MarketingSherpa Blog

Jumping onto a bandwagon can carry you, but it hurts a lot when you’re thrown off. Marketing fads — like green, cost effective or energy efficient — do not matter. Marketing claims need to be factual or you’ll be thrown off the wagon.

Green marketing–whether it’s a fad or a trend–has been more prominent in recent years. You may want to extol your product or company’s earth friendliness, but be honest. If there is nothing green to promote, start by making your company or product greener. Then get on the green marketing bandwagon.

I just finished off an article featuring Tim Sanders, author, Saving the World at Work. Tim loaded me up with ways companies can cut down on paper and shipping dramatically. Keep an eye out for the article. The tips can really help support your green messages.

Tim also mentioned that companies looking to add some green to their brand could start by hiring more environmentally-minded people. He cited Timberland as an example.

Kate King, Timberland, Associate Manager, Corporate Communications, said Timberland does not exclusively hire green employees. But she noted that Timberland has “a strong environmental commitment” and “strives to hire individuals who seem to be a good fit for our corporate culture and who share our values.”

Timberland has enough environmental credentials to safely flash them in public. A strong green message pervades its marketing. In June they launched the Earthkeeper campaign in hopes of recruiting “one million people to become part of an online network designed to inspire real environmental behavior change,” according the release.

The campaign strives to connect those interested in protecting the planet to share information and inspiration. Its central website ties together its:

o YouTube Brand Channel

o Facebook presence

o Blog

o Changents.com partnership

The campaign looks to combine two big marketing headlines: social media and green marketing. If successful, it should help further solidify Timberland’s environmental commitment while telling more people about it. That’s smart stuff.

Timberland spent years building its green credentials and is telling the world. I think its seat on the green wagon is safe for a while.

About Adam T. Sutton

Adam T. Sutton, Senior Reporter, MarketingSherpa
Adam generates content for MarketingSherpa's Email and Inbound Marketing newsletters. His years of experience in interviewing marketers and conveying their insights has spanned topics such as search marketing, social media marketing, ecommerce, email and more. Adam previously powered the content behind MarketingSherpa's Search and Consumer-marketing newsletters and carries that experience into his new role. Today, in addition to writing articles, he contributes content to the MarketingExperiments and MarketingSherpa blogs, as well as MECLABS webinars, workshops and summits.

Prior to joining MarketingSherpa, Adam was the Managing Editor at the Mequoda group. There he created content and promotions for the company's daily email newsletter and managed its schedule.

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Categories: Branding Tags: green marketing. marketing fads, marketing trends