Celebrate Green! – A case study in DIY marketing

Posted by Karen Renzi

I am a villager.

Not just any villager (and certainly not one of the Village People), but part of the village that is raising a 232-page child. It’s the new book: Celebrate Green! - a fabulous book with down-to-earth eco-tips on how to celebrate holidays a little, or a lot, ”greener.”

I met Lynn Colwell, the mother half of the book’s mother-daughter author team, via Savor the Success, a social network for women entrepreneurs. We were both selected as part of the first team of “official” bloggers on the site. The experience has been phenomenal – with so much mutual support of other members and idea-sharing. Lynn blogged about launching her new book, out this October 1st. Lynn and her daughter Corey self-published the book and are doing all their own marketing, on a shoestring.

And so was born a fantastic idea: build a VILLAGE to raise this “CHILD.” They started by recruiting individuals, like me, interested in helping to advance the book. Now, on a weekly or so basis, they ask each villager to complete one simple task to support awareness for the book.

Lynn took some time out of her very busy schedule to answer a few questions for me about this DIY (do-it-yourself) and FREE idea of “village marketing.” Please read on – I’ve bolded some of Lynn’s insights that I’m sure will help spark your own ideas of how you can draw on the support of your village to help raise your business:

How did you come up with the “villager” concept?

After I sent Celebrate Green! off to the printer, I called Corey, my daughter and co-author and said, “Boy, I feel like I just gave birth!”

The Green Scene

Posted by Erin Lewis, Beyondus Intern

Celebrities are talking about it… musicians are singing about it… politicians are debating it… companies are catering to it…but what is it?

For the last few years one word has been entering into the marketing scene and many consumers have been taking notice. That word is green; but what exactly is all the fuss about? The green movement is dedicated to sustaining the environment and natural resources through individual behavior and public policy. In layman’s terms it’s the people and organizations that are interested in protecting the Earth for future generations.

Ultimately, it sounds like a great concept who wouldn’t want to protect cherished natural resources? If you watch television or listen to the radio or flip through a magazine chances are you will find a green advertisement in mere minutes.

The car industry has been in constant competition to develop the best hybrid or environmentally friendly car. Poland Springs has reduced the amount of plastic and paper used to create their water bottles to claim that they are green. Cleaning products have been changing the chemicals in their products to keep up with the competition.

So what’s my point? If you have a business that sells a product you may want to do a little research to see if you meet green standards. The benefits may be nothing at all. Or it may be that one consumer that chooses you over the competition because they know about green.

Even if you’re not selling a product there are still things you can do to make your business green. Just Google, ‘how to go green at work,’ and multiple sites pop up. Some of the easy to do hints; replace light bulbs, turn your lights and computers off when not in use, recycle, use paper less, or just purchase recycled office supplies. Any action, big or small, makes a difference. Just do something because we owe it to the future generations.

So what are you going to do to go green?