A well thought out green PR initiative is necessary to change people s minds

by

Kevin Waddel

In today s uncertain economic climate, being environmentally friendly can be a tough sell. If there are no immediate benefits, people have a hard time letting go of their precious, hard earned dollars in service of a cause that is a bit of a slow burn, no matter how noble that cause may be in. People all over the glove, even in first world nations like the United States of America, have had to make significant cutbacks in their expenses to avoid the poor house, so it is certainly understandable the individuals would want to be wary with how they spend their free time, to say nothing of their funds. When it comes to corporations, it can be exponentially more difficult for clean energy advocates to convince them to change their ways, especially if it will result in increased expenses, or worse yet, decreased profits. The federal government has tried to intervene and offer considerable tax breaks to individuals and corporations who go green, turning in old cars or upgrading the lighting fixtures in their homes or in their place of business.

It has become necessary for environmentally friendly advocates to consider a plan of action that requires a lot from people, but also promises incredible results. Thus, many of these green friendly activists have put forward an intensive green PR initiative that serves to educate the public, change a few minds, and will hopefully convince a number of businesses to do everything they can to try and lessen the impact of their fiscal, social, and environmental policies.

This is always a difficult task, trying to convince people they are acting improperly and out of their own self interest, but it is certainly compounded by the recent economic downturn. The general fear among activists is that if they walk up to a receptionist who works at a large corporations and they try to convince her to let them talk to the executive vice president of operations so that they can try to sell him on their green PR initiative, they will be laughed out of the office. If this happens to be the case, then the green PR initiative will suffer, and nothing will get done. So it is in the best interests of all concerned parties to try and do everything they can to promote a green agenda.

This has left many environmental activists wondering how they can best advocate for their green PR initiative without leaving a bad taste in people s mouths. Activists, by their very nature, have a hard time with public relations because often times they come across as preachy. And this is a major turn off for people. Therefore, in order for a particularly green PR campaign o be successful, activists have to try and develop a grassroots campaign that will be organic, and better yet, will be self sustaining. The best way for environmentalists to get their green PR initiative up off the ground is to use social medial.

The power of social media presented itself in the 2008 election. The groundswell of support for the winning candidate proved that social networking could be a valuable tool that could be used in a multitude of ways. Indeed, social networking proved invaluable in overthrowing numerous dictators in the Middle East. Therefore, it should stand to reason that environmental activists should be able to use it with the same success rate in promoting the necessary and important changes as outlined in their green PR initiative.

Kevin Waddel is a free lance writer. To get more information about Public relations, Public Relations New York, New York city public relations,

Green PR

, PR, NYC Public Relations Firms, Financial Services Relations in New York visit

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