I’ve written about the growing trend of sustainability, going green and the increase of green marketing… But how do you translate that trend into actually marketing your own company?

First of all, you need to have a green component to your business. Internally does your company have a recycling program? What are you doing to reduce the carbon footprint of your organization?

Does your organization promote green internally and externally? Are you working to build awareness of the solutions?

One organization in Cleveland, E4S - Entrepreneurs for Sustainability has become a focal point for advancing sustainablity and offers tips for companies to create a more green office environment.

Although at times it may seem that CEO’s and Marketing Directors are more interested in green marketing than the buyers and customers, the tide is beginning to change. I believe the tipping point is almost here in the United States and has already arrived in most of Europe.

As a consumer:
For instance a few years ago when I was in London on business, I noticed many of the hotels had small signs in the bathroom reminding you to limit the water usage and towel usage to conserve natural resources. It really seemed unusual to me at the time, but now I see it quite often in hotels here in the US. With gas prices climbing to $4 a gallon, all of the sudden I see the big gas eaters like F150 trucks for sale at very low prices and the small gas efficient cars bragging about their gas mileage over their style or price.

As a marketing firm business owner:
I’m noticing more printers providing recycled content in their papers ane information about their inks. More and more companies are skipping the printing all together and just posting PDF’s for quick download and electronic copies. Industries that focus on energy, sustainability and marketing its green efforts have more avenues to promote and build awareness of their products and services.

So, my questions to you: What are you doing to “go green” with your company, organization or business? Do you have products and services that lend themselves to marketing your green efforts?
What has been your experience with going green in your business?

Full Disclosure about this photo: I took this photo in my backyard two summers ago. My husband is an avid beekeeper so we have lots of bees… but I have to come clean and be honest. This little honeybee is dead. That made her very easy to position so perfectly on that daisy and get such a great shot! With 100’s of thousands of bees in our backyard, finding the “perfect model” was not hard.

Many organizations and companies look for experts when they need to create and execute a strategic marketing plan.  So, how do you find a marketing consultant — and secondly, how do you select the best marketing consultant for your situation?

 When looking for a consultant, some people do a Google search, however the last time I did the Google search for marketing consultant, there were over 9 million results.  Yikes!  Probably a more common way to find a marketing professional is to ask trusted business friends for referrals or ask a company similar to yours who helped them with their marketing. 

Once you have some of idea of the firms you’d like to talk to about their services, how do you make the selection?  You can take a look at their company’s website, review the services they provide and the projects they’ve done for their clients — but that only gives a limited view.

Some of the traditional ways of evaluating a potential marketing consultant or a marketing consulting firm:

• Experience - What have they done in the past? What clients have they helped?  Did they develop marketing plans and provide marketing consulting for companies like yours?
• Outcomes - What were the results of the marketing efforts?  Did they meet the strategic marketing objectives?  Was the brand recognition increased? Was there an increase in leads, RFQs and new customer base?
• Value - Did the recommendations of the marketing firm provide value to their clients’ organization? If so, is it the same type of value that your company is looking for from a marketing program? When the engagement is complete, will the results be viewed as a cost or as an investment?

In my opinion, there are at least three more factors that should be considered to find the best fit to match your business.

• Chemistry - When you have the initial meeting with the marketing consultant, do they listen to your needs?  Do they understand your challenges? Do they talk at you or with you?
• Teamwork  - Will the marketing consultant approach the project as part of your team or do will they develop the strategic marketing plan off “in an ivory tower” and then present it for better or worse? 
• Extra Mile - Is the consulting firm willing to go the extra mile to help create a program that will provide the resources you need as well as return the results you want?

Can you talk honestly with the person? Are they knowledgable? Are they responsive to your needs? Does the firm provide 3 levels of interaction - the main consultant on your account, a person at the level above and the person at the level below?  (Three levels of interaction gives you: 1- a point person, 2 - a person to talk to when there is a problem and 3 - a person to talk to when there’s a little detail that needs adjustment & the point person is out of the office.)

 What other considerations have you used to make a decision in selecting the best marketing consultant for your business?

• Google was founded by Stanford University PhD candidates Larry Page and Sergey Brin and launched on September, 27. The first Google press release in June 1999 announced $25 million in equity funding and explained that their patent-pending PageRank system is computed “by solving an equation of 500 million variables and two billion terms.”
• The first Euro coins were minted in Pessac, France on May 11 and the EU endorses 11 nations for the single currency.
• Apple Computers unveiled the iMac on May 7 with “the biggest display a consumer would ever want” at 15 inches and the “most possible memory you would need” at 32Megabites expandable to 128. It shipped in August of 1998.

• NASA sent 77-year-old veteran astronaut John Glenn into space on the Space Shuttle Discovery, making him the oldest person to ever have been in space on October 29, 1998.

Clearly 1998 was a big year.

Does your company have a milestone anniversary? What was happening that year in the world?

Check out these ideas on how to use your upcoming anniversary to market your company.

Celebrate with a press release announcing your anniversary in an interesting way — or online article that offers tips to potential customers that will help to promote goodwill of your company.

Who knew that celebrating an anniversary with an optimized press release could help you increase your company’s visibility on the search engine results?

Are you celebrating a milestone with an interesting event that can work two-fold by also helping to market your company?

Reading the comments is a great example of web2.0 and social media in action! The comments start with Seth Godin jumping in first and then Yvonne DiVita  of Lipsticking making some terrific points…  Mack Collier comment #42 and Robert Scoble  comments 46 & 47 also had their say.

What got them going? Alan claims:

With rare exception, consultants aren’t going to meet key corporate buyers online…
…it’s a lousy place to find and meet clients.

Of course I couldn’t keep my hands off the keyboard and had to put my two cents in there with a prediction.

…And I predict that by next year at this time, your corporate executive buyers will be using their mobile phone PDAs, not only to check emails, but to check/send Twitters, read/comment on blogs and trade text messages with their consultants. If they aren’t already!

Your thoughts?

1. What is our Strategic Market Focus?
2. How do customers view our company?
3. How do we evaluate our customer service and interaction?
4. What is the interaction between marketing and other areas in our company?
5. What methods do we use for new product development, product pricing, identification of customer requirements, competitive intelligence?
6. What is our market niche, and how should we market to it?
7. What is our current product/ pricing mix  and should it be adjusted?
8. How should we improve our current marketing plans?

These are big questions, but they are also the types of strategic and tactical problems that every manufacturing business should ask.  If you are in charge of marketing for a manufacturing firm, this is the month to pull out the most recent marketing plan and re-evaluate it.  Using these 8 questions may help you to find an area that needs to be improved. 

Thanks to the Manufacturers Resource Center for inspiration for today’s post.

Next month - pulling together the first pass at the 2009 marketing budget.  By reviewing these questions now, you’ll be more prepared for creating the 09 marketing budget and it will seem less daunting.

1. To find where one of my past business buddies went to work, double check a spelling of a name for a potential new client and see who else they may know that I know - LinkedIn
2. To learn how to install Lame with Audacity (convert a file to an mp3 with editing software) - YouTube
3. To fix my notes from a recent seminar (when I can’t read my handwriting) - Google Blog Search/blogs
4. To get inspired about how to create a powerpoint that people want to watch - SlideShare.net
5. To figure out where everyone is meeting for a drink after the seminar - Twitter.com or Plurk
6. To check on my kids and their friends to see their current status - MySpace & FaceBook
7. To double check someone’s birthday because I forgot to send a card - Facebook
8. To save the links to my favorite blogs to read when I wake up - RSS feed reader
9. To find out which of my blog posts are the most popular - Feedburner stats, Wordpress Stats
10. To instantly (under one minute) write and post a blog with a photo with keywords- Flickr.com
11. To build relationships and learn from other branding & marketing experts - Brandingwire.com blog, Age of Conversation

Okay, so I added 11, not 8 –  That’s because number 6 has nothing to do with branding & marketing — so I gave you two bonus ones.  (Note: I’ve written about personal branding in this blog before — and I believe that the photos you put up and comments you make on MySpace/Facebook, even joking, can (will) come back to you. So what my kids & their friends post on line does reflect on their personal branding… AND I know employers actually do check out social media pages and photos before they hire!)

This post was inspired by my London friend Lolly at Blog ‘Til You Drop — we met on line about 2 years ago and met in person about 18 months ago — best of luck with your new job, Lolly!!

How do you use social media? Leave a comment or write about it on your blog with a tag/trackback to this post.  I’m tagging: Steve Woodruff StickyFigure, Director Tom, Ben Jones at Ben Means Business.

The Age of Conversation ‘08 explains how to take the next step with Web2.0 and make it meaningful for you, your business and your brand.

From “Life in the Conversation Lane” to “Keeping Secrets”, each one of the authors has something signifigant to share.  And as an added bonus in the spirit of sharing, all proceeds go to Variety International, The Children’s Charity.

Authors linked to their websites:

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Beyond getting GREAT ideas and step by step how-to’s and what-not-to-do’s, I think some of the best take-away’s for me were:

• The support and sharing of all this great info — for F*R*E*E!
• The spirit of comradery among all the participants
• How fun it was to go there on a road trip with some awesome women business owners
• I learned as much in the “debriefings” over the meals as I did in the sessions
• Generous people: After Kenny Ruffin (music/video/photography/web) Media artist won the Soccer Moms Myth book as a doorprize, he was so nice to give it to us to read.  Thanks! 
• Great Sessions: Dave Jackson Podcasting in Plain English was wonderful and a great intro for those who are still beginners.  He’s a great presenter and –bonus — he’s from Akron!  He talked about Blubrry pronounced blueberry , so I’ll have to check out that and libsyn as a hosting place too.   I didn’t realize that there was a media host (server for the media), a webhost (for the blog/website) , the media (actual podcast) and that iTunes was where people went to find it. 
• Great Sources, Links and Contacts:

1. All was recorded and will be posted at PodCampOhio’s Podcast by CoefficientMedia.
2. Talkshoe for hosting. BlogTalkRadio for recording and hosting.  Audacity for recording and editing. GarageBand for recording and editing. Skype’s Pamela or FreeConferenceCall for recording.  iTunes for distributing the RSS.
3. Mitch Cantor from StudioNashVegas (marketing communications, graphic design agency) posted his slides at SlideShare.net: Wordpress 101 and Wordpress 201 . Mitch used to work at Dell. By the way, he drove all the way from Nashville to Columbus to deliver the presentation while his wife is 8 1/2 months pregnant!  We were all expecting the phone to ring & Mitch to take flight at any moment.  Best of luck to you and your wife with your new baby, Mitch!  I like your business card too - very creative.
4. Heard quite a bit about Blip.tv as a f*r*e*e host for audio or video.  Another place I’ll need to investigate.
5. Check out some of the other podcamps or look for a podcamp near you at PodCamp Community Unconferences.  These Unconferences are: “for new media enthusiasts and professionals including bloggers, podcasters, YouTubers, social networkers, and anyone curious about new media.”
6. You can learn alot from other PodCamp’s SlideShare shows too. The photo below shows organizer Angelo Mandanto with another staffer passing out more freebies:

So, here’s my Podcast Plan.  (Comments welcome, especially if I’m on the wrong track with this!!)

There are two challenges for me: organizing the content and organizing the technology.  PodCampOhio gave me some great ideas for both, but lunchtime with my friends helped my plan to really come together into an actionable to do list. 

We’re all planning to get together for “A Podcast on the Pontoon” in about a month to see how we’ve progressed in a quest for learning to podcast with confidence.

The Akron Bloggers Community got together yesterday at the Arabica Coffee Shop in Stow Ohio to swap marketing tips and catch up with new events in our blogs and businesses.

Just a few of the highlights:

Stephen Hopson will be the closing Keynote Speaker the National Tractor Association Meeting next month. UPDATED 7/1/08: Stephen’s Keynote speech is in Berea, OH for the National Tractors Parts Association in July - doing a keynote closing presentation called “Transforming Adversity Into Success.” He joins Jim Cermak on July 15 at Panera Bread in Medina Ohio to deliver his “HEAR” Principle for overcoming adversity. Stephen is also waiting to hear from major publisher and literary agent on the status of a book proposal for his first-ever book, which will be a collection of first person narration stories about events that have happened in my life including some of the funniest, most embarrassing and scariest moments.

I leave tonight withDeborah Chaddock Brown and Norma Rist for Pod Cast Camp in Columbus PodCampOhio for an all day session on Saturday.

Ron McDaniel recently launched a Buzz Assistant Network to help companies who want a Web2.0 buzz but aren’t sure how to do it. He’s looking for more assistants to help support all the leads coming his way. It’s a win-win for the assistants and the companies. Very clever!

We’ve decided to meet once a month at the same place each time. When we tried to vary to location and time/dates to accomodate everyone’s schedule, it just wasn’t working for the group and we ended up not meeting for a while.
Next Meet up: July 31st 9:30 am at the Arabica in Stow Ohio.

I used to think a widget was someone’s logo that you put on your blog to signify something — like the logo with a link to my LinkedIn page or maybe like the MyBlogLog little squares on the right hand corner so you can see who visited. That’s what I considered a widget.  I think of widgets like refrigerator magnets for websites, blogs and social networking sites.

Now I’m learning that widgets can be much more than that a graphic with a link. I think the big push came when Facebook encouraged programmers to come up with widgets and run their applications on Facebook. 

Of course these widgets drive traffic. If you click on the LinkedIn Widget, you go to LinkedIn and If you click on a face in the My Community group, you go to MyBlogLog. All of the sudden I’m seeing the marketing appeal.

And I realize, I’ve been using a widget all along for my Branding & Marketing blog on my Marketing Resources & Results website. It doesn’t have any cool programming with it that provides a rank or a photo, just a little toe-in-the-water-widget, but it’s a widget none the less. Any one who writes a blog knows you have to start somewhere… even with a widget strategy!!

Some of the best marketing widget strategies have come from Mack Collier at the Viral Garden with his 25 best marketing blogs and Todd And for the Power150 Marketing & PR blogs.

Okay, so what’s my widget strategy? I guess making it small enough to fit in someone’s right hand column. Oh NO!! That’s a tactic. The strategy needs to be something that supports an objective.

Objective: Have Branding & Marketing become more of a leader in the marketing blogs. 

Strategy: Get the Branding & Marketing widget with a link on relevant websites, blogs and social media sites. Create a compelling reason why websites, blogs and social media sites would want to put your widget on their websites.

Tactic: Make the widget small enough to fit in the side bar. Make the code easy to copy and paste. Give people a reason to want to do it (recipical links?!)

Great. I have the beginning of a widget strategy.  I think it still needs work!!  And, oh-yeah, the execution. Therein lies the rub. Hmm.