Yeah, I know, you’ve been waiting on that last tip for green marketing. Just sitting on the edge of your seat in silent mouth-watering anticipation. And, believe me, I recognize the fact you probably feel like you’ve been waiting…
and waiting…and waiting…
And then, maybe wondering if I dropped off the face of the planet. 
Luckily, no, that did not happen. However, as you probably know, life is strange and things happen. Mixing being completely swamped (work, kids, school, sports, more work, etc) with a lack of ‘green’ inspiration makes for very lackluster blog posts. So, I decided to wait for that light bulb moment when inspiration strikes. And guess, what? Today, it happened.
It didn’t come in the form of marketing information, it came via a personal conversation I had early this morning with a family friend. The topic wasn’t really surprising – relationships between the sexes.
Um, yeah, I know. That topic can be a veritable quagmire especially when two friends (one male, one female) are trying to express their own personal opinions.
And it was a quagmire I found myself in at the close of our conversation. I wasn’t happy with the outcome. I didn’t feel like I expressed myself in a way that he really understood and then I found myself wondering (not aloud, thank goodness) why I was even expressing my opinion about this particular topic because how could I expect him to understand, he is a MAN, after all.
I know all you women out there are probably chuckling and nodding your heads right about now and all you men, please just indulge for a few more minutes because I am making a point.
I ended up in that quagmire because of stereotypes and skewed perceptions. His idea of the particular topic did not match my idea of the particular topic. I believe it’s healthy to throw around ideas and express opinions but as we got further into the conversation we both ended up expressing opinions based on our own stereotypes of deadbeat dads, divorced women, the perfect marriage and stupid men.
It was a deep pit with a lot of mud, doubly so because not only were we reverting to stereotypes (which drives me nuts, by the way, even though I am as guilty as the next person for making blanket stereotypical statements), but there was the whole man – woman thing going on where it was a lot like being in a foreign country and not being 100% fluent in the native language.
I consider myself to be very open-minded. But today, I threw my hands up in exasperation and to be honest was kind of ready to run for the door. Leave him to his thoughts and opinions and stereotypes. That’s when the light bulb moment hit. It didn’t just get very bright, it started blinking very loudly in neon.
I kept thinking you can never know who a person is, truly, until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes - experienced a similar joy, heartache, anxiety and love. Until you throw away your stereotypes, have a commonality and empathy you won’t know them in a way that counts and really means something.
It’s a big step. Most people can’t get there. They can’t put aside their stereotypes and perceived ideas about what should and shouldn’t be.
Which leads me to my point.
Green marketing tip # 10 is a whopper because if ever there was a group that had stereotype written all over it, it’s the ‘green’ market demographic. If ever there was a group that needed to not only be understood but empathized with it’s that same group. If you want to speak to this market demographic and have them listen and trust, you have to step out of your conventional comfort zone and step up to building an authentic relationship with them.
So, there you go. Finally, green marketing tip #10. My advice? Throw away your stereotypes. Walk your talk. Step out of your conventional comfort zone. Be real.
[...] Green Marketing Tip #10 - Throw Away Stereotypes and Be Real [...]