Taylor
When Choices and Illusions was first released 6 years ago, it quickly became a New York Times best seller. People around the world were talking about it and sending in letters saying how this teaching had changed their lives, empowered them to embrace life and restructure it to one of joy, success, harmony and happiness. Now Eldon has taken this incredible book, revised, expanded, and updated it, and also added in a complementary copy of his InnerTalk program, Unlimited Personal Power—a program he has sold for years for $27.95. And if you buy during the launch, you’re eligible to win some incredible prizes, including a pair of passes to the Hay House I Can Do It Conference (your choice of four dates and locations in 2014), Alex Lloyd’s complete Healing Codes, and admission to the Enlightened Warrior Training Camp (valued at $3,490). PLUS a whole bunch of bonuses for everyone, even if you’re not the one who gets some of those other goodies. https://www.parpromos.com/pp/it/13j/index/A.php

Catch the last few days of another great teleseminar series, Ryan Eliason’s annual Enlightened Business Summit (I’ve been a speaker in the past). Speakers for the overall series include Deepak Chopra, Ambassador Carol Mosely Braun, and social media superstar Mari Smith. $241 worth of bonuses just for signing up. https://enlightenedbusinesssummit.com/feature/Ryan-Eliason

Another Recommended Book—The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet

The Infinite Resource: The Power of Ideas on a Finite Planet, by Ramez Naam (University Press of New England, 2013)

The Infinite Resource is a tribute to the human mind: to its creativity, its ability to solve very complex problems, and to its amplification when connected to other minds, whether in physical space or online. It’s a fascinating read—but I have to put a caution flag on my recommendation.

In some ways, this book is the antithesis (always wanted an excuse to use that word!) of Green Illusions, which I reviewed two months ago. I felt Green Illusions was too pessimistic; this one is overoptimistic. The truth, I suspect, is somewhere in the middle. Not necessarily an average, but on a continuum, or maybe a pendulum—varying topic by topic about where it swings.

Naam is an unabashed and relatively uncritical booster of solving the world’s problems through technology. And admittedly, technology has done amazing things. He points out hundreds of examples of how we are able to do more with less over time. We heat and cool our buildings to levels of comfort unimaginable a scant two centuries ago, and do so without even beginning to tap out the enormous power of the sun and wind. We use materials like carbon fiber and inventions like semiconductors to increase efficiency and bring down cost by orders of magnitude; Moore’s law (which he does not name) apparently applies in many sectors—not just computing power but agriculture, manufacturing, and much more. We feed more of the world’s hungry and use less water and land to do it—beating Malthus’ 18th-century predictions of doom because the rate we grow food has outpaced population growth. Efficiencies have allowed our food to be provided by only two percent of the population, whereas until the past few centuries, feeding the populace required almost all of society.

The reason Malthus was wrong, he says, is because innovation grows exponentially, while use of resources is more linear. And certainly it’s true that a person living in a large city uses far less land and far less fuel, compared to a country dweller. But population is increasing geometrically; we are approaching seven billion people on this planet, compared to two billion not that long ago—and a billion of those face serious hunger. He admits that we will have to grow 50 percent more grain and double our meat production to satisfy the growing demand. But he sees that much waste yet remains, and we can get vastly more efficient even than the 10,000-fold increase we’ve already had in some sectors.

I agree with that. And I totally agree with him that we have to move off the fossil-fuel treadmill and toward these nearly inexhaustible sources of energy. Burning fossil fuels depletes our resource capital, pollutes our air, and pushes us to the brink of catastrophic climate change (or perhaps over the brink). And we don’t need those fuels.

But where I disagree is his blind assurance that innovation—not just any innovation, but harnessing dangerous, unproven technologies such as nuclear power and GMO agriculture—will continue to solve those problems, even if we I am a fan of the Precautionary Principle, which as a society we have violated frequently, and suffered the consequences. The Precautionary Principle says we make sure we are not doing harm before engaging in an action. Yet both nuclear power and GMO foods are not only fraught with risks, but they may bring us risks that are not reversible.

Naam says that organic agriculture is substantially less efficient than industrialized, GMO-influenced “chemiculture” (a word I invented a few years ago) and that as a planet, we can’t afford to devote the greater amount of land he says they require. I say that’s an area where the very innovations he sees as solving other problems are solving this one. With the last 40 years or so of small-farm and organic innovation, organic yields and organic produce quality are up substantially, and they leave the soil in much better health than chemiculture fields, and thus ready to grow more food sooner. There are also many promising new developments that convert formerly unusable space into food production: rooftop farms, vertical small-space gardens designed for apartments, raised beds reclaiming paved areas…these are just a few of the many organic innovations of recent years.

I agree also that the exponential increases in our problem solving abilities are crucial, as the world’s developing countries and fastest growing population/economic powerhouses demand a seat at the table with the old-line industrialized countries of the United States, Germany, France, etc. China and India, especially, are putting great pressure on our resources, as they attempt to satisfy their people’s hunger for more consumer goods.

So take this well-researched but perhaps unrealistic book with a few grains of salt—but do spend some time with it. It’ll definitely open your mind to human possibility, and to our species’ incredible track record in making the world better for our fellow humans—something we don’t hear enough about.

The Clean and Green Club, September 2013

12 Sep, 2013 No Comment

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Shel Horowitz’s Clean and Green Marketing Tip,

September 2013

This Month’s Tip

The Power of Partnerships

Ever wonder why so many post offices in the United States have a FedEx drop box outside? Or how the Postal Service, which has been the butt of jokes about deliverability issues for decades, can guarantee next-day delivery on Express Mail?

Ever think about why some cars from different companies look almost exactly alike? Or why so many Internet marketers are always promoting certain other marketers?

The answer: these businesses have organizational relationships—partnerships of some sort. These partnerships may involve operations, but can also be organized around marketing.The US Postal Service and FedEx have both marketing and operational partnerships; FedEx boxes at post offices are a marketing agreement. In the operational partnership, FedEx, with its superior logistics and tracking, transports Express and Priority mail airport-to-airport. FedEx gets to fill its planes with mail from a paying customer, and the Postal Service doesn’t have to issue a lot of refunds for failed next-day delivery. Meanwhile, both FedEx and UPS use the postal system to deliver to rural users in some remote locations—because the postal service is already going out there, six times a week, and is much more economical than making a special truck run.

In the auto industry, operational partnerships allow essentially the same car to be sold under different brands. For instance, the first car I ever bought new was a Toyota-designed 1988 Chevrolet Nova, about 98 percent identical to the Corolla of that period, but made in the US and about $2000 cheaper. Ford and Mazda, Chrysler and Mitsubishi, and other pairs have made similar arrangements.

The Internet marketers who have profited handsomely by promoting their competitors have marketing relationships (usually some sort of affiliate program). They’ve realized that when they promote each other, they become known to their competitors’ communities, and can grow far beyond what they could reach on their own. So they promote each other in their newsletters, speak at each other’s conferences, and laugh all the way to the bank. They understand that being endorsed by a trusted source is the easiest way to make a sale.

Another kind of marketing partnership—and there are many others—is one based on a strong existing brand. My own eighth book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet, is an example. By bringing in Jay Conrad Levinson, “the Father of Guerrilla Marketing,” as a co-author, I dramatically enhanced my own credentials in ways that had been much harder with the prior self-published and unbranded version. For the rest of my life, I am a Guerrilla Marketing author—part of the best-known marketing brand in history, and able to tap into its large and well-oiled marketing machine. I’ve been able to parley this book into speaking gigs, client work, and international recognition as an expert in green marketing. Many retail businesses partner with well-known charities, for similar reasons.

Speaking of partnerships…

Friends who Want to Help

Spread Your Message to Other Languages

Yes, the section usually includes some of my own partners. Sometimes I even make an affiliate commission, as I remind you every issue.Our partner, Auerbach International, has been doing professional translations for almost 25 years, serving such “small” firms as Twitter, Home Depot and Roche. Now they can bring their expertise to you for only 8.5 cents/word. PLUS—to get you even greater exposure—they can get your translated book title registered on the major search engines of countries worldwide.

For a no-charge, no-obligation estimate, please visit https://www.auerbach-intl.com/free-quote/ Enter promo code SHS07 to get a fun gift: “Translation Bloopers from Around the Globe.”

Green Business Owners and Marketers: Bolster Your Arguments with Facts
Did you know the green building market grew by 1,700 percent while the conventional building market shrank by 17 percent? The organic food market shot up 238 percent while non-organic food grew only 33 percent. “The Big Green Opportunity,” a new report from Green America’s Green Business Network, is crammed with rich content to help entrepreneurs tap into growth areas in the green economy. Tired of arguing with people who think going green has to be expensive, difficult, and unprofitable? Download your no-cost copy at www.greenbusinessnetwork.org/green-your-business/big-green-opportunity-report.html

Connect with Shel on Social Media

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About Shel & This Newsletter

As a marketing consultant and copywriter… award-winning author of eight books… international speaker, blogger, syndicated columnist — Shel Horowitz shows how green and ethical businesses can actually be *more* profitable than your less-green competitors. His most recent book is category bestseller Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet. Shel also helps authors/ publishers, small businesses, and organizations to market effectively, and turns unpublished writers into well-published authors.He was inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame in 2011.

Shel Horowitz’s consulting firm, Green And Profitable, is the first business ever to earn Green America’s rigorous Gold Certification as a leading green company

He began publishing his monthly newsletter all the way back in 1997, making it one of the oldest marketing e-zines (it’s changed names a few times along the way).

“As always, some of the links in this newsletter earn commissions—because I believe in the products and services enough to promote them (I get asked to endorse lots of other programs I don’t share with you, because I don’t find them worthy).”

Global Oneness Day, October 24
Your chance to listen to a LOT of the leading figures of New Thought: People like Jean Houston, Barbara Marx Hubbard, Bruce Lipton (Biology of Belief), Joan Borysenko, Neale Donald Walsh (Conversations with God), Michael Beckwith, and my humorous friend Steve Bhaerman a/k/a Swami Beyondanada. https://shelhorowitz.com/go/GlobalOneness2013/

No-Charge entrepreneurial success training call series with Robert Smith
30 minutes every Friday, 12:30 pm ET/9:30 a.m. PT
• How to dominate your market using your website
• 10 ways to add up to $10,000 each month
• Building a bullet proof reputation online and increase traffic
• How to get on cnn.com and rank highly on Google
• Secrets to getting more visitors to convert
• Software that finds buyers looking for your type of product
• 3 ways to grow your business
• Get $100,000 in national and local publicity712-432-0800, passcode 980948#

Hear & Meet Shel

Thursday, September 26, 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT. “Incorporating Values in Copy: When, Why and What to Avoid,” Speaking at Marcia Yudkin’s No-Hype Copywriting Telesummit. She has a great lineup. No charge to attend the live calls, and a bonus session if you choose to purchase the recordings. https://shelhorowitz.com/go/NoHype/

Saturday, September 28, 10:15 a.m. “Do-It-Yourself Book Marketing,” Amherst Publishing Fair, 99 Main Street, Amherst, MA, amherstareapublications@gmail.com $10 includes all events and fair admission from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

CANCELLED: Magic of Water call with Patrick Durkin–because, to my utter shock, only one person signed up from this whole list. If you are interested in improving your water, please contact Patrick directly, Patrick AT TheWellnessEnterprise.com, with the subject line, Shel Sent Me.

Vibrant Business Summit, October 22-24. Details are still sketchy, but I like the theme and have agreed to present. I’ll have more information for you next month.

Global Movement Makers Summit
I’m honored to be included in a telesummit jam-packed with smart and dynamic speakers including C.J. Hayden (Get Clients Now), Noah St. John (Success Anorexia/Afformations), Cynthia Kersey (Unstoppable), Susan Harrow (Sound Bite Siren) and other equally bright lights. The summit runs from October 23, 2013 through November 12, 2013. I don’t know my slot yet, but I’m sure it will be sent to you if you sign up at https://globalmovementmakersummit.com

Planning way ahead: May 10, 2014, I will once again be presenting at CAPA University, a one-day book publishing program in Hartford. More info: gaffney AT kanineknits.com .

Another Recommended Book: Youtility

Youtility: Why Smart Marketing Is about Help not Hype, by Jay Baer (Portfolio/Penguin, 2013)

How do you market effectively in a world of ad-skipping tools, unsubscribe/unfollow options, and a public that feels assaulted by marketing? How do you get found online when search engines are being pushed out by prospects who get their recommendations either from their social media networks or through the iPhone avatar Siri these days?

Baer says you do it with marketing so useful to the recipients that they would actually pay for it if they had to. This is what he calls “youtility,” and it’s based on providing information. Lots of information.

He sees this as a natural evolution from old-style, advertising-induced “top-of-mind awareness” through “frame-of-mind awareness” based on being found when the customer is already in a buying mood, through pull tools like Yellow Pages and search engines, to “friend-of-mine awareness,” where corporate messaging has to compete with recommendations and other messages from friends and family, and your message has to be as warm and friendly and sincere as theirs.

Youtility lends itself particularly well to mobile phone apps. For example:

An in-store product locator/coupon provider that helps you locate exactly what you need as you walk the aisles; no more forced walks to the back of the store in the hope that you’ll be enticed along the way
A children’s hospital’s car seat selection app that recommends specific models based on your child’s height, weight, age, etc.
A toilet paper brand’s guide (amplified by data submitted by users) to clean vs. scuzzy public restrooms

But youtility doesn’t have to be app-based. A taxi driver hands out a paper guide to attractions and restaurants in his city. An entrepreneur creates video reviews of frozen food entrees. And a top hotel chain uses live monitoring of social media to respond to all sorts of questions about destinations near their hotels, whether or not it’s going to bring an immediate sale.

Baer says the hallmarks of good youtility tools are self-service, radical transparency (i.e., putting the customer’s immediate interest ahead of your own, rather than pushing, pushing, pushing for a sale), and comprehensiveness. And ideally, the tools become more useful because they factor in the prospect’s exact location and situation, along with external factors such as season of the year; thus, YOU must understand how and why your market likes to access information, and be there when they’re looking for what you offer. Also, include your employees; design youtility for them, and they can become your most powerful and enthusiastic evangelists.

Baer, a long time authority in the social media world, also has a lot to say about right and wrong ways to do social media, and about researching your market. One interesting idea he has is to let Google help you figure out what terms and competitors to monitor by not fully filling in your search terms; Google’s suggestions may surprise you and open up new possibilities. And he’s big on measuring both the tangible, easily measured returns, and the far less easily measured intangibles (such as how many people who got a tweet back from that hotel became favorably disposed toward that hotel brand for their next trip).

And very appropriately, he asks marketers to think globally. He notes that the Asian smartphone market is three times as large as that in the Americas.

Sometimes, though, he forgets that some of these high-touch but also high-tech approaches can go over the line. He reports, for instance, on ad serving software that allows a bus to display different ads as it approaches different locations, based on poling the devices of pedestrians nearby. While I haven’t had any illusion that we have any real privacy since about 1978, frankly, I still find that creepy.

Baer’s key message is not to worry about being amazing; the bar keeps getting pushed higher and it’s very hard to maintain your status in that rarified air. Instead, focus on being consistently useful, and the results will outperform the occasional bits of amazingness.

The Clean and Green Club, August 2013

15 Aug, 2013 No Comment

Shel Horowitz’s Clean and Green Marketing Tip,

August 2013

Before we get into this month’s tip—I’ve noticed that surprisingly few of my newsletter subscribers also subscribe to my blog. This month, I’m making a blatant attempt to get you to subscribe, by reprinting a slightly modified version of something that first appeared on the blog. Starting back in 2004, I’ve generally blogged up to three times a week, covering the intersections of ethics, politics, media, marketing, and sustainability.In addition to the reprinted post that is my main article this month, some entries over the past two months that you might enjoy or find useful include:

How to use copywriting skills in complaint letters (a guest post from Jack Forde, who does the wonderful Copywriters Roundtable newsletter that I’ve subscribed to for about ten years)
Links to/comments on important articles about utility pricing for purchasing solar power from users, Massachusetts meeting its solar goals years ahead of schedule, and on the impact of fracking on water safety
An analysis of the benefits and drawbacks of urban farming, as well as a tour of an urban farm in the Bronx (two separate posts)
My positive review of the new Bruce Springsteen movie
A look at some of the top green innovations in today’s world
Pushback from Europe on the US’s GMO-friendly farm policies
Challenging the data assumptions of a pro-nuclear article in Forbes

I’m a realist and I don’t expect you to drop everything and jump on my blog two or three times a week to see what I’m posting. That’s why I offer a subscription. New posts show up in your inbox, and you can either read them there or click over (if you want to follow a link, for instance). All you have to do is visit the blog page, https://greenandprofitable.com/shels-blog/ , look over at the top-right part of the gray section, just across from the headline, find “Get the Blog via Email,” and enter your e-address. If you don’t want to give your e-address (which I already have, since you subscribe to the newsletter), you’ll see “Networked Blogs: Follow This Blog” also on the right but near the very bottom of the page. That feature lets you subscribe via Facebook—just click on Follow this Blog.

Bonus tip: if you blog, set up subscriptions and become a subscriber. Then you’ll not only have a way to reach people in their inboxes, but also have an archive of all your posts.

This Month’s Tip

Avoid D-I-Y D-I-Sasters

Some things should always be left to professionals. You don’t ever want to trust me to do any carpentry for you…or even have me paint a room. And the older I get, the more I move from a D-I-Y (do-it-yourselfer) to a have-it-done.

Writing your own press release is something most people should not tackle. Here’s a comment I just made on a self-publishing discussion list in response to an advocate of D-I-Y press releases:

When I write a press release for a client, I spend significant time with the book. Sometimes I read the whole thing. Sometimes I read sections I’ve asked the author to flag, plus the beginning, end, and some random sections. Plus a synopsis, for fiction, and a thorough look at the TOC [table of contents] and Index for nonfiction. And always I read the author questionnaire I send, and the supporting materials I always request (such as press coverage of the author)…I read enough to thoroughly immerse myself in the project. And my press releases for clients have been picked up by the New York Times, among many other places.Yes, the author has far more subject knowledge than I do. But *I* have the expertise in crafting a message that the media, and the public, will find exciting. Most authors don’t, and believe me, I’ve seen their attempts.

One of the *problems* is the formulaic approach F___ recommends. Those formulas yield terrible press releases straight out of the 1970s. I don’t follow the formulas. I write press releases with the idea that the reader says “Wow! I want more of this.” Writing a standard reverse-pyramid 5Ws press release (who, what, where, when, why)–the most common formula–doesn’t accomplish that.

My favorite press release out of the probably thousands I’ve written was for a book on electronic privacy. If I followed the 5Ws formula, my release would have had a headline like “Electronic Privacy Expert Releases New Book.” How fast is the reporter going to hit delete on a big-snore headline like that? My headline was “It’s 10 O’Clock. Do You Know Where Your Credit History Is?” Following a lead about the credit history “vacationing” in databanks of big corporations, the book finally showed up in the third paragraph.

I refer to this type of press release as “the-story-behind-the-story,” and other than my own books, I don’t know a lot of books that teach how to do this… My book, Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers, does give that context, and gives a lot of book-specific examples, including a wildly successful press release by listmate Ruth Houston that violates all the rules–proving that F___ is right that *some* authors can do their own press releases very effectively.

Some can do their own layout, too. I have discovered after laying out two books in my early publishing years, that I’m someone who should not ever lay out my own book. And most authors should not ever write their own press release.

In an earlier post in the same discussion, responding to a post that called professional publicity services a waste of money, I describe the advantages of a third alternative between do-it-yourself and pricy full-service publicists:

R___’s point is well-taken. With any expenditure, you want to be sure the results justify the expense.

And she’s right that most book publicists who are any good are frightfully expensive. Typically, you can expect to pay between $2000-$10,000 a month, with a 6-month commitment required. It takes a lot of sales to justify a $12-60K expenditure.

However, it’s not an either-or. There is a third alternative between doing it all yourself and spending $60K on a professional full-service publicist.

That alternative is hiring a la carte: use a professional writer to create a get-noticed media release that is likely to wildly outperform anything you do on your own, and then either hire one of the publicists who is willing to work a la carte and just do the distribution/follow-up, or use a wire service, or do it yourself with a list compiled by a media list specialist (such as our own Paul Krupin of Direct Contact PR).

As an example, I charge $325 to write but not distribute a news release on a book. I refer out to others for the other pieces for a few hundred more, and the total cost is under $1K. So if you did, say, six releases in a year, you’d still pay less than for one month of a high-end publicist.

Oh, and regarding the likelihood of better results: I had one client do a comparison test. He sent my release to half his media list, and one he’d written to the other half. He became a fan and a steady customer when mine got 6 times as many media responses.

One further lesson: these two posts demonstrate examples of promoting my own services on a discussion group while not making enemies—because the self-promotion is in the context of—and directly relevant to—a discussion already underway.

Reminder: this first appeared on my blog, along with a lot of other great content. You can easily subscribe—just visit the blog page, https://greenandprofitable.com/shels-blog/ and scroll down until you see “Get the Blog via Email” near the bottom. If you don’t want to give your e-address (which I already have, since you subscribe to the newsletter), you’ll see “Networked Blogs: Follow This Blog” a bit higher on the page.

Connect with Shel on Social Media

About Shel & This Newsletter

As a marketing consultant and copywriter… award-winning author of eight books… international speaker, blogger, syndicated columnist — Shel Horowitz shows how green and ethical businesses can actually be *more* profitable than your less-green competitors. His most recent book is category bestseller Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet. Shel also helps authors/ publishers, small businesses, and organizations to market effectively, and turns unpublished writers into well-published authors.He was inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame in 2011.

Shel Horowitz’s consulting firm, Green And Profitable, is the first business ever to earn Green America’s rigorous Gold Certification as a leading green company

He began publishing his monthly newsletter all the way back in 1997, making it one of the oldest marketing e-zines (it’s changed names a few times along the way).

“As always, some of the links in this newsletter earn commissions—because I believe in the products and services enough to promote them (I get asked to endorse lots of other programs I don’t share with you, because I don’t find them worthy).”

Hear & Meet Shel

Saturday and Sunday, September 7-8, my friend Steve Schappert is organizing the first GreenFest in Middlebury, Connecticut. I am not currently scheduled to speak, but I think I’ll be there at least one day. If you’re attending, let me know. https://greenfest.ws/

Thursday, September 26, 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT. “Incorporating Values in Copy: When, Why and What to Avoid,” Speaking at Marcia Yudkin’s No-Hype Copywriting Telesummit. She has a great lineup. No charge to attend the live calls, and a bonus session if you choose to purchase the recordings. https://shelhorowitz.com/go/NoHype/

Saturday, September 28, 10:15 a.m. “Do-It-Yourself Book Marketing,” Amherst Publishing Fair, 99 Main Street, Amherst, MA, amherstareapublications@gmail.com $10 includes all events and fair admission from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Planning way ahead: May 10, 2014, I will once again be presenting at CAPA University, a one-day book publishing program in Hartford. More info: gaffney AT kanineknits.com

Friends who Want to Help

The Magic of GOOD Water
If you’ve been to Las Vegas, you might have noticed that the water tastes and feels wretched. I drink a lot of water, ever since I had a kidney stone (BIG ouch) about ten years ago; in most of Vegas, I had to really work at getting enough fluid. But I went to a conference there recently, and I noticed that in the conference rooms, the water was among the best I’d ever experienced—but in other parts of the hotel, and in other places we went in the area, the water seemed unfit to drink. And this was especially awkward because in the hot desert climate, keeping hydrated is crucial. I drank a whole lot of water from the conference rooms and felt great.

Then I met the water magician who made it happen: Patrick Durkin. Patrick has done a whole lot of research on water, and has tremendous knowledge about how to reduce disease, rid your water of toxins, and enjoy a great tasting natural beverage. And it turned out that Patrick had arranged to treat the conference water so that we had something not just fit to drink, but fit for kings and queens.

Since our bodies are mostly water, the quality of the water we drink can have a huge impact on our health, our mindset, and of course, our taste buds.

I asked Patrick if he would share his water wisdom with you. And I asked him if it was OK for you to bring friends to hear this information. He said yes, and we set a date far enough out that you can help spread the word. Please save this date: Tuesday, September 24, 8 pm ET/5 p.m. PT. And sign up for the call at https://greenandprofitable.com/the-magic-of-good-water

Another Recommended Book: Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism

Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism by Ozzie Zehner (University of Nebraska Press, 2012)

What if everything we believe about alternative energy turns out to be wrong?

Green Illusions is both one of the most grim and one of the most hopeful books I’ve read in years. Be warned: the first two-thirds or so is the grim part.

Zehner knocks down one sacred cow after another, arguing that most of our most cherished energy alternatives are not any better than the fossil-fuel and nuclear status quo. He attacks:
• Photovoltaics (solar cells that turn sunlight into electricity, often shortened to PV)
• Wind
• Ethanol and other biofuels
• Hydrogen
• Electric and hybrid cars
• Large-scale hydro and geothermal

On what grounds? Most of his exhaustively researched arguments—documented in 60 pages of end notes and a 20-page index—center around what he sees as a failure to count all the costs of a particular technology. Those costs are not measured only in dollars, but also in energy consumed, raw materials mined (including rare earth metals), pollution during manufacturing, transportation, petroleum products, time and opportunities spent, maintenance/repair, and, of course, waste generation and disposal. And he says many of the most optimistic projections are based on erroneous data, and cannot scale up to be a meaningful part of the world’s energy picture.

And while I am skeptical of some of his findings, I’m not willing to write him off as any kind of crackpot. After all, I’ve been arguing for years that we have to count all the costs, and my book on the many problems with nuclear power draws heavily on our failure to do so. A future book I’ve begun working on positions this question as key to solving many of the world’s great problems.

I don’t have the science background to really evaluate his claims or the counterclaims by proponents of alternate technology. But I’d say that certainly we ought to be looking at these issues. We ought to make sure that our investments in alternative energy are appropriate, provide a net reduction in use of fossil and nuclear, clean our environment, and lower our carbon footprint. I believe, despite reading this book, that alternate technologies are a big part of the solution, and will continue to improve. But proponents must anchor this belief in fact.

With a lens focused primarily on the United States, Zehner argues that many of these technologies are nothing more than boondoggles: wildly overpriced and poorly performing “solutions,” often government-subsidized, that actually consume more energy than they generate, once all the factors during their lifecycle are figured in.

He also argues—and this I agree with—that until we get out of the headspace of “productivism” and consumerism, the idea that we can simply generate, purchase, use, and throw away infinite amounts of stuff—we will never solve our energy problems.

He also worries that adding these many alternative technologies won’t actually reduce the demand for conventional fuels, because we are simply adding new capacity rather than replacing existing polluting and warming ones. And hybrid cars promote sprawl, which in turn increases energy demand substantially.

Now, for the hopeful part. Zehner sees many areas where we can change our mindset, slash energy use and carbon footprint, and actually make progress. For starters, he notes that even very developed parts of the world, such as Germany and
Scandinavia, use far less energy per capita than the United States does. Bringing US energy consumption down to European levels would not even interfere in any meaningful way with typical American lifestyles, and could be done quickly and easily with existing technology.

A lot of this could be accomplished with policy and regulation shifts. Right now, much US policy creates incentives for waste, overconsumption, and sprawl. He suggests a number of policy initiatives that would encourage conservation, sustainable development, and reuse.

He does identify some technologies, including smart electric grids, solar thermal or solar light concentration, and greater efficiency, that do in fact take us in a deeply positive direction. My experience as a homeowner bears this out. Our solar hot water system, installed in 2001 (in cloudy, cold Massachusetts) has performed very well. Our little 1kw PV system has been a disappointment. But some of my neighbors with large PV arrays claim significantly better results. I would think that in places like Arizona and New Mexico, solar PV’s performance ratios would be substantially better.

The Clean and Green Club, July 2013

12 Jul, 2013 No Comment

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Shel Horowitz’s Clean and Green Marketing Tips,

July 2013

This Month’s Tip

A Company Brave Enough to Ask, “Do You Really Need Our Stuff?”

Patagonia, the outdoor recreation supply company founded by Yvon Chouinard in 1973, has been an environmental hero company pretty much since its founding. In fact, Chouinard’s earlier company was among the first to make reusable metal supplies for mountain climbers, starting with a home blacksmithing operation in 1957 when he realized that permanent pitons hammered into the rocks were environmentally awful—and he cites among his influences such famous environmental writers as John Muir and Thoreau.

Every interaction with the company is likely to rub into some area where it demonstrates leadership. Patagonia has worked tirelessly and consistently to green its supply chain, its manufacturing processes, and the materials of its products. The environmental section of its website stretches across 11 different pages under an umbrella called “Common Threads.”

It was one of the first companies, perhaps the first, to offer to take back any product at the end of its useful life, to rehabilitate, remanufacture, or use as raw materials to make something else. You can see this commitment at https://www.patagonia.com/us/patagonia.go?assetid=5175, and again at https://www.patagonia.com/us/common-threads/recycle:

“In 2005 we began taking back worn out Patagonia clothing for recycling. Today, you can return any Patagonia product to us and we will reuse it, recycle it into new fabric or make it into a new product.”

56.6 tons of used gear has been recycled since this program started.

But even for such a thought-leader company, I am amazed that it actually urges its customers NOT to buy without thinking carefully about whether you really must have it. At https://www.patagonia.com/us/common-threads/reduce, you’ll find this statement:

“As a consumer, the biggest thing you can do is to not buy what you don’t really need.”

And this attitude extends to external outreach, too. At https://www.patagonia.com/email/11/112811.html, you can see the famous 2011 ad entitled “Don’t Buy This Jacket.”

Wow! Most companies would simply never do anything like that.

You can even find a link on their site to the trailer for the anti-materialism video classic, “The Story of Stuff” by Annie Leonard.

Patagonia is the only company I’m aware of that tells consumers to limit consumption of its product, other than those that are legally required to do so (e.g., liquor and tobacco companies).

If you know of any others, please let me know, and I’ll list them (and credit you next month.

Friends who Want to Help

The Magic of GOOD Water
If you’ve been to Las Vegas, you might have noticed that the water tastes and feels wretched. I drink a lot of water, ever since I had a kidney stone (BIG ouch) about ten years ago; in most of Vegas, I had to really work at getting enough fluid. But I went to a conference there recently, and I noticed that in the conference rooms, the water was among the best I’d ever experienced—but in other parts of the hotel, and in other places we went in the area, the water seemed unfit to drink. And this was especially awkward because in the hot desert climate, keeping hydrated is crucial. I drank a whole lot of water from the conference rooms and felt great.

Then I met the water magician who made it happen: Patrick Durkin. Patrick has done a whole lot of research on water, and has tremendous knowledge about how to reduce disease, rid your water of toxins, and enjoy a great tasting natural beverage. And it turned out that Patrick had arranged to treat the conference water so that we had something not just fit to drink, but fit for kings and queens.

Since our bodies are mostly water, the quality of the water we drink can have a huge impact on our health, our mindset, and of course, our taste buds.

I asked Patrick if he would share his water wisdom with you. And I asked him if it was OK for you to bring friends to hear this information. He said yes, and we set a date far enough out that you can help spread the word. Please save this date: Tuesday, September 24, 8 pm ET/5 p.m. PT.

And sign up for the call at https://greenandprofitable.com/the-magic-of-good-water (page should be ready by the time the newsletter publishes—if it’s not, just drop me an email: shel AT greenandprofitable.com, subject: water call signup).

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27,000 Times the Radiation Limit–In Your Water

About Shel & This Newsletter

As a marketing consultant and copywriter… award-winning author of eight books… international speaker, blogger, syndicated columnist — Shel Horowitz shows how green and ethical businesses can actually be *more* profitable than your less-green competitors. His most recent book is category bestseller Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet. Shel also helps authors/ publishers, small businesses, and organizations to market effectively, and turns unpublished writers into well-published authors.

He was inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame in 2011.

Shel Horowitz’s consulting firm, Green And Profitable, is the first business ever to earn Green America’s rigorous Gold Certification as a leading green company

He began publishing his monthly newsletter all the way back in 1997, making it one of the oldest marketing e-zines (it’s changed names a few times along the way).

“As always, some of the links in this newsletter earn commissions—because I believe in the products and services enough to promote them (I get asked to endorse lots of other programs I don’t share with you, because I don’t find them worthy).”

Your Writing Can Have Influence Even Beyond the English-Speaking World
Have you written a book or e-book in English? Did you know that for a small additional investment, you can spread your name and reputation internationally? How? By translating your books into any of 80 world languages.

Our partner, Auerbach International, has been doing professional translations for almost 25 years, serving such “small” firms as Twitter, Home Depot and Roche. Now they can bring their expertise to you for only 8.5 cents/word. PLUS—to get you even greater exposure—they can get your translated book title registered on the major search engines of countries worldwide.

For a no-charge, no-obligation estimate, please visit https://www.auerbach-intl.com/free-quote/ Enter promo code SHS07 to get a fun gift: “Translation Bloopers from Around the Globe.”

Shout-Out: Congratulations to the Most Ethical Business Owner I Know
Going back at least to February, 2006, I’ve mentioned Dean Cycon and his coffee company, Dean’s Beans of Orange, Massachusetts, several times in this newsletter, on my blog, and on several of my websites.

Dean is proof that a business can be green, and ethical, and extremely successful. And I recently found out that Dean was awarded the very prestigious Oslo Business for Peace Award, known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.” If you’d like to read my congratulatory blog, with a terrific picture of Dean making music with a group of villagers in Rwanda, and links, please visit https://greenandprofitable.com/most-ethical-business-owner-i-know-wins-the-alternative-nobel/

You can subscribe to my blog at no cost; just visit any blog page and scroll down until you see “Get the Blog via Email” near the bottom. If you don’t want to give your e-address, you’ll see “Networked Blogs: Follow This Blog” a bit higher on the page. I post a lot of cool stuff there—here are three recent samples:

(https://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenAndProfitable/~3/hkUPvMM8ZdQ/)

Idiot Politician of the Year? (He has introduced a law that would ban any state purchase of sustainable goods or services).(https://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenAndProfitable/~3/4XJ2C4vB0GE/)

A Commercial Hydroponic Farm–On a Bronx Rooftop!

(https://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GreenAndProfitable/~3/YJuMj4piJjw/)

Hear & Meet Shel

Replay of my “Copywriting for the Green Marketplace” interview with Dalya Massachi https://writingtomakeadifference.com/community/writing-wednesdays-archive

Tuesday, July 23, 2p.m. ET/11a.m. PT: Ruth Hegarty interviews me on green profitability strategies as part of her Seer Cafe thought-leader series: https://kindredhealing.com/seer-cafes-experts-interview-series-for-visionary-leaders/

Thursday, July 25, 9 pm ET/6 pm PT: Monica Brinkman interviews me on It Matters Radio. Listen live at https://www.blogtalkradio.com/itmatters/2013/07/26/chris-adams-magic-music-shel-horowitz-green-marketer
or by phone at 213-769-0952 (my segment will start at 6:30). The replay will be available later at the same link.

Thursday, September 26, 4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT. “Incorporating Values in Copy: When, Why and What to Avoid,” Speaking at Marcia Yudkin’s No-Hype Copywriting Telesummit. She has a great lineup. No charge to attend the live calls, and a bonus session if you choose to purchase the recordings. https://shelhorowitz.com/go/NoHype/

Saturday, September 28, 10:15 a.m. “Do-It-Yourself Book Marketing,” Amherst Publishing Fair, 99 Main Street, Amherst, MA, amherstareapublications@gmail.com $10 includes all events and fair admission from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Planning way ahead: May 10, 2014, I will once again be presenting at CAPA University, a one-day book publishing program in Hartford. More info: gaffney AT kanineknits.com

Another Recommended Book: How to Re-Imagine the World

How to Re-Imagine the World: A Pocket Guide for Practical Visionaries, by Anthony Weston (New Society Publishers, 2007)

This little book has been hiding on my shelf for a number of years. As I begin to conceive my own big-picture change-the-world book, I found it when I was looking for a book I might review.

It’s only 142 4×7-inch pages (most business books are 6×9). But don’t let the small size fool you. It’s a powerhouse of great ideas. Some of the material refers quite specifically to the policies of the George W. Bush administration. But as the news pages are exploding with stories about the spying scandal, the IRS scandal, and more, critiques of the Bush years still seem alarmingly relevant.

Weston begins by noting the accomplishments of “creative mutiny” movements, such as the US Civil Rights movement. Visioning a better world is a key step in achieving that world. Thus, the archetypal moment in that movement was a man sharing a dream in front of a quarter of a million people.

But the other part of the subtitle is “practical.” Wesson claims that harnessing our vision can create a better society in the here and now—one that’s easier to achieve because of our deep visionary mindset. And there are ways of depolarizing those visions so that Left and Right can find common ground. For instance, he says, a full-scale program to green the United States (the sort of thing I’ve been advocating for years) could create 3 million jobs, many of them high-skill and high-wage. Don’t be afraid to dream big, as Martin Luther King, Jr. did 50 years ago, he says. Ideas can stretch.

And they can shrink. Tiny individual changes can add up to big cultural shifts. Our actions on the micro level actually make a difference in the larger world. I’ve personally experienced this, over and over again. It’s one of the reasons why I create tools to motivate individual change, such as my Painless Green ebook with 111 mostly easy and low-cost/no-cost tips to go green.

At the same time, we need to make space for the big shifts that start as big shifts. Often, this involves rethinking how we do a task from the ground up. Weston is not afraid to tackle big issues with a new mind set: How would the solid-waste crisis improve if we switched many products to edible packaging, or demanded (as much of Europe does) that manufacturers take back all the packaging? What if instead of creating more efficient cars, we reimagined the whole reasons and ways we transport people? What if instead of building permanent homes in coastal danger zones, we made them moveable, and when a storm threatened, people AND their homes were evacuated?

Humans are a capable, resilient, innovative species. When we set our inner compass on a path of change, we are able to make great changes—to exceed expectations. And we’re able to plan for calamities such as natural disasters before they happen, and thus respond better when they do.

One of his “crazy” ideas that I really like is to create “delightism”—an antithesis of terrorism. Secret armies spreading joy in the world by stealth. I think that’s pretty cool. He takes the metaphor further, advocating that we preemptively spread peace—using South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission as one possible model.

Weston also questions today’s realities with an activist’s eye. How, he asks, did we ever accept that dumping pollutants or overharvesting resources are rights (he calls this “resourcism”?

You might notice that Weston is really good at reframing. Framing is something the enemies of positive change have been much better about than we who work to shape a better world. Let’s flip it around. In other words, we can co-opt the language of the naysayers. When “attacks on our soil” are used to justify police-state measures, use that phrase to discuss the literal attack on our soil by “chemiculture” (a word I invented, as far as I know) and GMO seed stock. “Nature Deficit Disorder” is Weston’s term for those who have never been exposed to the natural world and therefore have never learned to value it.

And, he says, don’t forget to have fun. Demonstrations can become festivals (as many have. The arts remind us that a better world is achievable. The paradise that we dream about is within our ability to create.

The Clean and Green Club, June 2013

13 Jun, 2013 2 Comments

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Shel Horowitz’s Clean and Green Marketing Tips,

June 2013

Introducing “The Making Green Sexy Club”

“Shel Horowitz…is both an inspiring and an articulate spokesman on the topic of the environment…His passion and fire make me highly recommend him…He is blessed with that perfect combination of a sense of humor, an encompassing knowledge of his topic, and the courage to say what must be said.”
—Jay Conrad Levinson, father of Guerrilla Marketing, and co-author with me of the award-winning and best-selling book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green

Jay, with more than 60 books to his credit, creator of the best-known marketing brand in history, chose to work with me because he recognized that I had the expertise he lacked in the green world, as well as a very solid knowledge of marketing.

I’ve written two books on green and ethical marketing, have been in both the green world and the marketing world for more than 40 years, have written a monthly column on green profitability since 2010, have done a monthly newsletter since 1997, and have covered green business issues in my blog since 2004. And as you know from reading the Hear and Meet column, I speak frequently on the topic, nationally and internationally.

Could you benefit from my in-depth knowledge about green business profitability and green marketing? Here’s your chance:

I’m launching a six-month mentorship program called “The Making Green Sexy Club.” It includes:

30-minute private “kickstart” consultation, just for you, about your particular green business concerns
1-hour group coaching call every month—bring your challenges
Private and group calls recorded for you
Monthly Green And Profitable column in your inbox (normally a paid subscription)
Ebook of column archives since 2010
Newsletter bonuses: 7 tips to Gain Marketing Traction; 7 weeks to Greener Business
Open access to newsletter archives since 1997

With a total value of $4199.95, this is going to roll out at $49.95 per month. But because you subscribe to my newsletter, and because you’ll be among the first to join, you get it for half price; your cost will only be $24.95 per month. In other words, the entire cost of your six-month membership will be just $149.70—and that’s less than you’d pay for a single hour of my consulting. Plus, as a charter member, you’ll have input into when the group calls take place.

The program will start once ten people have committed to it. That’s what I consider a “critical mass” to provide the “juice” that will provide excitement and synergy on the group calls. And I won’t accept your payment until the program launches.

Want to join (or simply to know more)? Send me an email at shel AT greenandprofitable.com (don’t forget to close up the spaces and change the word to the @ sign—I have to do it this way so the address doesn’t get spam-bombed), with the subject: Making Green S Club (in case the full four-letter S word with the x as third letter triggers spamfiltering).

This Month’s Tip

Business Cards, Part 3: Actual Examples

In this third and final column on business cards, you’ll get to see actual examples of cards I’ve used in my own business, and watch me analyze their different components and purposes. Be sure you have image display turned on, or visit the copy posted on the web to see the examples.

Here are four that I still give out—all of which happen to be template designs from web-based printing services, and all of which required tweaking of the field names so that I could emphasize the information *I* wanted to highlight, rather than my name or the company name:

In all four, the dominant line is not my name or company, but how the reader can benefit from working with my company (in fact, my company name—Accurate Writing & More—and postal address don’t even appear on any of these four cards):

Green + Ethics = Success
Be Green AND Profitable
Want Book Success?
SUCCEED Through Ethical/Green Business Principles

It is not a coincidence that all four mention success or profit.

Three of these are pretty similar regarding content and message, but quite different in their look and feel. Visually, my favorite is the blue one in the upper left, with the wind turbine motif. It’s bright, high-contrast, and uses bold black type that’s easy to see against the background. As I refined my messaging and gained more credentials in the green marketing world, though, I wanted to redo the card. When I shifted from the wind turbine card to the green earth image below it, I really wanted to emphasize the message that green is profitable, and the website, GreenAndProfitable.com. I also changed the body-copy tagline from “Better enviro-footprint, less cost, more profit” to the much simpler, though less specific, “Affordable, Effective Strategies”—in part, because I already cover profitability now in the headline. In retrospect, I’d look for something more specific again, but less clunky than what I had on the blue card.

I added the new credentials as a syndicated columnist and international speaker (when I did the wind turbine cards, I had only spoken in my own country). And instead of just saying “primary author, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green,” I could now legitimately claim “Best-selling lead author, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green”

I would have liked to use the wind turbine template again, with its attractive and eye-catching look, even though I’m more aware now of some of the major issues with industrial wind. However, the company I’d used to print those cards had gone out of business. I really loved the green-earth image for my message, even though I recognized that the card was lower contrast and harder to read. And at the time I did them, I hadn’t seen that design anywhere. Since then, though, I’ve found far too many people using the same template, so I won’t use it again

I still give the wind turbine card out occasionally to people who I think will respond better to a message with a strong ethical component. And I’ll sometimes use the spruce trees version if I think someone is interested in both the green marketing and the publishing consulting/book shepherding sides of my business—though actually, I’m much more likely to hand them one of the green-earth and one of the green stripe. I also use both the wind turbine and the spruce trees designs when entering drawings, because I think their brighter colors and bolder type make them more likely to be chosen in a jar full of cards, and I like to win stuff. Mostly, though, I use the green ones, especially since I’m nearly out of both the blue designs.

The white card with the green stripe is for a different audience: authors and publishers in need of marketing or publishing consulting. When I go to a book-industry event, I bring lots of these—but I find I meet a lot of authors and would-be authors, so I always have a few with me, even if I’m going to a green consumer event.

Note: I’m already thinking about my next business card design. I want it to be as bold as the windmills, as obviously eco-friendly as the green-earth card, and contain copy that positions me as a world thought leader in green marketing who does speaking, writing, and consulting. I’ll probably wait several months to do that card, because I’m still working out the product mix and websites to support them. And I’ll probably spring for a more eye-catching custom design that resonates with the messages of green profitability and making green sexy, not a packaged template.

This picture was my last “mini-brochure” business card, done up around 2000. I didn’t use a template; I designed it myself in a word processor, and it matched the look and feel of a 16-page brochure I was using at that time. As you can see, the folded, two-sided format gave me a LOT of room. I attempted a one-size-fits-all model that I could use for pretty much any purpose. The problem is, it comes across as jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none. There’s nothing for anyone to focus on.

It’s also the last card I ever did with a postal address, and the last that was aimed primarily at a local audience. (All of the contact info other than my phone number is obsolete on that card, though, so please don’t try to use that P.O. box, e-mail or fax number.) By the time I did my next batch of cards—and there were at least three designs in between the two-sided one and the four in the top photo—Internet access was universal enough that I felt I no longer needed a postal contact. If people want to mail me something, they can find my address on the Web, and I don’t need to waste precious space on the card. Obviously, for a walk-in business, the street address would be a high priority.

Things I did well on that card: the slogan, “Ideas into words…words onto paper,” which encapsulated most of what I did at that time…the mention of an award that means something in my local area…and the very quick summary of who we could help and how long we’d been doing it (both of them on the rear flap, shown upside down at the upper left).

I hope this three-part series will be very helpful when you do your next batch of business cards.

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