When the green movement first started garnering major awareness a few years ago, it seemed that any eco-friendly product or service was able to capitalize on the attention and get positive press and accolades.  As the movement continues to grow and green products flood the market, however, it has become harder for new brands to infiltrate the cluttered marketplace of  green marketing. As consumers continue to get inundated with green messaging, new products and services are under much more scrutiny and must do more to differentiate themselves from the pack. Having handled the public relations for a few green brands, I have a few tips for how eco-friendly products can distinguish themselves in the green market.

Provide value

The down economy affected the green market considerably. Just being green isn’t enough anymore, and consumers are much less likely to pay a premium for green products and services. Consumers have to see green products as providing value to their lives, especially if the products cost more than a non-green alternative.

Implement a corporate culture of sustainability

These days, just having an eco-friendly product or service is not enough. Companies have to practice what they preach and embody a corporate culture of sustainability. Has your green company implemented sustainable business practices, such as recycling, using renewable energy, consuming less and conserving water, as well? Is your company involved with green charities and organizations? Green initiatives should be implemented across all sectors of the company.

Provide a unique product or service

Provide something new and different to the market. It is much harder to gain recognition if there are 20 other brands that offer a very similar product or service to yours.  Do we really need another basic, organic cotton t-shirt company?

Be committed and authentic

So many brands are trying to capitalize on the green movement by making small tweaks and throwing an eco-friendly label on their product. The public is getting much more savvy and is no longer buying it. If a company is not fully committed to the cause, and is just trying to jump on the bandwagon, it can backfire. If, for example, you are using organic cotton, but are also using toxic dyes, you might face scrutiny and a backlash from the media and the public.  Don’t claim to be eco-friendly unless you can really back it up.  And as with any brand, authenticity is key.

Do you have other tips for green brands? Which green brands do you think are doing a good job?

*This post is part of Bailey Gardiner’s Public Relations Tactics series, which highlights tools and best practices to ensure a successful public relations campaign. The series will run weekly.

We have all had a client that wants to be on Oprah or wants a full-page feature in the Wall Street Journal, whether they are a fit or not. And wants it tomorrow. PR pros often encounter a client with unrealistic expectations, and it is the public relations firm’s responsibility to properly manage a client’s expectations. When starting a new public relations campaign or a new relationship with a client, an agency should remember:

Don’t over-promise.

When you are pitching new business or planning a new campaign, don’t promise the moon if you cannot deliver. Be realistic about what outcomes and successes can be expected for your public relations campaign and it won’t come back and bite you in the butt later when you cannot achieve what you said you could.

Explain the public relations process to your client.

Not all clients understand how public relations works, what is a normal time frame for getting press, and what is a reasonable outcome. Share the process with your client. Explain the details of your strategy, objectives and tactics. It could also be beneficial to share case studies with your client to help frame reasonable expectations for a public relations campaign.

Set and agree upon your scope of work, goals and benchmarks in advance.

Establish in advance how your success will be measured. Write down how you will be evaluated, discuss with your client and get approval. Make sure your client knows what falls under your scope of work and what they are responsible for doing. This should all be agreed upon before work begins.  Once work does begin, always provide your client with detailed reports on your progress and report your benchmarks clearly.

Communicate with your client, and communicate with them often.

This is most important, as the key to a great client relationship is communication. Having consistent communication ensures everyone is on the same page and your client is not in the dark about what you are doing, when they can expect results, and what those results might be.

Any other tips for managing client expectations?

As winter approaches, people are starting to think about the upcoming holidays.  Here at Bailey Gardiner, though, our creative public relations team has had the holidays on our mind since May, when we first started strategizing our holiday gift guide pitching efforts for our client, Electra Bicycles.  For most consumer products, one of the holy grails of media coverage is the holiday gift guide. It is important that companies be top-of-mind when consumers stampede the malls and begin the holiday shopping frenzy. Because the holiday gift guide placements are so coveted, they are also very competitive.  Here are a few simple tips for pitching gift guides:

Start pitching gift guides earlier than you think.

Long-lead publications often start planning their gift guides as early as June.  Even dailies will often start planning in August. Think ahead and start your pitching early. Like I mentioned, we started pitching for Electra in May.

Offer editors something new.

Most editors are looking for new items for the gift guide.  Whether it’s a new product entirely, a new model, or a new color, your best bet to scoring gift guide ink is by offering something they have not seen before.

Find out how the gift guide will be divided and structured.

Often times the gift guide is divided into different sections, whether they are by recipient, trend, price or category.  Ask the editor what types of products they are looking for and see where your client fits.  For Electra, we pitched the bicycles for a wide range of gift guide categories like men’s, women’s, luxury, children’s, eco-friendly, celebrity favorites and more.

Be prepared to send samples and images.

Editors will often need samples and images months in advance. Make sure you are prepared and, more importantly, make sure your client is aware of the gift-guide pitching schedule so they have ample time to provide you with whatever you need.

Do you have any other tips to score holiday gift guide coverage?

There is no doubt that the public relations industry is evolving at a rapid pace.  Remember when people would fax the media press releases one by one? Those days are gone and have been replaced by social media press releases, Twitter pitches and company blogs for news distribution.  And while email has become the distribution tool du jour for public relation firms across the world, there is still a time

and place for that traditional, old-school public relations delivery method: Snail mail.

Here at Bailey Gardiner, a San Diego public relations firm, we recently integrated traditional mail (yes the kind from the Post Office!) into our media outreach for our client, Electra Bicycle Company.  Electra’s bikes are well known for their strikingly visual bicycles and their colorful, playful catalogs embody the company’s eclectic style.

While I love and prefer email for being faster, easier and more eco-friendly, in certain instances sending an actual hard copy of materials helps make more of a statement.  When we planned to announce Electra’s 2010 bicycle lines, it made sense to incorporate their beautiful catalogs into our media outreach.

We sent each person on our target media list a catalog, a personalized letter and a pretty Electra bicycle bell. The response was immediate and positive, and I feel much stronger than had we just emailed everyone the information.  The Electra catalog is a strong, eye-catching marketing piece, and it is much harder to ignore or delete than an email.

Traditional mail is definitely not the preferred delivery method for all things public relations, but if a company has a strong marketing piece that makes a bold statement, like Electra, consider sending it the old-fashioned way.  It can do wonders to get an editor’s attention.  What else do you still send to media via traditional mail?

When we first started handling the public relations for Electra Bicycle Company, I was thrilled.  Now let me start by saying that I am not a bike enthusiast by any means.  I am more likely to be found at a mall than a bike path.  I didn’t read bicycle or fitness magazines, and I am probably not what many would consider the target demographic for bicycle marketing.

I do, however, own an old, beat-up bike, and though I don’t bike far or often, every now and then, I will take a leisurely ride around the bay.  While I may not be on the market for a bicycle, if I saw a bicycle that spoke to me, I would definitely consider buying it. For my lifestyle, bicycles are more of a fashion statement and a means for self-expression rather than a fitness tool, and I am most likely to look at bicycles in a fashion magazine.  And I am not alone.

It is important for bicycle brands to grow their market segment by targeting a larger audience that may not know they love bicycles yet, but could become fans of your brand.   With Electra, we not only target fitness and bicycle publications, but fashion, celebrity, design and travel publications, too.  By expanding our outreach, we are reaching a much larger audience of bicycle fans and would-be bicycle fans.  I am a prime example of that… I may not have been in the market for a new bike and I may not be a hard-core bicyclist, but I have already picked out which new Electra bike I will be purchasing this Fall.

There has been lots of focus lately in the marketing/social media communities about how you should or should not use social media.  I personally find the endless rules and regulations constricting, and against what social media is really about – being social and interacting with other people.

Social media is the most transparent of all media.  It’s about you, the individual, and we are all different.  So why should one person’s social media rules be your rules?  In the real world we all communicate differently, and the same should go for the social media world.

Case in point:  On Twitter, @shitmydadsays has only tweeted 22 times and already has 153,245 followers.  He is following one person.  He doesn’t retweet anyone.  He doesn’t reply to anyone.  He breaks all the Twitter etiquette rules and still has a huge following that grows by the day.  Why?  He is funny.  He tweets hilarious quotes his 73 year-old dad says.  I don’t care if he thanks me for retweeting him or follows me back.  He provides comical relief and has amassed a huge following of people who just want to hear his tweets regardless of his etiquette.

I think the only real rule to social media is to figure out what works for you.   Everyone has different goals, a different voice, and will inevitably need a different strategy and different tools to communicate your message effectively.   Figure out who you are, what you are trying to say, and whom you are trying to reach and you will pretty quickly figure out which rules work for you, and which don’t.

And don’t worry about pleasing everyone, just like in real life, you can’t.

Observe the Bailey Gardiner office at 9:00 AM sharp on any given day, and you might see some of the employees scream in defeat, cheer with victory, or scurry to their neighbor’s computer screen to see the latest deeply discounted goods being offered on Gilt.com.

If you are not familiar, Gilt is an invite-only online shopping site that offers luxury brands at up to 70% off.  Gilt has changed the game for online shopping sites. Every day at 9 AM PST sharp, a new sale starts. Once the sale starts, shoppers have 36 hours to shop, however usually everything sells out within mere minutes.  Gilt has become a phenomenon, gaining one million members within 18 months of launching.  What makes Gilt so successful is that it feeds some of our most simple human desires:

• We love a good deal.  We may be in a recession, but most of us still want nice stuff.  We just don’t want to pay full price for it.  There is something deeply satisfying about getting a Chloe dress for 50% off, satisfying enough for me to often overlook the fact that I still spent hundreds of dollars I wasn’t planning on spending.

• We want to win.  Shopping on Gilt is like gambling.  Usually you have seconds to decide whether you like something enough to buy it, add it to your shopping cart, and check out before everything on the site is sold out. When I do succeed, and get that confirmation that my purchase has been processed, I get that winner’s euphoria like I won the jackpot.
•  We don’t want to miss an opportunity.  There is a sense of urgency with Gilt.  If you don’t buy right now, you will miss your opportunity.  This fear of missing out has caused me to make far too many impulse purchases than I would like to admit.
• We want to feel special and included.  Since Gilt is invite only, members feel like they are part of an exclusive club.  Gilt also often puts brands I could normally not afford within grasp.

For many, shopping is already a euphoria-inducing activity, and Gilt has figured out how to heighten that experience by satisfying our basic desires as consumers.  Sadly, I admit I am hooked.  Are you a Gilt member yet? What do you love (or hate) about the site?

I love magazines.  Ever since I read my first Highlights Magazine as a kid I was hooked.  I now subscribe to over 10 magazines (in addition to the dozens I read for work), and nothing makes me happier than coming home to a mailbox full of Nylon, Travel & Leisure, Lucky Magazine and, yes I admit it, US Magazine, too.  You can imagine my excitement when Kevinie, my Bailey Gardiner colleague, introduced me to Mine, a new customized magazine that combines top articles from some of the best magazines out there, like Time, Food & Wine, and InStyle.  Just go to Mine Magazine site and in a few weeks a totally customized magazine will come to your mailbox.  And best of all, it’s free.  Is this the future of magazines?  I hope so.

Zagat released the results of their 2009 Hotels, Resorts & Spas Survey last week, and in these times of economic uncertainties, it is more important than ever for the hospitality industry to pay attention to these results. According to Zagat, “the 2009 guide covers 1,001 hotels, resorts and spas nationwide based on input from 14,049 frequent travelers and travel professionals, such as meeting planners and travel agents.”

According to the survey, travelers’ main complaint about the hotel industry is poor service, followed by poor room conditions.  In a time where hotels need to work harder to gain and maintain customer loyalty, the hospitality industry needs to address travelers’ issues and offer them the services and amenities they are demanding, and incorporate them into their brand.   I thought about my priorities when picking a hotel, and came up with this list of things I look for most in a hotel.  I plan to share my list, and the Zagat survey, with all my hotel clients.

Service:  When I book a hotel, I expect more than just a room.  I want an entire experience, and this includes a high level of service.  I want a friendly, fast and attentive staff.  I am much more willing to overlook mistakes if they are met with an apology and a fast correction (an added upgrade, gift or discount doesn’t hurt either).  For me, the “make or break” aspect of a hotel is often the reception, concierge, room service, and/or other staff members.

Personalization: Little personal touches go a long way.  I don’t want to be treated like part of a herd, I want my specific preferences to be addressed- and hopefully remembered.  Everyone is different and hotels should treat each guest like they are the most important person in the hotel.

Value:  This might be the most important thing I look for in a hotel.  At the end of the day, I want to feel that my money was well spent and I got what I paid for.  I am always willing to take a chance on a new hotel if they are offering an irresistible deal.  And, if I love my experience, they will have a loyal customer for life, and I am likely to return again and again.

What matters most to you when you are choosing a hotel?

One of my favorite PR websites is The Bad Pitch Blog.  For us PR geeks, it’s a great place to get a laugh at the expense of some other publicist.

It is also a great reminder of the embarrassment you can suffer if you don’t pitch responsibly.  I have vowed that I never, ever wanted to see one of my pitches on the site, and I have accumulated a few tips over the years that any publicist can follow to keep themselves off the Bad Pitch Blog. These may seem like common sense, but the folks at the Bad Pitch Blog have proof that there are plenty of publicists who don’t know how to pitch responsibly, and seriously, those few are just making us all look bad.

To keep yourself off the Bad Pitch Blog always remember:

Do your research: Before you pitch a journalist, take a moment to research their publication and their past work.  Then, instead of blanketing everyone with one generic pitch, customize your pitch to each journalist. Just show journalists you did some homework, I promise they will appreciate it.  I once met a freelance journalist for lunch, and she told me she responded to my cold pitch and wrote about my client because I was the only publicist to actually google her, go to her website, read which publications she wrote for and what subjects she covered, and reference her past work in my pitch.  She has since become a great contact and has written about a number of my clients.

Tell a good story:  Send an INTERESTING pitch.  You are trying to sell your client and make someone want to write about them, so make sure you don’t bore them.  This also means spell check your work and make sure there are no typos.  It only takes a couple of seconds and it really does make a difference.

Be Patient: Relationships take time to build and it takes awhile to earn a journalist’s trust and respect.  And don’t expect instant results from your pitches. I have often sent a pitch and six months later gotten a response, when the journalist was finally working on a story that my client was a fit for.  This also means you do not need to follow up with editors every day and leave 30 messages.  Trust me, they got the first message.

Be available and ready:  Journalists are often working on tight deadlines, so if you pitch them a story, be proactive and anticipate what an editor will ask for and have it ready, whether it’s quotes, photos, information, or a representative to interview.  This is especially crucial if you are pitching breaking news.

Don’t take shortcuts:  Finally, and most importantly, even though there are a lot of tools and technology to help publicists do their jobs these days, there are still no shortcuts.  You still have to do the work if you want to be noticed in the sea of publicists, so don’t be lazy!

What other tips would you recommend for pitching responsibly?