This post has been sitting as a draft for a while now, so I figure its not getting any better sitting and gathering dust.

A few months ago, I had the opportunity to attend a CMA Ottawa presentation on The Six Sins of Greenwashing with TerraChoice’s President and CEO, Scott McDougall. Scott discussed the research his firm did behind the usage and recognition of misleading eco-marketing practices, the results of which they summarized into what they call “The Six Sins of Greenwashing“. They surveyed six category-leading big box stores and identified 1,018 consumer products bearing 1,753 environmental claims. Of those 1,018 products, all but one made claims that were demonstrably false or that risked misleading intended audiences.

Incidentally, TerraChoice also does product validation for the EcoLogo certification program, so if you’re interested in EcoLogo certification, get in touch with them. Onward.
The “Six Sins of Greenwashing” are ordered by the frequency that they were found to have appeared in the marketplace sample. Read more »

I was at Chapters a little while ago, and while browsing through one of the isles, when something struck me. There were two books, both bestsellers, both featuring bald heads on the cover. A coincidence maybe? At first I thought so but then I began to wonder if there was more it, if i was on to something? I took another look through the Amazon bestseller lists, and was able to come up with a few other books featuring bald authors on the cover. These books obviously do well as a result of the quality of thought and writing, but the pattern seems just too compelling to ignore. Some of the bestsellers I came across included:

• Jim Cramer’s Stay Mad Life
• Total Money Makeover - Financial Fitness
• Many of Seth Godin’s books (Permission Marketing, Unleashing the Idea Virus, All Marketers are Liars)

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Almost everybody thinks that marketing is easy, that just about anybody could be a marketeer if given the chance. People figure that because time watching TV and scrutinizing ads in the subway that this gives them a qualified opinion on the subject. Unfortunately, not everyone can be a marketeer they spend a lot of because having on opinion on marketing isn’t the same as marketing.
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Never talk about your product.

Not ever, not even once.

Talk around it, talk over it, talk under it but never talk about your product.

Why not talk about your product? Simple. You’re too close to it. No one will believe you. So talk about what other people are saying, experiencing and sharing about your product instead.

I’m not talking testimonials here either, I’m talking about real stories about real people with real experiences. Stories in their own voices.

It’s what people say about a product that speaks, not the the product.

Have you ever read a disclaimer or a condition that comes with a a marketing offer and wondered what the $*%# does this mean? Well so have I, and after figuring these things out (the hard way), I’ve decided to spare you, my dear readers the same agony by putting together a little translation guide. So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are the real meanings behind ten of the most insidious marketing lies. Read more »