What Kermit the Frog & Today's Businesses Have In Common

Ok, I'm an Internet Marketing Specialist.  What does that mean?  I understand how the Internet likes to communicate and reward people for doing it.

Here's my dilemma:  I'm not green.  My business isn't green, either.

See, I see this new movement (be it environmentally friendly or marketing savvy) of "Going Green" as something that I would love to capitalize on.  But Kermit the Frog said it best, "It's NOT easy being green!"

Sure, companies like DELL can offer to "plant a tree" for you when you buy a computer (if you give them a couple of bucks, of course), but call me skeptical, I really look at that as checking the little box on my tax return saying, "Would I like to donate to the General Election Fund?"  I honestly don't believe I'm going to see a big return on that investment.

And when it comes to our business, Trinity Solutions Inc., which is run from the convenience of an office (ours or our clients) or a local Panera Bread (sorry, Starbucks, we LOVE free WiFi at Panera's), I don't see us REALLY helping the environment by promoting an additional service like planting a bush or tree for our clients.   Sure, I could say, "For every hour of our service you use with us, we'll plant a tree in honor of your company," but honestly, I don't have that much space in our yard to plant and by the time my kids got finished mowing the grass, that client's tree would probably be splinters lying in our neighbor's driveway.

I don't like the idea either of us marketing being "on the side of green" and doing something like having a tree on our website or making the pages all green.   Ok, so the electronic bits on your screen have all turned green, but I have to think that the green ones use as much energy as the blue, red, brown, and orange ones as well.   Granted, it might be like M&Ms back in school when the Green ones were suppose to give you more prowess with the opposite sex, but I have to believe that a "green website" is not going to be some sort of carbon-friendly pheromone that attracts clients our way.  And honestly, I'd be a little scared to meet the clients it would attract.  So, that won't work.

All that being said, my dilemma still is, "How do I promote being green when I'm not really doing anything about it?"  As I see it, I can do one of the following:

1.  Lie through my teeth ( I've seen enough political commericials now to know how.)

2.  Give away recycled plastic grocery bags to all my clients (Now, there's a new promotional item instead of pens & highlighters.)

3.  Hang out with Kermit & wait for the Free Market to come up with the answer.

Personally, I like # 3.   For now, I'll just keep doing my business by helping other clients make more money while I wait for someone smarter than me to come up with an invention that makes drinking coffee with clients and working on a laptop more environmentally friendly.  When that happens, I'll use their service and promote the hell out of them.  Until then, I'll just be content in helping my clients make some "green" (and us as well) and in turn, possibly bring my own coffee cup to Panera Bread.

Nah...  The coffee tastes better in theirs.