Earth Day 2009: Companies Going Green

Posted on April 22, 2009 in Assorted Thoughts/Humor, Speaking Engagements, Tech News

Every year, the Environmental Defense Fund produces a report highlighting businesses that have implemented new, environmentally innovative technologies, policies and practices.

The environmental issues reviewed by the EDF include those related to e-waste, data centers, chemicals & green chemistry, green building, packaging, renewable energy, supply chain management and water.

Nearly 200 candidates were assessed against the following four criteria:

Environmental Benefits: To what extent does the innovation generate one or more of the following environmental benefits?

  • Greenhouse gas emissions reduced (e.g., carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide)
  • Energy use reduced or efficiency increased
  • Hazardous pollutant releases to air, water or land reduced
  • Environmental health risks reduced
  • Solid waste reductions, materials use reduced or efficiency increased
  • Supplier behavior influenced, resulting in environmental benefits
  • Natural resources (land, water or wildlife) protected or restored
  • Employee or consumer behavior influenced, resulting in environmental benefits

Business Benefits: To what extent does the innovation present a solid business case and generate one or more of the following business benefits?

  • Cost savings
  • Increased revenues or earnings
  • Reduced liability or risk
  • Return on investment/payback period
  • Market creation
  • Investment attractiveness
  • Employee retention or recruitment
  • Benefits for customers
  • Brand/reputation enhancement

Replicability: Is the innovation ripe for wider replication? Factors include:

  • Applicability to more than one business sector or in wide-reaching business areas, like retail, manufacturing or office environments
  • Commercial availability
  • Stage of development (at least tested at the pilot stage and ready to be taken to scale)

Innovativeness:

  • Is the innovation original or does it provide a new twist on an existing practice?
  • Is it not yet in widespread use?
  • Has it yet to be widely discussed and documented?

One of the businesses in the report this year is Google, recognized for implementing technologies to make their data centers consume a lot less energy. Details on the greening of Google’s data centers can be found here: Google Efficient Computing.

Big, bulky PC’s and laptops are being replaced with lower-cost, lower energy, thin models. These lean machines require fewer materials, and offer a longer life. Wyse, a Thin Technology leader, was featured in the report.

Also showcased in the IT category is power management software created by 1E. Power management software allows company’s to reduce operating costs and lower their carbon footprint by closing open documents and powering down computers at night (to whatever state desired).

The company has posted an online calculator that determines how much money can be saved annually by powering down computers: 1E’s Online Energy Savings Calculator. Here is a pretty startling fact from their studies:

“If all the world’s 1 billion PC’s were powered down for just one night – it would save enough energy to light up New York City’s Empire State Building – inside and out – for more than 30 years.”

In the hotel industry, the Marriott and the Westin were recognized for installing key-card enabled energy management systems for their guest rooms. More commonly found in Europe and Asia, hotel rooms powered by key-cards save energy by ensuring that guest rooms are not lit, cooled or heated when unoccupied.

The full copy of the EDF report can be read online: EDF Innovations Review 2009.

Of course, going green is not just for businesses. Doing something as simple as eating vegetarian one day a week can lower the greenhouse gas emissions that arise each year from meat production. Some really good tips for families can be found here: Family Guide to Going Green 2009.

Although the concept of going green was introduced in 1987 (with the Bruntland Commission Report), and Earth Day originated way back in 1970, it’s just in recent years that the ideas of sustainability are becoming mainstream. Companies that have taken the time and made the effort and financial investment to go green benefit tremendously from reduced operating costs and an improved public image. Plus, they have gained a competitive edge over companies who have not made any innovations. So, Green companies win, the Earth wins, we all win.

Technology, Media and Marketing Buzzwords for 2008

Posted on December 29, 2008 in Assorted Thoughts/Humor, Social Media Marketing

As the year comes to a close, here’s a list of ten marketing, technology, and popular media buzzwords for 2008, in no particular order:

Cloud Computing:   Developer programs and services that are available over the internet.  A virtual “cloud” for techies to share space, tools and ideas.

Longphoto:   A video of 90 seconds or less, popularized by the photo sharing website, Flickr.

DWT (Driving While Texting):   Self-explanatory, and not very smart but many of us have done this from time to time.

PhotoBombing:   Intentionally inserting yourself, uninvited, into someone else’s group photo for comic effect and/or shock value.

Long-Tail Keywords:   Keyword phrases of three to four (and some say five) words, said to convert better than their shorter counterparts, delivering that much desired ROI (Return on Investment).

Green Marketing:   Centering your marketing campaigns around the concepts of sustainability and preservation of the environment.  Includes ” green-washing“, or taking a product’s shortcomings and repositioning them as ecologically-friendly traits.

Web 2.0:   Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, countless blogs.  If you have incorporated social media into your marketing mix, the good news is that it IS here to stay.  Others would say that the bad news about social media and network marketing is that it is here to stay.  Whatever your position, Web 2.0 makes the list once again this year.

Web 3.0:   Just when we were getting used to Web 2.0, along comes talk of Web 3.0, or the semantic web, a “world-wide database”.  The word semantic means “to give meaning”, but no one seems to know exactly what semantic web means.  Ironic.  Hopefully we’ll learn more in 2009.

Reputation Management:   An unavoidable by-product of Web 2.0.  With all of this social networking going on comes the need for reputation management, also known as brand management.  Think this doesn’t exist?  Just ask the folks at Motrin, who suffered the wrath of thousands of angry baby-toting moms (and dads) who did not take kindly to an ad campaign which seemed to be poking fun at them.  What followed was some serious damage control by Motrin’s PR team.  For those of you who haven’t seen it, here is the ad that unleashed the firestorm.  Which leads me to my next buzzword:

Tweet:   Various forms or this word describe all things related to the popular social networking/message following site, Twitter.  Twittered, tweet’d, etc.  I’ll use it in a sentence.  “Moms, furious about the Motrin baby-toting ad, tweeted about it for days.”

There are many more popular buzzwords coined in 2008 not related to marketing or technology that are worth mentioning: Hockey Mom (i.e., Sarah Palin), Change (also “Obamanation”), Recessionista (a combination of frugal and fashionable), and the list goes on.  Feel free to add any of your favorites in the comments section.

 

How Successful Search Engine Marketing Can Take You to the White House!

Posted on November 5, 2008 in Assorted Thoughts/Humor

Barack Obama campaign photoCongratulations to Senator Barack Obama, who is now the President Elect of the United State of America. Search engines and technology paid a crucial role in his journey from Chicago to the White House.

What can we learn from his targeted and effective online campaign? Here are some of the online strategies that worked for him.

  • Get the Word Out to Niche Markets
    Target the Mavens, Connectors, and Salesmen in your sphere. I have invoked Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point at almost at every speaking gig I have done in 2008. You can’t deliver the same message to everybody. Repeating a script to everyone you meet will eventually expose you as a telemarketer, and nobody likes those guys. Take some time to identify who you want to sell to, and then market to them the right way. The Obama campaign took their story online to different niche markets and let the right people do their marketing for them.
  • Use a Targeted Keyword Strategy
    At the heart of any successful campaign (presidential or search) is keyword strategy. Case in point: In the final weeks, the Obama campaign began to expand their keyword lists from generic Obama/Biden keywords with non-optimized landing pages to include issues-related keywords with relevant landing pages. Results: lower cost per click, better exposure! In contrast, Senator McCain’s campaign pulled back from targeted keywords to broader keywords with landing pages that were not optimized. Results: Costs went up, exposure went down.
  • Turn Undecided to Decided
    STOP wasting your time and energy on the people who are already sold. Expand your search engine campaign to target people in the purchasing funnel who are undecided. By focusing on “Economy Crisis” keywords, the Obama campaign targeted topics the undecided voter was searching for. This narrower focus helped them to reign in spending and reach a crucial new audience.
  • Use Videos
    Americans love videos! Obama’s campaign and supporters nationwide dished out some pretty awesome viral videos! Delivering a message through online video is one of the least expensive marketing investments you can make. Most of these videos were not Oliver Stone productions (I love saying that), though some Hollywood folk did lend a hand. But in most cases, posting even a brief video on YouTube can go a long way for your business.
  • Issue Clear Calls to Action
    Don’t bother spending on marketing if you are not asking your target audience to do something. While you can never control what your customers will do, you can offer suggestions: relevant calls to action in your search campaign that users can identify with. For example, pushing the non-partisan message of getting out to vote is something the Obama campaign did very well. Refrain from using MBA lingo the average user won’t understand, or blandly praising your brand. State clearly what you have to offer, and then try something simple like “get a free estimate” or “get out and vote.”

One thing we should all be very clear on in this day and age: Search Engine Marketing is a crucial weapon that — if used successfully — can make you a true market leader, or even the President of the United States.

Google's Halloween Logos

Posted on October 31, 2008 in Assorted Thoughts/Humor, Search Engine News

Take a look at the evolution of Google’s Halloween logos over the years, starting with the year 1999.  They seem to have gone from cute to scary.  The 2008 logo (at the bottom) was designed by Wes Craven, legendary horror director.  Which is your favorite?

Google Halloween Logo 1999
Google Halloween Logo 2000
Google Halloween Logo 2001
Google Halloween Logo 2002
Google Halloween Logo 2003
Google Halloween Logo 2004
Google Halloween Logo 2005
Google Halloween Logo 2006
Google Halloween Logo 2007
Google Halloween Logo 2008

Search Marketing in the Time of Global Financial Crisis

Posted on October 14, 2008 in Assorted Thoughts/Humor

Great DepressionA big thank you to Paulo Coelho for inspiring the title of this blog post. For anyone not living in an isolation bunker,  the past few weeks have been some of the most tremulous times for the financial sector in America. Several clients and friends have asked me what they should do about search marketing, now that budgets are shrinking.

Every industry reacts differently in tough economic times, but there are a few points that are crucial to almost everyone.

1. DON’T PULL BACK.

I usually don’t use all caps in my writing, but this is a place where it is warranted in a big way. Any business that pulls out of Search Engine Marketing in this economy is being suicidal. Why the strong words, you say? Well, every product and service is going to be searched for on the web. People are not spending on the magazines and other publications you have been thinking of investing in. If someone wants to buy your product or service, they will be looking for it on the web.

2. Make it easy to buy.

All ecommerce aspects of your website need scrutiny. Stop all leaks in your shopping cart; find out what makes people leave your website. If someone is willing to spend on you in this economy, the last thing you need is a shopping cart or booking engine that doesn’t work properly.

3. Give incentives, don’t discount.

Let’s talk Retail, since the 2008 holiday season is upon us. This year is going to be different as people are cinching their belts tighter than ever. Give them a reason to choose you over the 10,000 other companies that are selling in your industry vertical.  There is a big difference between offering an incentive versus a discount. In my opinion, discounting has never worked in favor of any business. “Create value, incentivize and sell” should be your motto during these tough times.

4. Clean up your act.

All the website-related projects that you have postponed during the boom times need to come back to life. Invest in developing your website so that it stands out from the competition. Get the redesign you never got around to because you were too busy; get a better shopping cart; write new content. Don’t let sales slip through the cracks in your website: now it the time to control your bounce rate and abandonment rate!

5. It’s CRM (Customer Relationship Management) crunch time.

So basically, the words you are looking for are “Thank You.” Downturn is a great time for businesses to connect with their customers. Let them know you appreciate their business. Taking  time to write an extra thank you note goes a long way.

Nothing lasts forever; the markets will rise again. But for now, there is no escaping the market conditions. The businesses that stay resilient and build their brand during these rough times will be poised to really flourish during boom times. So wipe away the gloom and start positioning yourself as a market leader.