The Clean and Green Club

Shel also helps authors/publishers, small businesses, and organizations to market effectively, and turns unpublished writers into well-published authors.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 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).

One of the rules in pitching journalists through services that send queries from journalists seeking stories–such as HARO (helpareporter.com), ReporterConnection.com, and the others I discussed in the July, 2011 issue–is to stay closely in tune with what the journalist is looking for.

In the first, the reporter wanted businesses actually using this strategy, and instead, I offered her expert commentary. In hindsight, I would list some case studies I could discuss. Instead, I focused only on my credentials.

The second one was particularly a long shot, which I knew going in: Newsmax is a Rupert Murdock property with an extremely right-wing slant, and I doubted the reporter would be interested in a counter-view. However, it was certainly worth 10 minutes of my time to try, especially since I really want to reach more conservative elements of the business world with the message of my book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green, that good environmental practices are also very good for business.

FIRST QUERY:

19) Summary: Buy Something, Do Good

Name: Alison Miller Southwest Airlines Spirit Magazine

I’m looking for companies that are following the TOMS Shoes mold by donating money, products, or services to organizations in need each time a consumer buys their product. Any product category is fair game, not just apparel.

Requirements:
Readers must be able to buy products via a website and have them shipped to U.S. addresses.

MY RESPONSE:

Subject: HARO: Buy Something, Do Good (expert perspective)

Hi, Alison,
If you need an expert perspective to comment on why this is good for business, I’m happy to volunteer. I discuss cause-related marketing in every marketing book I’ve written back to 1985 (before the phrase existed, as far as I know), and go into some detail in my latest book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet, as well as an earlier book, Grassroots Marketing: Getting Noticed in a Noisy World (both books have won awards, BTW)
Note: Please keep “HARO” or “New Pitch” in the subject line so that my email program will mark it as Priority.

(My lengthy signature for journalist query responses, including book credentials, contact information via e-mail, phone, and Twitter, some of the media that have interviewed me, and talking points, went here)
———————————
SECOND QUERY:

8) Summary: Sources needed for EPA-related feature

Name: Jeff Louderback Newsmax Magazine

Category: Energy and Green Tech

Query:
The EPA has made a series of aggressive moves that makes it
tougher for business.

Among these moves are:
– Its declaration that carbon dioxide is a gas emission covered
by the clean air act.
– Its crackdown on coal-fired power plants.
– Its opposition to fracking for oil and natural gas production.

For Newsmax, I am writing a feature about OTHER new ways the EPA is lining up a major power grab to stack the deck against business even further. What else don’t we know about aside from the aforementioned concerns?

Requirements:
I am searching for sources anywhere in the United States, but I am on a tight deadline and need to speak with them no later than noon ET on Friday, Jan. 21.

MY RESPONSE:

Date: Fri, 20 Jan 2012 06:43:32 -0500

Subject: HARO: Sources needed for EPA-related feature  – counterpoint

Hi, Jeff,
If you want to throw in a little controversy, I’d be glad to make the case for why tough EPA regs can be GREAT for business. I’m the primary author of Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet, write a monthly syndicated column, Green And Profitable, and run a marketing consulting company specializing in green business.

[My signature, as above]
——————————— 

Notice the appeal I made to the second reporter to inject some controversy into the story. Reporters often love controversy. Also notice how I “volunteer” my expertise to the first journalist. I always try to come across as helpful, rather than self-aggrandizing. This is part of why I got quoted or cited in 143 print stories last year, 131 in 2010.

Another thing you can offer is a “sidebar”—a little sub-article that accompanies the main story, and may expose a different angle. But be prepared for the journalist to ask YOU to write the sidebar (for no pay). This has actually happened to me, and yes, I’ve written those articles when asked.

This article is already pretty long—but if you’d like more on this topic, I’ll send a 1174-word excerpt from my seventh book, Grassroots Marketing for Authors and Publishers that includes two successful thin-match queries I sent (one of which resulted in a sidebar assignment, the other, in coverage) plus a story from publicity ninja Jill Lublin (co-author of Guerrilla Publicity) of how she stepped out of her niche to get coverage on NBC and elsewhere.

Drop me a note at shel AT principledprofit.com and use this exact subject line:

Please send thin-match journo query excerpt

— and then I’ll know exactly what to send you.

If you have at least two years green marketing experience and five years in either marketing or sustainability, you can help: If you’d like to participate, please email or call Traci Davis (tdavis@onet.rti.org or 877-233-7348 ext 109) and provide the following:

Name:
Daytime Phone number:
Mailing Address/State:
Email address:
Total years of experience:

Traci Davis at the O*NET Operations Center at Research Triangle Institute will respond when you volunteer, and will provide further details

Great New Telesummit from Ryan Elliason
If conscious business is important to you (and since you’re reading my newsletter, I certainly hope it is), you’ll want to take advantage of the latest wonderful no-charge training series of four calls from Ryan Elliason.

Ryan interviewed me for another one of his telesummits last year, and he’s a smart, well-informed guy and a sharp interviewer—so he’ll extract a lot of good stuff from his guests.

Do better in business while you do better for the world.

Topics and dates:
#1 – Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Mindset of Success How To Change The World Without Making Yourself Insane – February 22

#2 – The Client Attraction and Enrollment Formula How To Change The World Without Going Broke – February 23

#3 – Double Your Free Time How To Change The World Without Burning Out – February 27

#4 – Eight Steps To Expand Your Positive Impact, Income and Free Time The Formula for Business Success – February 28

Sign up:
https://shelhorowitz.com/go/visionaryentrepreneur/

Yakamore: Interesting New Social Network
From the creators of Sokue, a social network designed specifically for marketers. Features include longer posts, cross-posting between the two networks, affiliate commissions, and other good stuff. Let’s Yak! https://shelhorowitz.com/go/yakamore/

To Print, Or Not to Print–That Is the Question
And the answer may be easier to figure out at https://www.pixelandprintlogic.com/ , where my friend Gil Friend (a noted West Coast enviro-biz buy) has put together a spiffy graphic to help you figure it out.

Ebook Award to Enter
One of the best ways to market a book is to be able to list yourself as an award-winning author. Dan Poynter, author of The Self-Publishing Manual and numerous other books for authors and publishers, has put together a new Global E-Book Award program. Knowing Dan, it’s likely to be known as a prestigious honor in the fairly near future. Enter by March 12 at https://globalebookawards.com

Build Your Business Quickly and Easily Through Referrals
Whether you’re an entrepreneur, a salesperson, work for a business or just have an idea for one, the #1 secret to success is word-of-mouth referrals. Matt Anderson’s Fearless Referrals will show you how to build your business the fast, fun way by systematically developing high-quality referrals. You’ll learn the right time, the right place and the right people to ask. Enjoy valuable additional bonuses when you buy the book now: https://fearlessreferrals.com/

• Are you on Google’s G+ social network? I’m doing a chat via GooglePlus Hangout, interviewed by Susan Silver, Thursday, February 23, 1 p.m. ET/10 a.m. PT. This is new technology for me, though I’ve been a featured chat guest on other platforms from AOL to Twitter, all the way back to 1995.
• If you’re a National Writers Union member, you can catch me later that day (7:30 p.m. ET/4:30 PT) leading an open Q&A teleseminar about book marketing. Contact Barbara Beckwith, beckwithb@aol.com (if you’re a US-based author or magazine/newspaper/online/commercial writer and not an NWU member, think about joining. I’ve been a member since 1982—among other benefits, I’ve been able to have the union help me collect writing fees owed to me that I otherwise would never have seen, plus contact review before signing with publishers).

APRIL

• I’m so thrilled that The Shift Network asked me to participate in “Spring of Sustainability.” These folks have put together some of the best telesummits I’ve ever attended. The lineup leaves me awestruck—I’m sharing a platform with Jane Goddall, Paul Hawken, Vandana Shiva, Julia Butterfly Hill, Hunter Lovins, Frances Moore Lappé, and about 90 others. I’ll have the signup URL for you next month.

MAY

• Speaking at the Gulf Coast Green conference in Houston, May 1: “Making Green Sexy.” https://gulfcoastgreen.org/pages/default.asp
• It’s looking like I might actually be speaking in Bangladesh at a conference in Dakka early May. If you live there, please e-mail me.

Also remember, if you set me up an engagement, you could earn a generous commission.

Is there a more authentic marketing strategy than turning your fans into brand ambassadors? I’ve long been an advocate of this approach, but even so, Brains On Fire opened my eyes to possibilities I’d never thought about.

This book is about not just identifying your deep loyalists, but empowering them, supporting them, and then getting out of the way while the magic happens. It’s a refreshing change from most other books I’ve seen about word-of-mouth/word-of-mouse marketing, because these folks understand that the real marketing arises spontaneously out of the members of a community (often unpaid), and not by faking your way through tactics like recruiting pretty young women to talk up a particular product to which they have no actual loyalty.

The book focuses on several case studies, all clients of the Brains on Fire marketing agency, which we follow through every “lesson” (chapter). Examples range from a 300-year-old Swedish scissors manufacturer to the state agency charged with reducing teen smoking in a tobacco-producing state.

Along with the focus on fan-initiated, empowered marketing comes a strong commitment to ethics—and to taking the marketing vocabulary away from the war-oriented “campaign” language of crushing your opponent or defeating your customers into purchasing, and into the more sustainable world of community, inclusiveness, and mutual benefit. Scientific marketing becomes less important. Your strategy evolves toward unlocking and channeling the passion of your fans, their desire to make a difference, and their need to be valued. Ask yourself how your product or service makes it easier for your fans to do what they love. Your goal is not just participation; it’s active engagement.

Your fans will be a mix of personalities, some of whom already have a fan base, and quiet, shy others who would not traditionally be seen as influencers—yet may have a tremendous impact. And the way you interact—even something as mundane as the way you handle incoming fan mail–can have either a big positive or big negative impact, depending on how you make that person feel.

Among the many wise points in this book:

• When allowed to lead themselves, genuine movements tend to exceed the expectations of the marketers who assist them
• You don’t get to choose your fans; they choose you
• Smart brands become fans of their fans
• Strive to put as many employees as possible in customer contact; companies with 25-50 percent of their workforce in customer contact wildly outperform those with 5-10 percent
• Strong movements fight injustice

Yes, but does all this cool and groovy stuff actually work? Yes—big time. Two among many examples:

South Carolina’s 16.9 percent smoking reduction was the largest in the nation (in the state with the cheapest cigarettes and among the lowest budget for smoking prevention programs); Brains on Fire client Rage Against the Haze (a teen anti-smoking group) had a lot to do with this.

Fiskars, makers of the famous orange-handled scissors, puts the ROI for its Fiskateers community of brand evangelists at 500 percent. Fiskateers not only tracked with a 6-fold increase of online mentions, but sales doubled in the four target markets where the effort was rolled out—while the company R&D department receives an average of 13 new product ideas every month, gratis. This doesn’t even count the impact of 7000 volunteers who can defuse PR problems before the company even knows they exist.

Read this book as an excellent companion to Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green. And be sure to read the introduction, which has enormous value.