In today’s economy, with money as tight as it is, now is certainly not the time for your business to go green.

If your organization hasn’t yet embarked on a socially responsible program to conserve more and waste less, don’t start today - start tomorrow. Spend today (or this week) benchmarking your starting point. This way, when you do make progress toward a more sustainable future you will be able to quantify just how far you have gone. That’s valuable information - and its cost to you? Nothing.

Benchmarking is one of those fundamental steps that so many marketers overlook. Perhaps because it is such a simple thing to do it doesn’t seem to have value - but this couldn’t be farther from the truth. Without benchmarking it is nearly impossible to measure the success of any marketing initiative. While I wish every campaign was a blowout, the fact is that most gains in awareness, perception, penetration and sales are small and incremental. By benchmarking and measuring progress along the way, you begin to build a good picture of your return on marketing investment. And let’s face it, who doesn’t want to be able to quantify the value of marketing?

The value of sustainable and green programs are even greater than those of traditional marketing because they begin to impact society at large - so step back and assess your programs and take credit for your actions.

Here’s how to measure the value of your programs in seven steps. 1 - Benchmark your starting point 2 - Document the changes you have put into motion 3 - Measure the cost of your inputs and actions 4 - Measure (benchmark) your ending point 5 - Determine your ROI (Return on Investment) 6 - Take credit for your gains - let people know about it 7 - Repeat the cycle and continuously, incrementally work towards your goal

If you have specific tools you use or programs that work well for you, please be sure to share them with us.

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Tags: advertising campaign, business development, green branding, green business