Companies seeking innovative online green marketing can benefit from Yahoo!’s success & strategies

At the recent Sustainable Brands ’08 Conference in Monterey, CA, Yahoo’s director of social responsibility, Erin Carlson, offered insight and strategies for reaching green consumers online. Carlson states that focus groups, new strategies, and frequent experimentation have resulted in a focused and successful marketing program. For example, the company’s popular Green Centers, located on many Yahoo content channels, draw consumer attention to green products while building a socially responsible image for the Yahoo brand. Below, Carlson identifies Yahoo’s major findings in online green marketing trends:

• Consumers don’t want doom and gloom. They want to hear about optimistic innovations, such as a story on an air-powered car that received many hits.
• There’s a lot of skepticism about celebrities’ green endorsements. “People want to know if there’s been a back-room deal signed to promote that star’s image,” Carlson said. Imagery of real people making a difference is much more effective.
• Consumers love surprises. Some of last year’s biggest clickthroughs? An article about a woman who lives in an 84-square-foot house, and a feature on the Pope adding environmental degradation to list of sins.
• What’s in it for me? Consumers are interested in new gadgets that save money and products that offer health benefits.
• There’s a shift from awareness to action. Top-searched environmental term in 2006? “Climate change.” Top-searched in 2007? “Recycling.”

Based on Yahoo’s experience, Carlson suggests that online marketers should piggyback green advertising on traditional high-interest categories and channels. In doing so, marketers will reach a subset of potential customers that does not always seek out environmentally-friendly products in lieu of conventional items.

For the full article, visit Sustainable Life Media