Book Review– At the beginning of “Relevance: Making Stuff That Matters,” Tim Manners states that “an epidemic of irrelevance has brought once-powerful brands to their knees”. Perhaps, I am a bit younger than Manners, but I do not see what he calls an “epidemic” being anything more than business as usual, but perhaps I just lack perspective.
Some businesses have always been better than others, and once-good companies often lose their way. However, despite Manners’ [Armageddon-sounding] lead-in, I liked this book. The mini case studies Manners has collected show that having a quality, useful product or service is usually a primary requirement for success. You can’t tell consumers you are something fantastic and then not deliver upon that in terms of product usefulness, product quality, the sales experience, customer service levels, etc.
A Strong Brand Is Authentic and Relevant
Your brand is the sum total of the experiences people have with your company and product. If your product is irrelevant or your way of distributing the product is not really matching customers’ needs (even if only vanity needs), then your company is almost doomed to low sales volumes and/or high levels of returns.
Although the “Relevance” case studies are about companies in a wide variety of industries, very few of which are focused on green or sustainable strategies, Manners’ thesis provides an interesting discussion point for green businesses.
Most green businesses are counting on the fact that a potential customer will care about the green business practices of the company and/or that the customer is buying the product or service in order to live more sustainably. As a green company, you have a trmemendous opportunity to make a difference in the lives of green-minded consumers and acheive both brand loyalty and possibly even advocacy.
Greenwashing Is Topical, Not Relevant
This is good for green business owners. Manners’ thesis implies that companies who are not truly sustainable but who are greenwashing their brands will fail. If a company is not as green as it can be throughout its operations and product development, the public will eventually show their green preferences by taking their business elsewhere.
Your Brand is Everything
One of Manners’ case studies that best encapsulates “provide something unique and useful first, tout it later” has to do with Staples, the office supply chain. In 2001, when the Company was swimming in customer complaints, Staples researched what customers wanted. The answer was just that they wanted to be able to easily find the product they came into the store to get. (Business is not rocket science.)
Staples re-branded the Company by:
1. paring down the number of products in a store (removing 800 items)
2. adding larger signs to help customers find what they came in to get
3. training sales people to walk customers to the ailse where a needed product is located
4. making sure they kept sufficient inventory of the most popular items (printer cartridges) in all stores
After a year spent implementing these changes, Staples launched a “That Was Easy” campaign. If they had launched that marketing campaign before the real experience of shopping in a Staples store was truly easy, you can just imagine the number of angry customers they would have had. Instead, Staples has a brand, store experience and product selection that they can stick with and that customers want to stick with.
More reading on branding for green businesses:
The Six Sins of Greenwash and How to Repent
Less Is More, A Truly Green Product is Packaged Green
I agree that companies that are guilty of greenwashing will fail (at least as green companies). The trouble is that too much greenwashing can lead to green fatigue, which is not good for companies that are legitimately providing Earth-friendly solutions. My client, StalkMarket explores this topic on the company’s new blog at http://blog.stalkmarketproducts.com (see posts on greenwashing and green fatigue). I hit the topic from a PR perspective on my blog http://blog.koifishcommunications.com
Yes, that is a problem. Truly sustainable companies need to differentiate themselves with “proof points”, such as facts about ingredients, transparency about sourcing, information on their websites about energy savings and other in-house green initiatives, etc. That way consumers’ response to green claims will be “prove it”. — Leah
One simple benchmark is the 100-mile sustainable radius; produced, manufactured and consumed.
Company’s can then argue their points from this fundamental.
Brewse