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| Shel Horowitz’s Clean and Green Marketing Tip, October 2015 |
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Now Through the End of the Year: Two of Shel’s Best Books (and an award-winning novel by his wife) for Just $4.95 per Copy
Perfect holiday gifts for the entrepreneurs, managers, marketers, and business students in your life—and for your own personal library. Also great to buy in bulk and donate to your favorite educational institutions and charities.
Nobody has to know that you only paid $4.95 each (plus shipping) for these useful and classy books from respected publishers. Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World (a Foreword Magazine Book of the Year Finalist, published by Chelsea Green, known for its wide list of books on green business and green living) retails for $22.95, and Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green (only the fifth book to be named a Groundbreaking Indie Book by Independent Publisher Magazine, published by John Wiley & Sons—one of the top business book publishers in the world, in business for more than 200 years—and republished in Turkey and Italy) retails for $21.95. |
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My wife, award-winning novelist D. Dina Friedman, decided to join the fun and make one of her novels available at the same price (and hers is a hardback!). Playing Dad’s Song, published by Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, tells the story of a boy who faces crises ranging from a school bully to the death of his father in 9/11, and finds his way back to his center through music. It’s perfect for kids aged 9-15.
Why am I selling these critically acclaimed books for less than a quarter of their original prices? Several reasons:
- I’ve always been about giving you the maximum value I can. These books will build your skills and those lucky enough to get them as gifts.
- Sometimes, there is more power in spreading a message widely, and low prices can make that happen. Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green, especially—with its message of business success through green and ethical business practices—has a role to play in changing the culture, and I want to see that change ignite.
- We’ve recently taken the rights to these books back and their original publishers have withdrawn them from publication. That means that not only am I the only source of new copies, but also that I am no longer beholden to those publishers in what I can charge. Thus, I can pass savings on to you.
- My forthcoming 10th book, Guerrilla Marketing to Heal the World, takes the main concepts in Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green and expands and updates them, so I no longer feel comfortable asking full price for that title. And Grassroots Marketing is an older book that doesn’t cover social media (though with every purchase through my own website, I give away a two-chapter update that does).
- The holidays are coming and everyone loves easy, frugal, useful gift ideas. (Note: if you’d like to be more generous, the gift of a strategic green/social change profitability consultation or copywriting project from me could be life-changing for the recipient.)
- Quite frankly, we’re thinking about a major cleanout now that the kids are grown and out of the house, and that means we need to create more room in the attic.
Read more about these amazing books at
https://www.guerrillamarketinggoesgreen.com/ (Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green) CODE: 4.95guerrillabook
https://frugalmarketing.com/gmtoc.shtml (Grassroots Marketing). CODE: 4.95gmbook
https://ddinafriedman.com/dinas-books/playing-dads-song/ (Playing Dad’s Song) CODE: 4.95pdsbook
Then visit https://shelhorowitz.com/shels-green-products-and-services/ to place your order. Make sure to use the proper coupon codes.
Note: quantities are limited to what we have in stock. If you’re interested in a bulk purchase, let’s talk.
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| This Month’s Tip: Check Your Calendar |
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Would you ever schedule a marketing seminar or a meeting for Christmas Day? Easter Sunday? Of course not. Yet, too often, we set our calendars without paying attention to other people’s priorities. If your audience is mainstream and primarily male, don’t schedule it on Super Bowl Sunday or during the World Series. If you want to do a lunch meeting in a Muslim community, it won’t be well attended during Ramadan.
Writing this on September 24, one of the top-of-mind issues for me is how many events took place yesterday, every one of them organized by people who should know better. I think I was personally invited to attend about 12 events—all of which I declined.
What was so special about September 23, 2015 that I don’t think people should have even scheduled events? Hint: it’s an event that actually started the evening before.
The evening of September 22 into the evening of September 23 was Yom Kippur in the year 5776, which began with Rosh Hashana, another very important Jewish holiday that started the evening of September 13 and continued through sundown on the 15th. Yom Kippur is actually the holiest day of the Jewish year. It’s the day when every Jew is expected to get things right with God, with ourselves, and with other humans—a day spent in fasting, prayer, and solemnity. People fully observing the holiday will not even be booting their computers or phones that day. Orthodox Jews would not even set foot in a car or public transportation, though Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist Jews will drive to synagogue.
And yet…such a small percentage of people planning meetings and events even bother to check a Jewish calendar, which takes about eight nanoseconds on Google, before scheduling events on these extremely sacred days. Considering that Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur always occur between the very end of August and the first third of October, it isn’t very hard to figure this out ahead of time. If you’re planning an event during that time, you should check. No, it should not be up to your Jewish friends and customers to inform you after the fact. You should preemptively find out when those dates are, and schedule around them. And you certainly should not wave a finger in the faces of the Jews in your circle and get annoyed when your secular priority is pushed aside for a meeting with God. |
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Connect with Shel on Social Media |
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| About Shel & This Newsletter
As a green and social change business profitability/marketing consultant and copywriter…award-winning author of ten books…international speaker and trainer, blogger, syndicated columnist – Shel Horowitz shows how green, ethical, and socially conscious businesses can actually be *more* profitable than your less-green, less-socially-aware competitors. His award-winning 8th book Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet was a category bestseller for at least 34 months (and is now available exclusively through Shel). Shel also helps authors/ publishers, small businesses, and organizations to market effectively, and turns unpublished writers into well-published authors.
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 was inducted into the National Environmental Hall of Fame in 2011.
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). |
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| “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).” |
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| Being part of the business world in the 21st century requires cultural sensitivity. Most of us don’t live in monocultures any more. Obviously, you can’t check your dates against every possible holiday in every possible culture, but you can pump your proposed date (and the following day, since many cultures start events the night before) into Google with the word “holiday.” As you can see on the screen shot, even just searching for “september 23 2015 holiday” instantly matched with Yom Kippur. Googling “super bowl 2016” tells me I will not be scheduling any events for February 7. Do these simple searches before you commit resources for a conference space or other venue. |
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Friends Who Want to Help
30-minute no-charge session with a master business and life coach
Posting this on behalf of my friend, colleague, and masterful coach Oshana Himot. I have benefitted enormously working with her. She’s really helped me crystalize the idea that I can shift my focus to turn hunger and poverty into sufficiency, war into peace, and catastrophic climate change into planetary balance—through the profit motive. Without her, I wouldn’t have done my TEDx talk, “Impossible is a Dare” (hear the talk and see the slides at https://www.business-for-a-better-world.com/tedtalks/ )
nor would I have written the new book.
She writes: “If you create change for society in positive ways…I’m a skilled coach who can help you get through the stuck places and go forward… With a mix of both business and life coaching skills, and MBA, and a diversified set of tools, I help you find the unique and wonderful person you are–and the amazing, powerful person you’d like to become. What you would like to achieve.
“How can this can benefit you? Schedule a complimentary 30-minute session and find out. You can reach me at602-463-6797 or through email at: oshana@oshanasjoywork.com. “
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Debbie Allen’s new book on Positioning—Yours at NO Cost
I’ve got an exciting gift for you! Download Debbie Allen’s brand new book, EXPERT POSITIONING: How to Dominate Your Competition and Gain High Paying Clients at no cost. Expert Positioning is a great way to stand out and market your business; I’ve personally built my business with it. Debbie’s been in the expert space for decades. Her new book walks you through the process to setting up your expert business so you can easily gain higher paying clients and make more sales. Get your free copy now at www.ExpertDomination.com |
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Hear and Meet Shel
I’ve been so busy getting the book done that I haven’t been booking talks lately. But that’s about to change! As the book launch draws closer, I expect to have several engagements. And remember—if you connect me with a paid speaking gig (OR a sponsor who will fund no-pay engagements), you can earn a very nice commission. Please write to me if you would like to help.
Check out the stellar looking Guerrilla Marketing Reunion with a lineup that includes Seth Godin, Jay Conrad Levinson’s widow Jeannie Levinson, Joel Comm, Loral Langemeier, and several other luminaries, November 2-4 in Orlando. Price is very reasonable. I’m going; how about you? https://guerrillamarketingfamilyreunion.com/ (Oh, and let me know if you’re a nonsmoker who’d like to share a hotel room.)
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| Another Recommended Book: A New Psychology for Sustainability Leadership |
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A New Psychology for Sustainability Leadership: The Hidden Power of Ecological Worldviews, by Steve Schein, Ph.D. (Greenleaf Publishing, 2015)
Much has been written about the mainstreaming of sustainability efforts in the corporate world. But very little has been written about the mindset and worldview of the people making that change.
Thus, this repurposed doctoral dissertation steps into the breech. It opens a much-needed conversation about the shifts we need to take—not just our own small groups but the entire business culture—so that sustainability thinking percolates even more deeply into the culture. Schein spends a lot of energy calling for a more eco-focused worldview, including integrating sustainability thinking into the standard MBA curriculum—not just the MBA programs in sustainability.
To Schein—and I agree with him on this, if you remember last month’s book review of Alex Epstein’s book—the biggest shift we need to take is from an anthrocentric (human-focused) to an eco-centered (planet-focused).
How far do we have to go? Schein, in a book with this year’s copyright, says the average resident of the United States eats 400 pounds of petroleum per year, once we factor in all of the Big Ag practices that make up most of our food supply (“machinery, fertilizers, pesticides, processing, and transportation”, p. 6). On the same page, he cites Lester Brown’s warning that food and water shortages can lead directly to political instability.
Most of the book is quotes from interviews he conducted with executives in the corporate and NGO worlds charged with developing and carrying out the corporate sustainability program, and his narrative interpreting and analyzing the results.
He sees the job of Chief Sustainability Officers, or eco-minded CEOs as translating sustainability into the rest of the business world (p. 146). Noting that we desperately need business models aimed not at corporate growth but on profitably reducing the negative consequences of human intervention (p. 76), Schein calls out five different ways (pp. 72-84) his interviewees have self-identified their worldviews:
- Awareness of ecological embeddedness—that a business vision must encompass the environmental context
- Awareness that planetary ecosystems are vulnerable
- Belief that nature has intrinsic value
- Holistic, systemic consciousness
- Earth-centrism
This level of thinking, he says, evolves over time—and he speculates that one reason so much sustainability thinking is bubbling up right now is simply that people are living longer and have more time for their thinking to evolve. On this, I’m not so sure I agree; I see this consciousness fairly evolved among my children’s generation, but what does evolve is the ability to work in complex, sometimes-frustrating, often-hierarchical organizations to make the change.
Schein’s book should be seen as opening the conversation, rather than a definitive Great Work. His action steps are rather limited, and the book has a few key flaws: small sample size (only 75 corporate and NGO sustainability professionals), an inexcusable failure to identify the sources of each quote—which, in turn, makes it impossible not just to track who said what in terms of the specific challenges and accomplishments of that person’s company—a flaw he acknowledges on page 186—but also impossible to follow up with any interviewee beyond the book (seeking a mentor, interviewing for a book, etc.), the lack of an index, and repetition of several interviewee quotes in such a short text.
One nice thing is the inclusion of a questionnaire that future researchers can use in expanding the dialog. Another is his reminder of Buckminster Fuller’s observation that any of us can be a “human trim tab” (the part of a large ship that makes it easier to turn the rudder, p. 167); any one of us can be an agent of real change. |
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