I’m often asked by many businesses if they need to be “100% green” to reach the green and LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) consumers. I quickly respond by indicating to them that to reach a consumer who makes purchases based on their core values, you need to understand that consumer first. It reminds me of the saying, “seek to understand, then be understood.”

These consumers (LOHAS and green) do not expect you to be perfect. In the same respect, they expect you not to pretend to be entirely green if you’re not. For example, don’t claim to be helping improve people’s health on one hand then be polluting the waterways with chemical-laden products on the other hand. I often talk about transparency. This is not only important, but critical to capturing LOHAS and green consumers as customers. They want to know that your company shares their values and ideals.

I recently conducted another interview with Conde Naste’s online magazine, portfolio.com on the subject of eco-marketing to the mainstream consumer. I thought it might be a helpful topic to share with you today since eco-marketing is so often misunderstood.

Eco-marketing, green marketing, etc.—whatever you call it, you need to either understand the marketplace or hire an expert who does. Not “getting it” in this arena could lead your business to spiral in a downward motion quickly.

Here are some important rules to live by in eco-marketing to mainstream consumers:

1. You need to minimize sacrifices that consumers make in order to buy and use green products and services. If you don’t, you’ll never get them to purchase your product or service.

2. Environmental attributes are important--the more attributes the better. Don’t forget to list benefits for your attributes as well.

3. If consumers face a trade-off with product attributes, the environment always loses. Keep-in-mind, green and LOHAS consumers will rate the environment at the top of their list often, yet the product needs to perform equally or superior than a conventional counterpart for them to even consider it.

In today’s discussion, we’ll talk about my six steps to marketing green. I shared some of these in an article I wrote for Enterprising Women Magazine.

Be seen as credible when marketing green, when you follow these steps:

1. Determine your goals and who you want to reach. If you are looking to reach the green leaders who have stronger green values, you’ll want to concentrate on publications that speak directly to them such as Utne or Mother Earth. If you are looking to reach more of a mainstream consumer who is just getting interested and some LOHAS consumers, you could focus on the Discovery Channel.

2. Tell your story. Green consumers need to be able to identify with your company’s brand and the products and services you represent. By telling your story, they’re able to tie in their values with yours making your message better resonate with them.

3. Be real and authentic. Disclose everything everywhere—on your website, in your collateral material, in your conversations, etc. Even if the truth about products and services you offer is not-so-pretty, disclose it anyway. It will prevent you from becoming greenwashed (The practice of companies making their products appear to be environmentally sound when they are not.)

We’ll cover the final three steps in my next post. Until then, stay true to your green message and initiatives.

Helping You Understand and Profit from Consumer Health and Green Trends

Colette Chandler