Branding and Marketing

Posted by Chris Brown on October 28th, 2008 in Marketing

Get Direction from 59 Examples of Government Guidelines

Good marketing educates and persuades. It clearly connects the benefits of a product or service to the customer who needs to buy it and the end user who needs to use it.

I’ve found that it can be all too easy for even well intentioned marketers, copywriters, web designers and graphic designers to get carried away in an effort to position the product/service in the best light. As a marketing professional, it’s your responsibility to accurately portray the benefits… as well as capture the customer’s attention and persuade them to take the next step into the sales process!

Marketing Guidelines for Recycling
One resource I have found gives lots of examples of what not to do and why. These 7500 words of Federal Trade Commission guidelines help to draw the line in the sand for environmental marketing claims about recycling, degradable, biodegradable, photodegradable, and pre-consumer or post-consumer content.

If you are marketing a green service or product and want to describe it as refillable, recyclable, ozone safe or environmentally friendly, you’ll want to consult these guidelines.

Missing Marketing Guidelines for Sustainability
Unfortunately, the guidelines do not address claims based on a “lifecycle” theory of environmental benefit, because “The Commission lacks sufficient information on which to base guidance on such claims.” I’m sure they are working on it, but it makes it tough when you are working on branding and marketing products with sustainability benefits.

What resources do you use when looking for direction in describing environmental benefits of your product or service? Leave a comment or send me an email.