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Small businesses have a tendency to adopt best practices that work for the most successful companies in their industry. This helps get a young business going, but at some point you get comfortable. That’s when it’s most important to innovate.
Looking outside of the green industry is one way to compare and contrast your best practices to be sure they are still valid.
This year I’ve worked with small businesses in a number of industries, including real estate, health care, transportation and agriculture. Not surprisingly, they are all dealing with many of the same issues we face here in the green industry.
Nevertheless, here are a couple of interesting observations: 1. Sustainability and social media marketing are the two universally hot topics. 2. Despite that, the rate of adoption is not only variable, but often quite low.
Sustainability and Social Media
Sustainability and social media marketing have a lot in common. They are both difficult to define, and therefore, they are often misunderstood. Still, when I speak to companies about social media marketing I hear: “We need to be doing this.” I suspect that holds true for sustainability, too. So, what is holding everyone back?
There is always reluctance to change when work is involved. And it gets even more difficult when the payoff is long-term or difficult to quantify. Yet, these trends are here to stay, and it’s a big mistake to ignore them.
Change Requires Leadership
We are entering an extended period where the general mindset is one of less is more. This is why green or sustainable business practices are in vogue. And as a low-cost marketing medium that delivers sustainable results, social media dovetails nicely with the concept of sustainability. But, you do need a willingness to change and do the work.
Change can be scary, but that fear helps you to identify the areas where you most need to innovate. What makes you uncomfortable is usually important; otherwise you wouldn’t notice it at all. This is a time to trust your gut and take the lead in order to avoid the risk of becoming irrelevant.
Engage with Your Customers
From a practical standpoint, why not also consider using this to help your customers? What is making them uncomfortable? Are they concerned about green practices? Social media can help you to learn a lot if you use it to listen, engage more frequently and collaborate intensively. All it takes is an investment of 20 minutes each day.
The challenge with social media is to recognize that it is not marketing in a traditional sense. Marketing supports your selling efforts. Social media is another layer that supports both marketing and selling by building and enhancing relationships.
Staying in touch with clients, influencers and friends will always be a business and personal best practice.
My take on the state of the green industry is much the same as for other small businesses: To be relevant in the future, you will have to make significant changes in how you market, how you operate and, consequently, how you will lead your company. The key is recognizing that any reluctance you have is just an indication of what you already know: You need to be doing this.
Jeff Korhan is a speaker, consultant and top-ranked blogger on new media and small business marketing at www.jeffkorhan.com. Mail korhan@gie.net.
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