In a newly eco-conscious business world, an environmentally friendly image can make the difference between profit and loss. One of the quickest and most effective ways to let your customers know your business is environmentally friendly is using an eco-friendly printer for your marketing materials, especially for brochure printing.

Being environmentally conscious as a business has become a mark of a forward thinking, responsible and profitable businesses. Besides helping the environment, using eco-friendly brochures is a cost effective, efficient way for new businesses to attract consumers with their environmentally friendly image, or for old businesses to update and improve their image.

It only takes something as small as a tiny icon on the back of your brochure to give consumers the impression of an eco-friendly business. Many images, such as the ubiquitous recycling label or the tree shaped “post consumer waste” label are commonly recognized and are the fastest way to promote an environmentally friendly image. Since people tend to hang onto brochures anyway, it is easy to capitalize on that image by putting a note on the back asking consumers to recycle their brochure when they are finished with it, or making it out of a material that is easily reusable for another purpose.

Eco-friendly materials have come along way from simple recycled paper. Rather than simply relying on color printing to grab consumers’ attention, why not use a more visually and tactilely attractive material? Many higher end eco-friendly printing shops can provide paper made out of materials as exotic as banana plants, coffee, or even rocks. Using such an unusual material for brochure printing can be really eye catching to consumers and opens up the door for very creative marketing that sticks with customers.

Even more traditional brochures can still promote an eco-friendly image by using environmentally friendly inks. Made of sustainable materials like corn and soy, these inks provide the same quality of color printing as traditional inks, and can be a subtle, but effective way to include an environmentally friendly aspect to your marketing. In the long run, using eco-friendly inks or an eco-friendly printer can even save money, as the ink cartridges are refillable and reusable.

With all the benefits of traditional brochure marketing, eco-friendly brochures are a clearly effective marketing tool. While still affordable for companies, eco-friendly brochures are not only an attractive way of marketing, but also give consumers more confidence in your company.

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch.

Think back to the ads you actually remember. The infamous Mac versus PC ones. The award-winning Mr. W ad with a touching twist. More than likely, the videos were made by former professionals in the film industry. Not convinced?

Just check out the list of credits behind the two to three minute YouTube teasers on GreenWorldAds. Many hail from a history of doing independent film work or music videos. Read the rest of this entry »

A Green Printer interview with Carmen Spagnola, entrepreneur and owner of m.

1. What made you want to start m?
I started m because I was a frustrated consumer.  I decided that  if I want to have access to smarter, more beautifully designed, more  responsible products and amenities for my home and family, I was going to have to create more demand.  Markets are a bit of a chicken-and-egg  relationship.  Many retailers will tell you that they only provide  what their customers want.  That is only part of my modus operandi. I want to showcase the possibility of a better performing future, so  much of what I sell and promote is currently considered ahead of the market.  But how will the market know what it wants if we don’t inspire it to want more?
Read the rest of this entry »

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch.

This week, we scoured Google, we marveled and finally chose three design resources, trends and case studies from around the globe that inspire in their boundary pushing work. You’ll probably re-think using the colour green in your branding palette. And that’s a good thing.

1. Did you ever wonder what all those old marketing posters for saving the endangered spotted owls could be made out of? In 1980s, you could have conjured nasty words like ’subterranean chemicals’ or ‘volatile organic compounds‘ (VOCs). Read the rest of this entry »

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch.

Here and there in 2007, I saw the idea of the ’share economy’ pop up.  In 2009, car sharing, bike sharing, vacation sharing and even, clothing sharing seem to have more clout as tidalwave trends as opposed to mere passing trends.

From conference keynote titles like “Is the Share Economy the New New Economy?” at the May 5-7 Next09 Conference to the hit $40 annual fee Smart Bike Program in Washington, D.C., sharing is on the rise amongst even ‘mainstream’ consumers.

Sure, when times were high, the idea of car-pooling with the guy next door who grows petunias seemed like a nuisance best avoided (”I have to get to my superimportantmeetingnow!”). Read the rest of this entry »

Thank you to Daniel Schutzsmith for this fabulous tip.

Green Printer has interviewed rockstar interactive and strategic marketing, design and development firm Core Industries before (who clients include Live Earth, Pepsi and 1% for the Planet) and has been in touch with Megan MacMurray, Production Designer at the agency.

So, we were excited to learn that the Brooklyn-based MacMurray, along with fellow artist Angela Pablo, showcased her Garden Electric exhibit at the Futuresonic Festival and Conference in Manchester, England. Read the rest of this entry »

A Green Printer “Design Goes Green” dispatch. An interview with Deb Ozarko, Director, Creative Services of Clearly Green Design.

[digg=Being “green”, socially aware and committed to the planet doesn’t mean that design solutions have to be serious and dull]
1. If a client comes to you saying that they want to market themselves as a green company, what kinds of advice would you give them in terms of identity and design?
Before I would give them any advice, I would accurately determine their motives. As both a visual communicator and a social/environmental activist, I have a very large responsibility to the public and the planet - as well as my own personal ethics. Clearly Green Design takes our commitment to the environment, animals and social justice causes very seriously so its critical that we understand the motivating factors for a company before we go any further. A green claim or green identity no longer has the same validity that they used to because of excessive greenwashing. Greenwash is rampant because so many companies have simply jumped on the green bandwagon in order to keep up with the trend. Personally, I find this really sad because there is alot at stake here - namely, planetary survival. A glaring example of greenwash are the green claims made by the Walmart corporation. I honestly don’t know how the folks at the communications agency who market Walmart can sleep at night. Read the rest of this entry »

A www.greenprinteronline.com dispatch

As we are gearing up for week full of interviews from Clearly Green Design and the Futuresonic Festival and Conference (a sneak peek photo of the Futuresonic interview above!), this week’s uber-short post is on some valuable and unique tools for business owners looking to refresh their green marketing efforts.

1. Widgetbox allows you to search for widgets and once you find a good match for your busines, it lets you customize the mini-application and add it to your own Web site or blog. Green Printer even has one too.

2.  Volusion. Because Barack Obama used it in his campaign and well, look where it took him. No seriously, Volusion’s Gold Plan edition offers new social commerce features and affordable plans for tech-savvy entrepreneurs.

3. Besides Google AdWords, Clickable Pro for Advertisers is an affordable and simple online advertising Web service that helps small to medium sized businesses to create and manage search marketing campaigns from a single location.

That’s it! We told you it would be short. Stay tuned for the blog-blitzrieg next week through our “Design Goes Green” series.

By contributing guest author Ida Cheinman, Principal and Creative Director of Substance 151, a strategic design agency for Green Printer’s “Design Goes Green” series.

We live in a time when “sustainability” is topping the buzzword charts and a wave of greenwashing is flooding the mainstream. We live in a time of intense competition, gloomy economic forecasts and rapidly disappearing marketing budgets, but also in a time when more and more companies and organizations strive to uphold higher environmental and social values, making the shift to the triple bottom line economic model. Sustainability and social responsibility are the forces that drive many of today’s business decisions; they also change the way organizations re-think their branding and marketing strategies. As marketers and business leaders, we are faced with the challenge of finding differentiation by creating empowering and memorable brand experiences for our audiences in the increasingly crowded sustainable marketplace.

So, What are the rules? Read the rest of this entry »

So, the economy is down the tubes and it’s all over the tube.

Why not take this time to incubate your business (from a caterpillar into a butterfly metamorphosis, if you will) and re-invest in your brand.

This is likely a slower client year than most businesses may be used to so lack of time is no excuse not to get started. And money?  When business is scarce for your retail neighbours down the street, consider that suppliers may be more willing than usual to negotiate high volume orders. Read the rest of this entry »