I had a great Skype conversation last Monday with Mario Vellandi of Melodies in Marketing and Sustainable Life Media. Among other things we talked about, he asked me a good question: What do you need to make your life as a practitioner of sustainable marketing better?
I’m working on my next marketing seminar for Mercy Corps Northwest‘s clients, which will cover using social media as a sustainable marketing practice to grow micro and small businesses. I’m researching case studies and examples of effective use of social media by local micro/small businesses, so my answer to Mario’s question related to my experience. I could use a resource for examples or case studies of local small businesses implementing sustainable marketing practices.
Sure enough, there is an abundance of corporate sustainability news and case studies. Sites like TreeHugger, Environmental Leader, Triple Pundit, Sustainable Life Media and others frequently feature stories about sustainable products or brands. Two challenges I run into: 1) Most of what I read about outside-in implementation covers major brands and corporations (Kraft, Gap, or Tesco, just from a quick look at one site as I’m writing); and 2) among the inside-out, deep-green companies, I keep reading about the same handful of worthy businesses (Stonyfield Farms, Patagonia, Seventh Generation, or ShoreBank Pacific, to name a few most darling ones).
I could be looking at the wrong places or not paying attention. Maybe a small hyper-local sustainable business resource site is already out there. Maybe someone’s already working on it. If so, please let me know.
In the meantime, I’d like to know more about what small businesses in different cities around the country and the world are doing (though I do have a bias for Portland). If news is going hyper-local, why not micro/small business case studies?
For my seminar, I’ll use the examples of Dave’s Killer Bread, Twisted, Whiffies, and hopefully a few others to demonstrate the effective use of social media in a local market. (Please recommend in Comments other examples of small businesses successfully engaging in social media.)
Small businesses must implement sustainability, including in their marketing. Many do. I, and I suspect other sustainable marketing practitioners, would like to know about it. Who? What? Why? How? Where? With what results?
Here’s a call for you, small, sustainable businesses in Portland, Oregon and elsewhere: Get in touch with me (via email or in Comments) and let’s publish your story of implementing sustainable marketing practices. I’m looking forward to it.
Because a case study is worth a thousand ads.
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Image credit: Zarko Drincic
