Just so we don’t get a repeat of the 60’s when propaganda turned public relations and infiltrated the trusting hippy movement, aiming to ‘coin their concept’ of individuality peace and tried to divert them into being a whole new consumer market, we need to be very aware of the term of the full potential behind the word ‘green’.

When used with sincerity, the term ‘green’ helps when it comes to niche marketing for example tagging social networking Blogs, and quickly getting across your general standpoint. However, it is not really enough to hear or read the word green, and believe that whatever it is labeling or marketing will really be completely and absolutely beneficial to us, our lives and the planet. We need to be cautious of advertising that will exploit it and hopefully as we become more discerning it will make it easier for environmentally sustainable, holistic, eco conscious and truly ‘green’ marketing to reach it’s grateful market.

There is an interesting marriage occuring between green marketing and social networking, that looks to develop into a long and prosperous marriage.

The market for green, eco-conscious products, materials, homes and even holiday destinations is rapidly growing alongside the amount of better informed consumers, and finding these products is not as easy as one might think, obviously the more obscure your green desires are, the further from the mainstream market place they are.

Until now, the blanket media used by the small amount of corporate giants that manipulate not thousands, not millions, but billions of individuals acts as a very effective barrier between you and your green ideals. Now however, instead of going through the big in your face doors of the Obvious, getting lost in the never ending corridors of the mass produced mundane and ending up in the same unsatisfying place, you can enter into the cyber backyard where people are still talking to each other, and find personal recommendations and directions to backdoor urls.

This is great for small businesses, website owners and therefore web designers. Those whose marketing budget does not, and will likely never, match those of the all encompassing CEOS, can slip cheerfully to the front of the google qeue, just by putting in ‘alot of social networking hours’ being friendly , communicative and interested, introducing yourself to ‘friends’ and ‘friends of friends’ telling them about yourself, what you do and why you do it.

The internet has created an environment of social inhibition, you don’t wait to be introduced, you introduce yourself; through blogging, video, joining like minded groups on like minded networks, saying Hi, not only to your niche circles, but to the millions of people visiting some of the busiest places on the web today.

The internet has a habit of mimmicking the real world, in big ways; global communication and the interconnectedness of all things, and in smaller ways; the highstreet,the superstore and the directory. Here, websites became your shop front, and visitors passed by…if you were lucky, or if you paid for them to? Now it’s imitating the social domain; the swaree, the gathering, and the cafe. Your website is more like your business card and a word or two on a social networking site is like handing someone a friends telephone number scribbled on a scrap of paper.

So now there is a place for small but vital, world changing and important businesses, and eco conscious people to meet and exchange… and the propogation speed is fast and rambling, like planting strawberries in your vegetable patch, only to find that next season, they are popping up all over your herb and flower garden too.

It may be that we are not the first generation, or even civilisation on earth to carry this responsability on our shoulders, or perhaps we are, but it seems that we all have to save the planet.

With this in mind, establishing equalibrium between personal economic security and an ecological conscience is a pertinant issue for a growing number of people.

It is enough of a challenge reaching your eco conscious niche clients without having to exclude potential clients because the fee you will charge them and later use to build your sustainable homestead infact involves slave labour and pollutes the atmosphere.

That ’s why whenever a client comes along that also shares your vision for a perfect world, it’s great to be able to approach it with the natural enthusiasm that ensues, and a relief to let that creative imagination wander guilt free!

It can feel, that rather than having chosen a niche, you have been squeezed into one, but i think there is hope, because the need for a strong bond between design and eco friendly sustainability is increasing, and this particular marketing nich has become an asset, not just for the individual, but for the greater good!