Take Your Marketing to Greener Pastures - By: Lori Gariepy

What if I told you that you could increase the effectiveness of your current marketing campaigns while, at the same time, decrease your company's impact on the environment - and that after an initial investment, you'd actually save marketing dollars. Would you jump at the chance? Your competition might have already.

No matter where you turn today, everyone is 'going green'. Why? Because not only is it good for the environment, reducing our carbon footprint, saving energy and preserving our natural resources - it's also a factor that customers and clients will increasingly be using as criteria to help them differentiate one product and company over another.

Research firm The Aberdeen Group recently found that reducing direct mail was a top priority for nearly half (40%) of the companies they surveyed. Aberdeen further found that a desire to show environmental stewardship was top in the minds of nearly three-quarters (73%) of companies surveyed but that competitive advantage was a real factor too, with 51% of respondents noting that pursuing green initiatives would actually help their bottom line.

So what does this all mean for your business? Green marketing isn't a passing fad - it's a natural step in the evolution of marketing and the world. You'll want to ensure your company is taking green action within the business - like creating a green roof for your next corporate headquarters or purchasing renewable energy certificates to offset the electricity used in your building.

But you'll also want these initiatives to carry over into your client or customer-facing actions - reflected in the mediums you use to reach your customers and the messages you deliver, It goes without saying that integrated technologies are inherently more Earth-friendly and efficient. Take, for example (shameless plug ahead), Lyris HQ - our online marketing solution that integrates email marketing with search, social and mobile channels - which helps marketers reduce or completely eliminate costly and environmentally harsh direct mail while increasing their response rates and ROI.

Finally, you need to ensure that your customers are aware of your commitment to environmentally-friendly practices by communicating your actions to them. If we look back at our Lyris HQ example, one thing that our customers may choose to do would be to issue an electronic press release about their green initiatives, mentioning their use of Lyris HQ as evidence of their desire to reduce both their carbon footprint and direct mail.

About the Author

Lori Gariepy is a marketing communications manager at Lyris. As editor-in-chief of http://LyrisHQ.Lyris.com and of the company's Inside Lyris HQ newsletter, she oversees the development of blogs, newsletter articles and other resources that inform and support online and email marketing initiatives.

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