If someone in your community were asked to recommend a Green Industry service and/or product, would you be seen as the provider?     

     To evaluate ongoing Industry market share, I recently contact a few relatively well-known sites. Anticipating a discussion of the over all impact of present-day economic downturn or use of strategies which ensure market share, I was astound when I received the response, “We don’t market or publicize our site’s activities.”

     To be candid, every time, I think the basic principles of acquiring market share are understood, I encounter another situation that so-to-speak ‘pulls the rug out from under’ my confidence. For, similar to other communications professionals, I’m focus on sharing strategies that enable a branded presence or use of new media formats such as ‘social media’; but, realistically, the majority of Green Industry professionals still lag at a level which prevents their understanding of why products and/or services must be publicized.

      Tony Avent owner of Plant Delights Nursery located in Raleigh, North Carolina describes this level as, “Unfortunately, the most misunderstood and overlooked component of business success is communication, a form of communication that establishes a brand of product, you.”

      Chris Beytes, editor & Publisher, GrowerTalks and Green Profit magazines says, “The green industry does so much good for our communities and our world ... we should be shouting that to the rooftops. But we hide out light under a bushel. Why? Mostly because too many growers and retailers simply don’t know how to go about promoting their business, or don’t know how important it is. They’re plant people, not marketers.”

      A few years ago, Leonard O. Morrow, PhD, retired botanist and horticulturist solicited my involvement in Industry communications because he recognized a gap between Green Industry and other professionals related to their understanding of the significance of creating Industry presence.

      So, why should you care? Individually and collectively the Industry is sliding into recession if not questionable survival. Are you aware of the demise of nation-wide Industry sites that have exist for decades? Are you aware of mergers which occur as an attempt to remain solvent? If you simply read this issue of the Mid-Atlantic Grower newspaper, you will more than likely learn of some type of product downturn or site close.

      Did you know LEED certification specific to water-efficient landscaping limits or eliminates use of potable water, or other natural surface or subsurface water resources available on or near the project site, for landscape irrigation? Related to lawn installation although a 50’ by 50’ grassy area provides the air quality for a family of four present-day recommendations reduce and/or eliminate its use. And, in most cases, specific to the use of landscape plant materials, there is a list of approved materials. So, basically, the traditional home site installation of one tree, three to five shrubs and a lawn has become limited use of plant material, lawns and the irrigation to support a landscape. Well, I have a question - were you and/or your representative Industry organizations involved in these decisions? At a time when the living green Industry should be more involved because nation-wide we seek to ‘go green’, the gap appears to widen.

    Why? As Beytes says, “too many growers and retailers simply don’t know how to go about promoting their businesses or don’t know how important it is”; and it is reflected when I receive a response such as “we don’t market or publicize our site’s activities.”

    As I’ve previously stated, I’m ‘jumping up and down’ trying to get the attention of the Green Industry that something is wrong; still, I’m only one person. So, my challenge to all is enable a form of communications that establishes a brand of eco product, you. Become the person in your community who is visualized as the provider of products and services.  Become the person who illustrates the traits of eco leadership, communicating your commitment with civility, honesty and integrity while positioning your self and/or product/service as a viable link in a network that supports the distribution of limited resources.

To share comments, ideas or strategies related to this subject or other communication topics, contact Sylvia@TheWrightScoop.com. Contribute to a series of topical discussions that are helpful to the Industry.

About the author – Sylvia Hoehns Wright, author of Market Share, make it work for you, challenges all to ‘grow green their market share’. To acquire Wright’s books or her assistance as an eco-biz communications specialist, link to www.TheWrightScoop.com Sylvia’s Store option or contact (804)672-6007.