Clean Energy and Market Research
One of my most important jobs here at 2GreenEnergy is speaking with the few dozen people who call or write each week looking for help with their clean energy projects. I conduct these interviews with an eye toward helping out in some fashion in any of the wide range of disciplines that is represented by our Associates: engineering, IP protection, raising capital, etc. But in truth, my first thought is to look at the caller’s problem as a marketing challenge. In the words of a friend of mine, “I’ve never seen a business problem for which more sales revenue was not the solution.”
In particular, I find myself repeating the same advice: conduct market research. Whether you do it yourself or outsource it to a team like ours, you need to find a rigorous, disciplined way to develop a profound understanding of your target customer segments.
Establish market demand — by segment. What do various kinds of people want? Why do they want it? How and where do they want to buy it? How are their workstyles and playstyles changing in ways that are most relevant to the matter at hand? What are the gut-wrenching emotional issues that are keeping them up at night – and how does what you’re offering address those topics?
I was looking at an old project database the other day and had a realization that made me feel kind of, well, old. Since I started out in the early 1980s, I’ve done more than 800 market research projects — for clients on five continents: IBM, H-P, Sony, 3M, Xerox, Philips, Pioneer, Magnavox, Mitsubishi, Porsche, AT&T, FedEx – not to mention hundreds of smaller, venture-capitalized start-ups and the like. From those research efforts were sprung some of the most well-known – and (at the risk of appearing immodest) most successful, highest-ROI campaigns the business-to-business marketing world has even seen.
If you’d like to discuss your venture in the context of market research, please don’t hesitate to contact us; we’d love to chat about your specific mission.
In fact, feel free to call right now; just hit “contact.” I’m in the office all this week — on and off the phone — as usual.
First, the constructive comment: Go to http://www.willitsell.com and order the book and READ IT! There lies the best synapsis of invention/idea development I have seen.
Second: the problem IS the money. As long as your solution involves selling and buying something, then you are dependent on the System of systems and centralized currency. Ask yourself if your ‘green’ solution can be implemented locally with local materials and without money from outside interests. If not, it isn’t truly sustainable, it’s just Marketing. Marketing is a religion, fostered by belief in perpetual growth and owned by centralized authority. Sell your idea and face the real truth that it requires energy to create the money to gratify the demand. Creating money usually involves people working at jobs rather than building your idea for themselves. When they work at a job, they have to produce at least 4 times what they make in order to justify their employment by a ‘limited liability entity’. Multiply that amount of externalized production by the amount of fossil fuels or other minerals pulled out of the ground to make a ‘profit’ on top of all those people ‘producing’ added value to some trinket that justifies its existence because it uses less energy than the previous trinket.
The solution is never to collect money if the question is “how do we create a sustainable society”. The solution might be to increase trade volumes to meet real demands, but using money disconnects the real costs from the real labors of real people, as well as allowing “limited liability” behaviors which come up with sayings like “It’s just business.” to justify shirking responsibility and avoiding real connections to the stakeholders (“shareholders” are just gamblers).
“Marketing” is the answer if the question is “How did we destroy the planet?”
Religions have been developing their marketing techniques longer than anyone, and where have they really gotten us except to increase suspicion of our neighbors while building churches and starting wars that are really unnecessary wastes of resources. God doesn’t need money or churches or wars in His name. Neither do people. If people need a product, they will go looking for it. If you have to ‘sell’ it, then you have just wasted resources.
Craig,
Good piece, however in the renewable arena I’m associated with marketing isn’t the problem. Selling renewable energy is pretty easy these days, but cutting through the government restrictions is a daunting task which take time and money, you see, I’m involved with installing small hydro on existing dams that have been considered environmentally benign. Just now with the recent MOU signed by the DOE, BLM, and Army Corp (Mar. 24th) one would think this endeavor would get easier and faster; I have my doubts. The same type of MOU was signed last year between the States and the Federal Government but it has made no difference in the FERC licensing process. EPA enforcement is just as strict if not more imposing now concerning run-of-the-river projects. State agencies and federal agencies are just as lax as they ever were. With over 30,000 Mw’s of energy available in this realm one would think the government would be just a bit more compliant. Small hydro isn’t variable such as wind and solar, it is just good steady energy and should have the attention other renewable technologies have.
I agree will Dan C, money will gauge your ultimate results, your display of product vs sales. Almost a thermostat of who is truly doing a great job in Sales and products. Again we can wait or advertise our idea though marketing. And again the great idea may or maynot get wind in its sail of success. So, Money, the big tool we use to get our ideas, inventions and even life changing work to the public and still, they may hate us for it. We have more to risk then anybody and the pay off could and will change your life, with that said, the Incentives and programs set by the goverment isn’t as great of a trade, as you think. If the programs and incentives were so great, then why give them away. The Gov surly wouldn’t give away a great pile of money if the program was so profitable, so see the exchange of ideas from Gov to Public on the Green Trade.
Green Trade; a way for soneone to put up it’s life work & world for what; Money. NO we do it to save the Planet and make History, thats the Story Line here. And the Gov knows this, there not stupid. I say we come together or stay out of the race and let people like Classic Muscle EV Division, SSI, HIEV, Etec, & even the X-Prize platform; control the programs and incentives. Thats my view on Green Energy and it’s brother called TECHNOLOGY.
Dan C. makes some good observations that make one wonder how much better it would be if the world was focused on just the basic necessities (including entertainment fun and interesting activities). If we could remove the unnecessary marketing and business services that come from promoting status and ridiculus levels of luxury we would be able to deliver a sustainable world. However this does not mean that marketing does not have its place as it is still needed to present the potential to develop and deliver new solutions and to attract the funds to make this happen in an increasingly sophisticated world. Our Pivotal engine for low mass, high efficiency vehicles that run on natural gas and other hydrogen rich gaseous fuels is in need of marketing to bring awarenes to the impact that this technology can have on reducing CO2 emision to the attention of customers and investors. http://www.pivotalengine.com