Duality

Now that we have established who your competition/enemies are, we can begin to build your brand identity. You have a narrow focus–green. This is good.

We must now turn our attention towards how we can position you uniquely in the category of green architecture in Bozeman. After all, it is not BETTER who wins, but the LEADER. There is a place for number two (and, in some areas, three, four, or more) to still be profitable.

If you are not the leader, however, then you must be positioned in accordance with the leader. Pepsi's position was (and still is) determined by Coke. Everything, from their identity down to their color scheme, comes in stark realization of, and contrast to, Coke. Coke represented "the real thing." They had been around since 1886. Pepsi then positioned themselves as the "young" drink. They proclaimed themselves to be the "Pepsi Generation."

It was not until the advent of said campaign that Pepsi began to make a dent in Coke’s market share. Throughout the 70’s, heavily advertised blind taste tests “proved” that Pepsi tasted better than Coke. “So?” came the response of a bored nation.

As a category matures, it becomes a two-brand affair, with lots of bottom feeders gnawing on scraps. In keeping with the Coke and Pepsi analogy, the two brands own 95% of the cola market.

Sun Tzu wrote, in the famous Art of War, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not your enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

A lot of brands are competing for the coveted top spots in the green category in Bozeman. Only a select few will be true leaders. How you are positioned will be determined by their positions. Whether or not you were first to the market (which is what, up to this point, we have promoted) is not as important as if you are first into the mind. Are you first in the mind in your category, green architecture in Bozeman?

Be not dismayed, however. There is plenty to go around. This trend towards green will not always be such a boom, however.

In the early stages of the green category, there will be many brands. Sales are increasing, and new, unsophisticated customers are coming into the market. Often times, they don’t know who the leaders are, and brands that look interesting or attractive get the nod. Sometimes, these interesting and attractive brands are the number three and four brands.

As time progresses, consumers will want the leading brand, because they assume that the leader is better. This thinking, while not necessarily correct, is the driving force behind why winners stay on top and losers fall away.

Who is the true leader in green in Bozeman? Who is number two? Where does V2 fit in the green category–honestly?

Consumer Benefits

In green architecture, the benefits are greater to the consumer than they are to the environment--to the consumer, that is. Green is a very lucrative market. Virtually everything is green nowadays, including sustainable clothing, heat-resistant windows, rechargeable batteries, and high-efficiency lights.

Read the following article from BusinessWeek writer Karen E. Kline.

There's no doubt the green niche can be lucrative. Environmentally aware consumers tend to earn more and be willing to pay more for green products, such as organic produce and hybrid cars. The problem, however, is that only a very small percentage of consumers make their buying decisions primarily based on the environmental qualities of a product, says Edwin R. Stafford, an associate professor of marketing at Utah State University's college of business. Depending on what your product is, it may very well be difficult to sustain sufficient sales within that niche alone.

Stafford and his colleagues, Cathy Hartman and Jacquelyn Ottman, have done research on green marketing through a U.S. Department of Energy-sponsored research program called "Renewable Energy for Rural Economic Development (RERED). "They've found that positioning green products on their inherent mainstream benefits can broaden their consumer appeal and enhance their likelihood for market success.

"While consumers say in surveys that environmentalism impacts their product choices, a variety of factors typically can impede green purchasing behavior, ranging from their immediate availability to price to convenience to perceived green product effectiveness," Stafford says. "A number of personal motivations and external factors impact green purchasing behavior, and targeting the elusive 'green consumer' can be challenging.

Educating the Consumer

Fortunately, he says, there is great opportunity for marketing green products to the masses, and there are many examples of green products that have gone mainstream due to their practical consumer benefits, including front-loading, energy-efficient washing machines and other appliances, organic foods and heat-reflective windows. "What we see is that the success behind many green products is not their 'greenness,' but the practical value they provide consumers," Stafford says.

Sometimes practical consumer value may not be readily apparent in a green product, however, and that's where education will need to play an important role in your marketing efforts. Make sure that you bundle "consumer value" into the marketing messages for your green product.

"One of my favorites is the slogan, 'Long life for hard-to-reach places,' for General Electric's (GE) energy-efficiency CFL flood lights," Stafford says. "That communicates how a CFL's five-year life can be very convenient. The goal of green marketing communications should be to educate consumers that green provides practical consumer value."

Another place where you can take a cue is from the construction industry. Originally, mainstream consumers worried that green buildings would include inferior building materials, leading to decreased longevity. "Mention 'green building' to a traditional home buyer, and the image of Gilligan's Island and bamboo huts comes to mind," Stafford says. "The reality is, however, that green buildings are increasingly cleverly designed, often technically innovative structures that are super energy/resource-efficient, and work in harmony with the seasons. The construction industry has increasingly adopted the term 'high-performance building' to reframe 'green' away from any potential negative connotations.