A2X Consulting

Thankfully, we live in an era where environmental awareness is becoming more and more popular of an idea. Whether it’s by way of irritating trend-following or programs and legislation that enacts legitimate change, it’s a good thing that people are realizing how important the environment is. Especially given our track record over the last few hundred years or so. Not only is this good news for the earth (and by extension, humanity as a whole), but it’s also great news for you, the green business owner!

Obviously, one of the first steps toward raising awareness about your green business is by actively promoting it as such. Let people know that you’re green, and then don’t let them forget it. By stressing your commitment to activism and change, you will be able to not only solicit more business (people always feel better when their money is going towards something that is ultimately beneficial), but it’s fantastic for your business’ brand equity.

And what better place to do this than the vast online frontier. The Internet is where new and cool things go to congregate, share, and be shared. The latter is the most important to the green business owner, and thankfully, you’ve got a very popular product on your hands. Taking to the Internet with a savvy online marketing presence or viral campaign can mean huge exposure for your new green business. All it takes is one clever image macro or video for the entire nation to suddenly know your name.

Once you’ve achieved the right degree of recognizability, you can use this to present yourself as a legitimately positive presence — a true force of good and agent of change. This takes work, though. You’ll have to make sure you and your business are active and consistent members of your community. The best way to create a good reputation is by doing things that get talked about. In a good way, that is. By maintaining your visibility through actions and programs that are actively beneficial to the markets you’re aiming to corner, you’ll eventually find your advertising being essentially free. People will talk about the good work you’re doing whether you want them to or not. And you definitely do.

Nobody’s going to talk about your awesome viral video or great campaign idea if you don’t know someone to begin with. Networking aggressively is something every business owner should be doing in the first place, but your green business is perfect fodder for the channels via which everybody is doing most of their networking anyway. Your company’s content is perfect for social network sites, but you can take it a step further. Network and form partnerships with other like-minded groups. You’re not necessarily participating in a zero-sum game. There are plenty of ways to help other organizations without hurting yourself. Finding that win-win situation is one of the keys to having a visible green company.

To that end, make yourself an active member of the discussion. The green sector has a built-in platform for continued discussion. Like any other marketplace, environmental businesses are continuing to develop and grow, and there’s a discussion that surrounds this progress. But what’s specific to the green sector is the fervor with which these things tend to be discussed. With the environment at stake, people have a tendency to discuss with a heightened passion. You can take advantage of this by having something useful and intelligent to say. Offer the marketplace a unique viewpoint, and have something useful to say. Joining the discussion gives any business a great deal of legitimate visibility.

There are a ton of ways to increase your business’ presence and drum up great PR. Thankfully, if your dream is a green business, you’ve got a wonderful discussion forum already established. Whether you’re specializing in criminal justice or starting a business oriented around urban planning, there are plenty of ways to give your idea an environmental spin. Then, all you need to do is get noticed!