By watching this interview physicians will:

1. Discover the impact of compelling brand storytelling on your practice
2. Learn how doing good in the world is your best marketing
3. Explore 3 case studies that any physician serving women can learn to build a community around a shared experience
4. Learn what you can do to reignite the growth of your practice by reviewing the rebranding of a struggling community clinic into a leader in sustainable health care
5. Weigh Park’s advice on how reluctant physicians can implement compliant social media practices

I’ve added the above links to give you a deeper dive into the subjects that I cover in the interview. Let me know what I missed, or what is working for you.

If you’re selling sustainability, you can learn a lot from this Copenhagen flash mob. Take a ride and see how they share their mission while creating serendipitous joy to color an ordinary commuter’s day.

That’s what happened to these Copenhagen straphangers. Their commute was accompanied by Grieg’s “Peer Gynt.” This marvelous word of mouth marketing marketing duet was beautifully performed by the Copenhagen Philharmonic and classical radio station, Radio Klassisk.

This was an encore presentation: injecting music to brighten the mundane. Remember when the Washington Post recruited one of the world’s finest violinists, Joshua Bell, to dress like a street musician and fiddle in the metro to gauge people’s responses. Or how about in 2010 when Philadephia’s Opera Company organized a flash mob of 650 singers at the local Macy’s – they performed the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s “Messiah.”

Bravo for mixing mission with inventiveness to create joy.

“What in the hell was I thinking?”

How many times have you asked yourself this following a less-than-spectacular decision, especially at the ass end of a dumb purchase? Instead of being a willing buyer, you were probably subconsciously manhandled and you didn’t suspect a thing.

Many experts in the art of influence, like Arizona State University professor, Robert B. Cialdini, Ph.D, a self-proclaimed patsy, suggest we are more susceptible now than ever to slight-of-hand salesmanship. Content is the culprit. Or more accurately, the tsunami of information we choose to surf  and are swallowed up in every day leads to our rash decision making. But we’ve set ourselves up to hucksterism.

Humanity’s ability to archive, curate and consume unfathomable amounts of information is working against us. Our brains, the ones that brilliantly created the 24/7 library of the internet for instance, are not developed to handle the stimulus overflow it creates. When disseminating information, especially fundamental “yes and no” verdicts of everyday life, we often respond with instinct over intellect. It’s an energy-saving, self-preservation default that is hardwired in all of us. We unwittingly prune our decision tree to one sprout of familiar stimulus, make a snap judgement, and act, sometimes to the detriment of our personal ecosystem.

Dr. Cialdini put his fall guy weakness to work and studied the craft of compliance practitioners. He captured the principles of getting people to say “yes”  in his book, Influence, The Psychology of Persuasion, and is now one of the foremost authorities on persuasion, compliance and negotiation.

Selling Sustainability is Tricky

Being persuasive for the right reasons is a good thing. And I was curious how to sharpen my persuasion skills, especially when trying to get consumers that are rightly skeptical about green marketing and sustainability to do something good for themselves and the planet. So I read his book, and then tested his compliance theories in the ultimate den of persuasion: A Hawaiian timeshare presentation. Shudder, you might. But I actually invested nearly three hours of my and Michele’s vacation on the Big Island exposing ourselves to the virtuosic sheen of a Shell Vacations Club pitchman.

Here’s how the match went down as the Shell man punched and massaged the six proven compliance triggers within us, including reciprocation, commitment and consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity. But we were formidable opponents, sturdily armed with the anticipation and recognition of his wax-on-wax-off sales Jujitsu.

I. Reciprocity

You do me a favor and I am compelled to do one in return. Reciprocity is a deep rooted instinct: the basic currency of social life (See The Godfather). Shell Vacations triggers it immediately by providing a host of significant savings on every kind of Hawaiian adventure – snorkeling, luaus, golf, fishing, dining, etc. – as long as you commit to a timeshare presentation. They also highly recommend that you “take advantage” of their connections first and enjoy your stay on the Big island and THEN do your time in the presentation. They are not only playing off your reciprocity tendencies, but are attaching great experiences to their vacation ownership. Which is a nice set-up for commitment and consistency.

II. Commitment & Consistency

We are all suckers at wanting to look consistent, even when we don’t act consistently. Compliance practitioners prey on this other fundamental need to get us to commit, so we look consistent (See “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.”) One of the first things our salesman – we’ll call him Jim – asked us when we sat down to the presentation was how much we enjoyed our experiences on the island: outings that were mostly provided at reduced rates by Shell. Get their game? To say we didn’t enjoy them would be dishonest and inconsistent with our experience. We had to commit to the wonderful time we were having.

III. Social Proof

Social proof is a term used often in social media. And why not? We’re social animals. Remember the last time you found yourself in an unfamiliar situation? What did you do? You looked at the people around you to provide the social cues as to what was the proper behavior. “The world’s leading detergent,” “The top grossing movie of the weekend,” “A New York Times Best Seller,” are all obvious advertising constructs to get us to buy into pack mentality. After a 20-minute initial sit down with Jim to get to know us, and for us to get to like him, we were herded into a room of 15 couples for a group presentation. When polled, curiously half of the people in the room already owned a timeshare, and they weren’t shy about “spontaneously” sharing how wonderful vacation ownership has been for themselves AND their families. I wonder if they were plants? This had all of the initial markings of timeshare neophytes being corralled for a stampede to the investment abyss (See Jonestown).

IV. Liking

Why does Facebook “Like.” In addition to anchoring the top three compliance practices, we also do business with and are persuaded by those we like. The front man, we’ll call him Bob, who arranged all of our Shell Vacations-sponsored activities, was a handsome, athletic and affable guy, who also happened to be an alum of ASU, was a former golf pro, and told a hell of a story about entertaining Willie Nelson as his golf partner at Gainey Ranch: three attributes that Michele and I could immediately connect with, although the golf pro is a stretch, given our games.

Jim, who we were handed off to for the presentation, was a fit and tanned 60-year-old, former special ops and drug enforcement agent who also taught Sunday school. I had some consistency problems with his story as the presentation and his reactions to some of our our curveballs unfolded. You’d think a highly trained covert ops guy would be unflappable enough to overcome a change of venue when I suggested we leave the crowded sales floor for the lanai to continue our discussion, as well as locating his misplaced calculator that I had to remind him was in his pocket after suggesting he shouldn’t leave it on the table when we went in for the group discussion. Wax on, wax off. But at one point with both Bob and Jim, Michele and I both looked at each other and said, “I like this guy.”

V. Authority

We naturally gravitate to authority figures. One of Jim’s early ploys was to “have the authority” to provide us a deal no one else could: a “one-of-kind” offer on back-owned inventory. A euphemism for foreclosure. I’m sure the previous owners probably just bailed. It was because of his longevity with the organization that he could offer this “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” He was doing us a favor, and it would be inconsistent of us not to commit to such a proven concept at such a great price from such a likable fellow, don’t you agree? Body blow, body blow, faint, upper cut, shield, block, parry.

VI. Scarcity

When we’re afraid we can’t have something, we want it even more (See Tickle Me Elmo). So if you want people to act, you naturally dangle a limited supply of what you’re selling in front of them. Our day began with scarcity. Jim proclaimed that they had more buyers than they had property, and today was our lucky day  but we had to act quickly. When we weren’t buying is when Jim pulled out the one-of-a-kind offer of the repo. There is another coercion tactic at play here, too. That is the “contrast principle.” They present the highest price possible on the package, and then reduce the rate, which looks cheap in comparison. You experience the contrast principle in nearly everything you purchase, so beware.

Vacationers running the timeshare gauntlet

Although all of this sounds extraordinarily underhanded and manipulative, Dr. Cialdini’s message is about using these ancient triggers to motivate people for good. Many great organizations have employed compliance practices to better people’s lives, the community and the world. And the best way to thwart the evil-doers is to anticipate, recognize and use their own tactics against them: Jujitsu like.

Given our all-consuming, harried lives, these principles are more effective now than ever, and they’re everywhere.

How have you been exploited by, or have thwarted, a professional compliance practitioner?

Click on the image to read the article

Will your water rates rise like a gallon of ethanol at your corner Chevron?

Probably not.

And that’s why Americans seem to be apathetic about water conservation. Many experts argue that until we hit them in the wallet, they’ll keep wasting water.

So how do you get consumers’ attention about the pending water crisis that is barreling down on us like an Arizona haboob?

You get them to live and breathe it.

Companies and initiatives like American Standard’s Responsible Bathroom, Coca-Cola’s Global Water Stewardship, and The Great Lakes Brewing Company’s Triple Bottom Line are embracing water conservation with cause marketing that is helping to educate and change consumer behavior.

These companies underscore our core belief: an understanding learned from the nearly 14 years of running the Water – Use It Wisely conservation campaign:

“Technology alone will not save our water. You must start with behavior change.”

Click to see the show

Recently, our position on water conservation messaging was featured in Christine Birkner’s excellent article for the American Marketing Association magazine, Cause for Concern, as well as on AMA TV. Like most of the sustainability movement, companies and campaigns propelling cause marketing initiatives around water conservation are pioneers, and we need more heroes leading the charge.

“Water conservation has been billed as the most important environmental issue of the 21st century, yet few American consumers are altering their behaviors – and fewer companies are trying to motivate them to do so.”

Can you point to a corporate initiative that is championing water conservation in your community?

Michael Gass Skyped to life on my computer screen yesterday. My friend and social media business development mentor was popping in to see how business was going. “Great,” I said. “We’re busy as ever.”

Three and a half years ago, Michael came to town to help me and my agency pull together a social media strategy to let the world in on a little secret: Park&Co has been a leading sustainable marketing agency since 1995, long before “green” was cool. Online social media was the ideal platform to share our stories of sustainability and to expand our thought leadership in this growing niche. And it’s MUCh more than just about being geen.

Here’s how it all came together.

Our social media efforts have created opportunities for ourselves and our clients, including:

• We launched Coca-Cola’s SmartDriver ecodriving training program among their 60,000 fleet drivers and operations folk
• Our agency insures that the Water – Use It Wisely campaign generates increasing conversation around water conservation and securing its place atop all significant organic search engines: Google “Water conservation” and you’ll see what I mean.
• We partner with Resolution Copper Mining to give voice to the residents of rural Arizona that represent 90 percent of citizens in favor of a new mine that will satiate 20 percent of America’s cooper needs in our growing renewable energy economy
• We are launching this week a new website for Goodwill of Central Arizona that features intense customer engagement.
• And we’re whipping up our online following in the creative community to rage against logos that are too large, how IE6 destroys families,  and the promise of Pantone 3:16 in our Occupy CoLab movement.

We have found that the best social media strategy happens both online and off.

Thanks, Michael, for your call yesterday, and for this terrific article on your blog: Fuel Lines.

Now for the rest of you, how has social media helped build your business?

Some blog topics are very popular and seem to be able to attract a wider audience. This is a superficial impression.

These are two main reasons why you should not abandon the idea of dedicating your blog to a less popular topic:

• Cultivating your real interests through your blog makes you personal, genuine and worthy to be read

• Most popular can also mean hackneyed and overused. You may find it easier to grow an audience interested in a topic that is not extensively covered already

All that is well known to Park Howell, the blogger who calls himself sustainable storyteller and that we interviewed to get to know his blogging story. His posts are never trivial but always full of interesting news and original opinions.

When you finish reading one of Park Howell’s blog articles you know something useful that you did not know before.

How and why did you start a blog?

I started to blog about green marketing and sustainability to further define our ad agency’s position in this growing niche. We’ve been creating cause-related and environmental movements since 1995, long before being green was cool.

When the recession hit, I realized that we needed to do a better job of communicating our unique strategy and creative capabilities relative to sustainability. Blogging and using online social media was one of the best ways to share our agency with the world.

As our mission states: “Park&Co ignites the growth of people, products, companies and causes that dare to make the world a better place.”

How much time do you spend working on it and what are the usual tasks?

When I first began blogging over three years ago, I spent between 15 and 20 hours per week listening online, researching, writing and promoting my posts. My goal was to reach 50 posts as quick as possible, because it seems the search engines start taking you seriously after 50 posts.

This meant three to four articles per week, and I believe I wrote nearly 200 in my first year. It still is a ton of work, but your knowledge of your niche, social media and the world at large compounds itself through your blogging efforts.

What is the best lesson learned that you would like to share with people who want to start blogging?

Despite popular belief, blogging is not a popularity contest. If you fixate on the numbers of your followers and feel like a loser if they’re not growing as quickly as you like, then the whole process becomes a psychological train wreck.

I focus on writing about industry information I find interesting, and to help others see a different point-of-view, whether they agree with it or not.

Sometimes writing is just therapeutic, and I don’t care if the post gets a bunch of hits. Sometimes you can be a mad scientist and test your followers’ paradigms. Sometimes you can just be jovial, or pissed off, or obtuse and simply let it fly. But all of the time, be you.

I happen to follow the same philosophy that Seth Godin noted in this recent post. He wrote in part: “I’m not writing to maximize my SEO or conversion of even my readership. I’m writing to do justice to the things I notice, to the ideas in my head and to the people who choose to read my work.” Amen, brother Seth.

What is your best advice on how to grow a blog?

Write with a unique voice. Don’t regurgitate existing content unless you make it WAY more interesting than the original. Test, poke and prod your readers’ mindsets, and try to nudge the world in whatever direction you choose.

And by all means, keep this book by your side: Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer.

What is your biggest success and biggest mistake as a blogger?

My biggest mistake was listening to the so-called social media experts. There are really only about three or four, and I count Jay Baer as the Gustavo Dudamel [look him up] of social media. I must also tip my hat to Michael Gass and his early mentoring – as well as his ongoing friendship – to help me become better at social media to build our agency’s business.

Unfortunately, I initially bought into the need to have massive amounts of followers and be loved by all. That just lead to superficial drama in my social media life, and I quickly abandoned the hedonistic practice.

I enjoy blogging so much more now, and my followers are more authentic in their interest of my work. I just realized that my biggest mistake has become my greatest success: Be at peace with your blogging, and your audience will find you.

Now I have a question for you…

What works for you and your blog?

With a swipe of your finger it plays back the flatulence-dampening sound of a shower without actually running one, so you can do your thing without the resounding ring. And, it shows you how much water you save in the process.

“Silly, useless app,” you say? The new Fake Shower app is from Brazilian water company, Akatu. Apparently the thin walls found in domiciles in many countries leads to embarrassing bathroom “noises” polluting living rooms. In Japan, for instances, I’m told it’s a common occurrence for bathroom dwellers to run showers while cleaning their pipes, so to speak. Now they have a fun app to run instead.

Wonder if we can gamify it?

So here it is for you. It’s full of great stats and facts about greenwashing and what to look for. And it begs the question:

Are the companies accused of greenwashing doing it on purpose, or do they just NOT know how to communicate the real environmental impact of their products overselling their “greenness”?

Could it be that they have the best of intentions and are simply bungling their green marketing; their nefarious character created from naivet’e? I’m not ready to condemn all of them just yet, and that was my reason for not immediately posting the info graphic.

What do you think? Who are the biggest greenwashing offenders? Who are those that simply don’t get it? How can they do a better job with their stories of sustainability?

Created by: Marketing Degree

Warren Wilson College, Ashville, North Carolina

As a resource for masters degree programs points out, many of today’s students are concerned with ecological issues. This means colleges that focus on green innovations on their campuses and marketing those improvements are much more appealing to future students. To stay competitive some schools are taking going green beyond just recycling and are improving the design of their campuses and are incorporating undergraduate and masters degree programs covering areas like sustainability. Below are five colleges are really impressive in their efforts to a positive environmental impact:

1. Warren Wilson College, Ashville, North Carolina.

This college has been a leader in green campus innovation, and started making ecologically minded improvements to their school in the ‘80s, before going green was popular. For example, they were one of the first campuses to institute a campus recycling program and they serve cafeteria food that, for a large percentage, comes directly from their sustainable campus gardens. The garden gives ecology majors at the school a chance to see the impact of sustainable growing and eating first hand, and also saves billions of gallons of fossil fuel that is used to ship conventional food from faraway places.

2. University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point, Stevens Point, Wisconsin.

At this college, not only do they have a unique conservation program to educate the leaders of an ecologically sound future, they have a waste program that makes most campuses look far less efficient. In the dorms, they have recycling chutes to make disposing of recyclables very convenient. This campus also has an onsite composting program, where students, staff and faculty create re-usable and nutrient rich compost for their community. In addition, the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point was the first in the country to include a conservation program in the curriculum (1940s).

3. University of Maine, Orono, Maine.

The University of Main campus is pretty incredible in terms of green innovation. Not only do students, staff, faculty and visitors have free access to bicycles and a shuttle to encourage sustainable travel, but all of the buildings on campus also have to meet very rigid standards of “green-ness.” Each building has a paper recycling bin in every room, and all new buildings must meet LEED’s (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green certification standards. In addition, the campus employs a Sustainability Council, Sustainability Coordinator, and houses an “eco lead” in each dorm to ensure that recycling programs are being followed closely, and energy conservation is at its most efficient.

4. Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts.

Not only did Northeastern begin greening their campus earlier than most, but they have also continued to integrate sustainability and ecologically sound practices into their curriculum and school mission successfully for the past 20 years. Their composting program is very effective, and many courses include a sustainability component. They have reduced their carbon footprint immensely by installing new lighting and house the first college cafeteria to gain LEED Gold standard certification and three star green certification rating.

5. University of California – Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California.

Not only does the Sierra Club rank this campus in the top 10 in the nation for green innovation, but their faculty also produces award winning green research. This school also dedicates entire buildings to use by sustainability and community action student groups, such as the California Student Sustainability Coalition.

The colleges listed here are doing a wonderful service to the planet and their students. These campuses save resources while allowing students to see the innovation and creativity of the green movement taking place before their very eyes. Thus, these campuses are making a difference and inspiring the future of green innovation in their student body.

Guest post by Elaine Hirsch. She is kind of a jack-of-all-interests, from education to technology to public policy. She is currently working as a writer for various education-related sites and writing about all these things instead. Her work is often found in the Greener Ideal blog. 

“You know, because of your friggin’ huge cowlick,” he blurted with a hint of Bulshevik impatience,

His indignance at my lack of grasping the obvious made me chuckle. Then I thought about the perfectly quaffed hair-do he had just created. From the front and sides it makes me look more respectable. From the back, my cowlick gleefully swirls like the self-centered follicle vortex it is.

As Nordari ended my grooming by smothering my face, and almost me, with a hot towel, I considered the cowlick. It is a wonderful metaphor for people in this world who actually make a difference. You can be disruptive without being disagreeable, and you will add way more interest to the end product.

Tell me below about your latest cowlick adventure that has made life a bit better.