Do you struggle to create and communicate an industry presence? If you answered yes, you are not alone.

Most people do encounter difficulty and there does not appear to be a one-size-fits-all solution. What worked yesterday may not work today and what works presently may not continue to work. As Tony Avent, owner of Plant Delights Nursery located in Raleigh, N.C. says, “The most misunderstood and overlooked component of business success is communication, a form of communication that establishes a brand of product – you.”

Still, there are underlying strategies that appear to transfer from sector to sector. So the question is, “How can you make these strategies work well for you?”

Previously in an End Cap published by Today’s Garden Center October 2008 issue, I challenged the industry to identify a brand identification representative of the industry as a whole. Let’s shift this challenge to the individual level. I’ll begin by sharing personal experience.

Finding A Niche

While I attended graduate school, I attracted national and/or inter-national media attention. Before this, I’d easily described myself as an avid reader, not writer or speaker. The thought of participating in such activities never occurred to me. But because a teacher encouraged me, I began to freelance write and later was asked to share my topics as a speaker. 

For lack of a better description, my publication activities developed a life of their own. Using the introduction section of graduate school research papers, I first published in academic journals. Next, professional association magazines and then, at the general-public level, magazines and newspapers. An editor, for example, would read an article and request that I write for his/her publication. Readers aware of the published research solicit my participation as an organizational speaker or quote my words in a business profile.

Activities that simplistically began as a graduate student sharing her course material rapidly became guest columns or profiles published in the business section of newspapers. But wait! Am I sharing the story of a green industry experience? Actually, no! Still, this story is similar, too.

Going Green Industry

Expanding my eco-avocation commitment into a vocation, I identified and attend diverse green industry sector events. It was during such an event that the Dean of a Virginia community college horticulture department solicited my involvement when he said, “A colleague told me you are a nationally recognized industry writer and speaker. I’ve read your material and heard you give a speech.” Somewhat embarrassed by the encounter, I said thank you and attempted to change the subject. Persisting, he asked, “Can you analyze your communication style and share it with my students?” Through the encouragement of yet another teacher, the opportunity to be a green industry communications instructor occurred.

As a result, advertisement, marketing and public relations strategies were picked apart, put back together and hopefully compiled in such a way as to provide, both individually and as a whole, assistance with green industry market impact assessment, identification of strategies that set apart and communication formats that turn a message into a viable presence.

Although most people do, as Avent says, “overlook and misunderstand the value of communications,” he has found value in the use of self assessment tools and had used them to create brand identity and communication formats that establish differentiated messages, an industry appropriate image sustained by a viable product or service. So, the question is have you?

One of 17 case studies, Avent’s tips and strategies are shared in my research, a recently published book – The ABCs of Green Industry Communications. To continue an industry discussion of strategies that work well, contact me by email at Sylvia@TheWrightScoop.com or phone 804-672-6007. Share stories of what is or is not working, supply tips and strategies or suggest column topics.

Effective communications is a ‘work in progress’: what worked yesterday, may not work today and what works presently, may not continue to work. Through this column, let’s identify strategies that create image presence, a brand name – you!