How to Use Earth Day to Your Small Business Advantage

The 40th Anniversary of Earth Day is April 22 and and if you haven’t thought about how to leverage it for your own PR purpose, you should. It is a holiday that almost any business can use to gain some visibility, even if your business hasn’t technically gone green yet.

Earth Day can be your green reprieve for the other 364 days of the year that you might be ignoring doing something green. You can easily come up with a earth-friendly initiative that your entire company can participate in.

Why is this good for your business?

Let’s look at some statistics. In the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) Supply Chain 2010 Report,  CDP members and their 710 suppliers responded to a survey about carbon emissions management in business:

• A majority (63%) have a formal, documented corporate climate change strategy and the remaining (37%) have general guidelines
• They have integrated a carbon policy into their procurement organization and 90% have a reduction plan in place
• 89% have a strategy in place to engage with suppliers on greenhouse gas emissions and climate change
• Within the next 12 months, they expect to significantly increase supplier relationship management processes and in the next 5 years, the importance of carbon versus classic procurement targets is expected to triple
• Members increasingly are committed to deselecting suppliers who fail to manage carbon – from 6% today, to 56% in the future

These statistics should be a reality check, especially for small businesses that are interested in supplying goods and services to large corporations. The survey demonstrates that businesses plan to cease working with companies that are not concerned with carbon emissions. For all you know, it could be that for every three potential customers that don’t care about your company’s green commitments there could be at least one that does. So that mean’s you could be missing out on new business.

Best Business Mastery Tip: This year, make sure your business does something special for Earth Day that you can also publicize in your community and to your customers. Plan it in advance so you have time to develop a press release and disseminate to the press. Get your employees involved in the initiative for more impact. Some companies plant trees as an Earth Day initiative. If you need guidance, you can work with the Arbor Day Foundation (http://www.arborday.org/programs/events/partner.cfm).

You can also make a sizeable donation to a local green-friendly organization. Maybe April is the month you unveil a new on-going green initiative or to the international Earth Day Network (www.earthday.org). Whatever you decide to do, make sure you publicize your efforts to employees, customers, suppliers, industry trade groups and your community at-large for a solid exposure.

– Shakira