The press is now asking questions regarding the energy debt amassed in the creation of cleantech products. Energy consumption during silicon manufacture has brought this issue to the fore as experts recognize the large energy debt created by the manufacturing process for current solar photovoltaic panels. As a result, other “green” power technologies have been asked to account for the power consumed in the manufacture, shipping, and installation of products.  

This brings us also to the growing expectation in the public for Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Green is a subset of CSR. As one green energy client points out, there should be compelling energy savings and other business reasons for producing a cleantech product long before it is viewed as a Green solution. And, while there is ample hypocrisy among editors, companies, and politicians claiming to be Green, the fact is there will be escalating expectations among investors, customers, partners, the press, politicians, and consumers for companies to “do the right thing” in a larger sense of the word.  

Therefore, PilmerPR recommends that consideration be paid to CSR issues in small companies as if the company were a much larger publicly held corporation with the CSR spotlight on it – as it soon will be as you gain notoriety.  

One of the truly greenest companies I know of, New Seasons Market grocery chain in Portland, shares the thought, “It’s hard to be truly green, but we are getting better.” The idea is we aren’t perfect, but we are working on it in a measurable way. 

Areas to consider regarding your company’s state of Green, among others: 

• What’s not Green right now (and can be improved on) about your company, its officers, and employees? 
• Are employees encouraged to conserve energy or resources by recycling, riding the bus, using compact fluorescent light bulbs, xerascaping, etc.? 
• What does the company do (or can do) to save energy in manufacturing or office facilities?  
• Are there recycled materials, well managed sources for wood, or other processes like water recycling or conservation that can be improved upon? 
• Do company vehicles run on alternative fuel or use hybrid technology? 
• How will manufacturing partners or facilities be required to account for environmentally sustainable practices?  
• What is the company doing to give back to the community what it has learned about being Green?

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Reading an article on Wal-Mart’s “sustainability” progress report reminded me of the concerns some companies have expressed about claiming to be Green “to early”. While I’m a huge proponent of avoiding the perception of greenwashing, the Wal-Mart approach makes sense for Green PR. Announce sustainable Green objectives, and then announce measurable organizational progress against the objectives. This builds credibility and goodwill, while appropriately publicizing your efforts in sustainability. Remember to invest more in actually “being” Green than in marketing Green. You may want to consult a professional communicator to achieve the right balance between “talking” and “doing” sustainability. 

In recent discussions with a terrific Green leader, Portland based New Seasons Market, Marketing Director Helen Neville spoke about the fact that its “hard to be Green”, I mean really Green. Helen’s point reiterated by others is that we are all implementing sustainability on a “learn as you go” basis. People will make allowance for imperfection as long as progress is being made. Imperfection in Green is not by itself a reason not to publicize legitimate efforts, but actions speak loudly.

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In past entries we have spoken of “real deal” Green PR vs. Greenwashing. Our research presented to public relations professionals on the subject shows a 400 percent increase in press stories around green and social responsibility in the past three years.  This trend will continue to grow.

An example of this type of story follows in this request to PilmerPR for a CSR oriented company: 

“Corporate Social Responsibility – XYZ magazine is looking to speak to corporations that have recently instituted a CSR program and is willing to speak about the reasons for doing so and give full details of the program, including how the company is engaging its employee base to get involved.” 

When considering future public relations strategies, corporate leaders will do well to “seize the day” with real deal sustainable processes and strategies. The press wants to cover the good news, and they will spotlight negligence for companies treating these areas lightly.  

CSR strategies should be articulated on the company website and appropriate press outreach with successes has the potential for depositing serious goodwill into the goodwill piggy bank against which to draw when public perception may turn negative.

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Staying on message is a key skill for effective public relations. When speaking to the media, corporate spokespersons should have clear, concise messages (no more than 3-5) that are repeated throughout the interview. Restating the messages increases the chance they will end up in print and not on the cutting room floor.  

Here’s a good example from one of my former Novell executive clients, now heading up Canopy Ventures. This appeared in the Provo Daily Herald.

   “We’ll be investing between $1 million and $5 million per company to help them get their product to market, improve channels of distribution, and reach global markets,” Heinz said. “There are three factors we look at before investing — people, technology and marketplace. Do the prospective companies have a successful track record? Is the technology disruptive? Does it cause changes in buying behavior or ways of doing things? What is the anticipated size of the market? Does the technology have the opportunity to dramatically grow and will the market support that growth?”   

You can bet your bottom dollar that Ron did not wing this interview. Having worked with him while in PR at Novell, I know he prepares well so that statements like this come across as genuine and smooth as glass. Thanks for the example of good spokesperson training, Ron.

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Many of my best life lessons have come from watching children. However, I was a bit surprised to open YouTube to find one of the most compelling environmental speeches of our day was given by a 13 year old. Watch for these 4 B’s in this young spokesperson prodigy.  

Be genuine

Be brief

Be factual

Be bold  

As public relations spokespersons these skills bring life to the message and motivate action.

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My son suggested that I should avoid an Earth Day blog entry about “Green” since “da man” would expect me to do it that day. His point being that too much of Green is feigned and we should be environmentally sustainable and exhibit corporate social responsibility 365 days a year.  With that said, the week of Earth Day I attended a great conference at the Sutherland Institute that helped evolve my understanding of corporate social responsibility. We talked about the unintended consequences of some behavior that is touted as Green, when in fact the end result has been negative.  

My favorite example: On December 18^th of 2007, the Associated Press reported “Midwest corn boom expands ‘dead zone’ in Gulf of Mexico.” The same day I read of legislation requiring “six-fold increase of ethanol by 2022.” Of course the volume from the first article was drowned out by the Green PR frenzy around the second. Since then, we have seen more negative impacts from the ethanol craze under the umbrella of “freedom from foreign oil” and the “green” thing to do. Among these is the rapid rise in the price of corn we eat, export, and the livestock that eat it. While there is growing concern about rising meat and other grocery costs, the slowing of corn exports for food is also having significant negative repercussions for underserved populations around the world. The news reports dozens of countries where the impoverished are protesting the life threatening rise in food prices.  

So the question of the day: Green at what cost?

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This past weekend I was excited to support my son’s first go at the Salt Lake City Marathon. He was pleased with the outcome as part of his long term objective to run a full marathon later this year. To prepare, he sought advice from successful runners, invested in great shoes, and trained for months. The positive outcome was predictable and satisfying as you can see from the smile on his face.  

That same smile has appeared on the face of clients following PilmerPR counsel regarding “sustained” public relations strategies. While some new startups think to dominate their category with a single press announcement, clients like Certiport, Seastone, AdvancedMD among others have seen repeated excellent press coverage of their news due to long term commitment to turn of the PR volume. Whether working on Eco PR or SEO PR, the principle of Endurance is the same. 

Something to think about if you want your company to dominate.

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As a marketer and public relations professional over the past decade, I’ve watched the Internet play an increasing role in corporate marketing strategies. When the World Wide Web and HTML had its coming out party around 1994, I created my first web page and learned what the slow, dial up Web of the day couldn’t do. In contrast, Web 2.0 media have now increased the importance of integrating the Internet into all marketing and PR. Blogs are an excellent example of this.  

In our own business, a 2007 redesign and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) of the PilmerPR website has increased our monthly web traffic seven fold and increased the number of RFP’s coming to our door. The second most visited page on our website is our self hosted Blog. Although self hosting a Blog may not avail one of certain visibility advantages of other hosted sites, the SEO benefits of attaching your Blog to your company website increases Link Backs to the website, hence improving organic search engine rankings for your company.  

Of course the content must be compelling and helpful if you want return visitors.  Give me a call and I’ll share other ideas to make sure your Blog drives traffic to your website, including key word optimization. 

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As PR professionals, our ultimate goal is to get press coverage for our clients.  But not all press hits are created equally.  A truly successful PR campaign will result in a variety of hits in both small and large publications that cross all types of media.  The key is finding the most targeted publications, and then pitching the right editors.Depending on the company and their goals, the press list should have a minimum of three categories. 

• Vertical Trade Press
• Local Press
• Business Press

Remember, in each of these categories you should include social media, print and online publications, and broadcast media.  Then, once you’ve got a comprehensive press list to work from, you can pitch your client’s story.  For a more detailed look at building a comprehensive press list, click here to download more secrets to Building a Comprehensive Press List.

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The older I get the easier it is to understand long-term consequences. As a father, my young adult offspring have heard many times about “ripple effects” – those unintended after effects of our actions - for good or ill. Well, ripple effects radiate out from the actions, or lack thereof, of companies, governments and people every day.  

Look at the lingering after effects of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska. With its own Wikipedia entry the long term ripple effects of crew negligence ran in to the hundreds of millions of dollars along with devastating environmental impact. There’s an above average chance that Exxon, convicted ship’s captain Joseph Hazelwood, the State of Alaska, and many others would like a “do-over” of that fateful mishap in 1989. Yet, the ripple effects from Prince William Sound continue even today.  If we are to learn from history, states, nations, and companies must consider the long-term Green PR ripple effects of our actions impacting the environment.

Consider the case of Utah’s environment. With an economy that leans heavily on quality-of-life, skiing, outdoor recreation, and tourism it seems short sighted to this writer that the Utahns, its industries, and governments (city & state) are moving soooo slowly to turn the pollution train around.  Asthma rates are up, due in part to declining air quality. The Utah Tourism industry must recognize the long term image implications of such moves as allowing other countries to dump nuclear waste in the back yard of the “greatest snow on earth.”  

Pesky little things, those ripple effects.

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