We’re continuing the discussion on Clorox’s newest product, Green Works.

In my last post, I looked at the first two things that Clorox needed to do to gain buy-in with both mainstream consumers buying green and green and LOHAS consumers.

In this post, I’ll be looking at two other things they needed to do to gain instant credibility.

Remember, in a store, there is much competition and consumers spend sometimes seconds deciding which product they will pass by. I’m in the minority in that I actually read labels similar to the LOHAS consumers.

3. Find a way to build trust quickly with green consumers. Product labeling is one of the most effective ways to market to green and LOHAS consumers. It’s one of the things they trust the most, if you know how to use the right language. Although Clorox uses the word, “natural,” a commonly misunderstood word, they explain it by listing ingredients and using the logo from the Sierra Club to gain instant credibility. As I explained in my last post, the Sierra Club has indicated that they have never endorsed any other household cleaning product.

Prior to writing this blog post, I have spent the last 2 or so hours pouring over consumer magazines at Barnes and Noble. Why, you might ask?

I like to have my pulse on what is happening in the green and LOHAS marketplace. Going through magazines looking at articles and the green and LOHAS ads is just a way for me to do informal research to see what is being talked about, advertised and marketed.

After perusing around 30 magazines including, but not limited to: Oprah, Discover, Sierra Club, Experience Life, Health, Mother Earth, Discover, Organic Spas, National Geographic, Dwell, Kiwi, Natural Solutions (formerly Alternative Medicine—we’ll talk about this new trend in a separate post), Weight Watchers, Real Simple, Real Travel, Travel & Leisure, I found some common themes. I’m not sure that I would call them trends.

Here is what they are:

In my previous post, I had mentioned some of the themes I saw after perusing 30+ magazines the other day. If you missed this blog posting, you might want to read it before reading this one.

I’m devoting this post to this same topic because it is so important to know what is happening in the marketplace. It’s something I’ll be addressing in Maine in a couple of weeks at their Lodging Management Institute conference. I’ll be there for a couple of days, February 6-7.

After reading these magazines, I really was surprised to see companies touting green benefits without any perceived endorsement to back up the claim (well, I cannot really say surprised).

Maybe they are not familiar with the new trend…greenwashing lists.

We’re continuing our discussion on some of the themes I saw after looking through about 30 consumer-oriented magazines from travel to beauty to health to the environment.

As I mentioned in my last post, greenwashing is something that is continuing to happen to companies everywhere and greenwashing lists are one of the newer things that have emerged.

It’s really no surprise when you have some companies and manufacturers such as the car manufacturers claiming to be green when they are not. Granted, there are leaders in this industry and definitely laggards. The laggards know it and are trying to catch up, but unfortunately they are greenwashing sometimes without knowing it.

How?

They are claiming to have the lowest emissions to use ethanol fuel, etc. while polluting the environment in other endeavors.

Really, competition drives this greenwashing trend. Companies are trying to keep up with their nearest competitor and be the one to say, “we have the cleanest, lowest emission, gas-free, vehicles on the market.”

Some industries and businesses do not want to believe that greenwashing exists. They want to pull the covers up or totally ignore it saying it’s wrong. Whether it is or isn’t is not the real issue. The issue is how do you handle it?

Here are some quick ways to handle getting greenwashed:

I just spent the last 2 days traveling and speaking at the Maine Inn Keeper’s Lodging Management Institute workshop on green marketing for their inns. It was a whirlwind trip and well worth it.

While I was conducting my two-day workshop about green marketing, I mentioned to them that they could create an in-room guide book teaching people how to maintain their healthy, ecological (environmentally friendly) lifestyle while on the go.

You see, the most challenging thing for the eco-traveler is how to help them keep that consistent lifestyle and not have to compromise it while traveling. It is something very hard to do. We all know how we often abandon certain lifestyle habits while on the road—whether it is to indulge in that steak or eat a dessert.

Yet, it really would be much easier for the green consumer (eco-traveler) to not have to make these sacrifices at all—to have healthy, organic food options, “experience” vacations, and products that they could use that meet their lifestyle (soap, shampoo, etc.)

If you missed my last post, I discussed my trip to Maine and about connecting with the eco-traveler. I  also mentioned I’d discuss the healthy lifestyle part of the equation for the green and LOHAS consumer.

Before I go further, for those of you who are just starting to read my blog, LOHAS stands for Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability, a consumer who balances their personal health with their environmental concerns and concerns for society as a whole. You’ll often see me write about the LOHAS consumer in my posts so that you understand this is the consumer driving the green trends—green movement.

In this $200 billion plus LOHAS marketplace (predicted to be $420 billion in just 3 years!), there is one sector called “Healthy Lifestyles,” it encompassed organic food among other things.

This $27+ billion marketplace is the one aspect of green that companies often overlook; the second aspect is one of the other ones, “personal growth.” Personal growth is the mind, body, spirit connection for the LOHAS consumer—think yoga, fitness and weight loss.

My last two blog posts covered eco-tourism and how to help people stay healthy on the go as well as why there is this connection between green and health.

Think about it—would you want to breathe air that you knew was extremely polluted and would cause health problems? Probably not. Neither do these consumers and they also realize that their health can be impacted by their environment and what they eat.

In our research, LOHAS consumers indicated that they can control many health problems by the food that they eat. If the foods that they eat are full of pesticides, full of preservatives, and grown in soil that is polluted, will this allow them to keep their health in tip-top shape, they do not believe so. This is why there is a large connection between health and the environment and why you’ll often see green expos having a health component to them.

Here is something else to consider, if you are trying to appeal to the LOHAS consumer and green consumer, and you’re in a situation to either source locally grown food that is non-organic versus sourcing and offering nationally grown organic food, what do you do?

In my last blog posts I talked about the connection between health and green and the need to understand both to reach LOHAS consumers. This post, I wanted to concentrate on the importance of front-line training.

It doesn’t matter where I am speaking or to what industry I am talking, I seem to hear the same needs—“my staff doesn’t seem to understand how to communicate our green efforts” or “doesn’t seem to understand how to connect with the green consumer.”

Obviously, this is a challenge if you are looking to attract this consumer to your products and/or place of business. If your staff just doesn’t get it, then you’ll lose them for sure to someone else who does.

So what do you do?

In my last post, I talked about the importance of training your front line people to understand the green and LOHAS consumer. Since this is such an important subject, I’m continuing it in this post.

Once you truly understand green and LOHAS consumers, then think about what you are doing that fits in with their values and philosophies. What would keep them coming back to your facility and/or buying your products and services?

• If you serve food and beverages, are their some healthy eating options, especially organic and localized food choices?

• Are you operating in an environmentally friendly manner? Wind turbines, solar energy, low-flow toilets and shower heads (if you have that type of facility), composting, etc.?

• Are you using environmentally friendly products in your facility? Think about the soaps, lotions, hair items (if you provide them) cleaning supplies, water, etc.

• Do you use at least 30% recycled, post consumer waste paper and only when necessary? Do you print with soy-based inks?

In my last two posts, I discussed the importance of training your front-line people to understand the green and LOHAS consumer so that they stay your customer. Now that you understand the consumer and know how to ensure that their values meet yours, now it is time to communicate it to your staff.

Sometimes the communications piece is the one piece that is forgotten or neglected. Why? Because either it is thought that the staff already understands and automatically knows what it is you are doing or that it is not that important—consumers will just know.

Guess what? They won’t just know. Make it easy for them and train your staff what you are doing regularly.

Here are some ideas that you can employ:

In my last three posts, I talked about the importance of front-line training for your staff to more effectively communicate your environmentally friendly (green) efforts. Whether you are a hotel, B&B, retailer, medical office or any other type of business, this would apply.

Your front-line people could be the receptionist, secretary, cashier, scheduling person, manager, concierge, front-desk staff, etc. It really doesn’t matter who is on the front-line, it only matters that you teach them how to understand what you are doing that will attract green and LOHAS consumers and keep them patronizing your facility or place of business—buying your products and services.

I just met with the corporate health and wellness department of a hospital today. Initially when we spoke about training, they thought that they should only include their sales people, then realized that everyone needed to be trained to better understand the consumers, how to approach businesses with their health and wellness solutions, how to best present the information, etc.