Make Hay Ethical E-Media

When Jez and I set up Make Hay we had two clear aims in mind. One was to do business our own (ethical) way and the other was to try to play some part in encouraging consumers to think about where they spend their hard-earned cash. Even a small business can be influential in helping consumers choose green and ethical products and services but simply existing as a green or ethical business isn’t enough.

There are many reasons why a consumer would choose a particular product over another and if we want consumers to make green choices then businesses have a very definite role to play.

I read a really fascinating report sent to me via the Floov newsletter which addressed this issue. According to the McKinsey article, called ‘Helping Green Products Grow‘, most consumers do have concerns about climate change and how their buying behaviour contributes to it but there is a definite gap between those concerns and consumer habits.

The article talks about the 5 barriers to buying green and how to break those down. They are:

• Educate consumers
• Build better products
• Be honest
• Offer more
• Bring the products to the people

Some very valuable marketing advice here…

Read the ‘Helping Green Products Grow’ report here

Two marketing marvels that caught my eye recently are are the fantastic Shama Hyder’s ‘After the Launch’ blog and Peter Shankman’s ‘If I can help a reporter out’

Shama’s blog provides regular insights and ideas into creative marketing and networking. She shares her views on the best social networking sites and shows us how to use them to our advantage - www.afterthelaunch.com/blog/

Peter provides daily updates on stories being sought by journalists. If you can genuinely help a reporter out then that may mean publicity for you and an interesting article for them, its win win all round! - www.helpareporter.com

Knowing the activity of your website visitors can go a long way to learning how to increase their numbers.

If you don’t know how they found your site or what they do when they get there how can you maximise on the things that work well and improve the parts that are lacking?

What about those who aren’t yet your visitors?
Have you ever considered those who are looking for a service or product like yours on the web but didn’t find you? That’s a whole other world of potential customers!

We can work with you to investigate how your current website visitors behave as well as those who haven’t reached you yet and support you to get the best from the results.

You know what to do… contact us to find out more.

Don’t underestimate the power of the blogger.

In my experience the green blogging community is friendly, supportive and looking for green news and views to share.

Successful blogs have thousands of visitors a month and an active community around them who may well be interested to learn about you.

I wouldn’t recommend that you contact all of the green bloggers you can find and ask them promote your business - that may not be received very well at all. You should expect to do a bit of work for your publicity.

You may however wish to offer to write them an interesting article on an ethical or eco topic or provide them with a product to review. Each blogger will do things differently so make sure you check things out with them first.

At Green Girls Global and Green Guys Global we have opportunities for guest editor articles and product reviews and it works very well!

Who doesn’t love a bargain or a freebie?

Nowadays there are lots of great green and ethical web directories out there who work hard to aim their sites at consumers looking for ethical products and services.

Many of them do not charge for a basic listing in their directory and those who do tend to request a fee for some added benefits (e.g enhanced listings, graphical adverts etc).

The fab thing about online directories is, like any website, they can be visited by potential clients anywhere - there is no geographical limitation like a Yellow Pages book listing nor does it cost the visitor money to see it like a magazine advert would.

Here are a few directories we’ve found:

• allthingseco.co.uk
• Greenfinder
• Big Green Switch
• Eco Firms
• Eco Street
• E Magazine
• Environmentally Green Directory
• Ethical Directory
• Ethical Guide
• Green Directory
• Green Guide
• Green Place
• Guide me Green
• Living Ethically
• Look4Local
• One Green Earth
• Sust (Scotland only)

Of course there is our very own Make Noise (www.makenoise.co.uk) which offers that bit more by listing you on our website but also sending your details via a newsletter directly to Make Noise community members.

If you know of more ethical or green directories then let us know and we can share them here.