Founded in 1970 by Senator Gaylord Nelson, Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary will be celebrated on April 22, 2010. While your store may not be green through and through, Earth Day is a great holiday to celebrate in-store for several beneficial reasons.

Not only does Earth Day help support environmental programs and renew the public’s commitment to sustainable living, it is also a great way to maximize sales and kick off green marketing program initiatives. Here are five ways to increase add-on sales and promote green marketing in your store(s) as April 22 approaches…

High market share and high profit share result from high activity share.

High activity is a sequence of related smaller activities aimed at positioning your store as the best in the areas you select. Strategic Positioning means performing different activities from rivals or performing similar activities in different ways. Differentiation arises from both the choice of activities and how they are performed. Activities, then, are the basic units of competitive advantage. Overall advantage or disadvantage results from all of a company’s activities, not only a few.

Some 3.5 billion text messages are sent and received each day according to a recent estimate by CTIA, the wireless industry trade group. Approximately 97% of all of the text marketing messages sent are opened. So why aren’t more retailers utilizing text messages to reach out to their customers? Why aren’t you? If you’re lacking clarity on this relatively new form of marketing, here are some of our answers to a few of the most common frequently asked questions we hear…

Everything, everywhere is in a constant flux of change. I like this quote from Bruce Barton, author, advertising executive and politician, “When you are through changing, you are through.”

Away back in 1970, I read Future Shock, a great book by Alvin Toffler. Future Shock was about change, and the affect that the accelerated rate of technological and social change had on society. From an historic perspective the speed of change from the beginning of the industrial revolution in the 18th century to the “super-industrial society” of the 1970′s was mind-boggling and it has only intensified thousands-fold since then.

Establishing a positive-price perception is critical in today’s economy. Duh! But the key is perception. You should only sacrifice gross dollars when the price point can significantly impact perception.

You don’t have to have the lowest prices on everything. You don’t have to be priced the same as your competitors. You must have your customers leave your store feeling like they received a value for their total shopping experience. This goes beyond shelf prices and integrates operations and retail execution.

DW Green Company welcomes Dale Riley and Fresh Seasons Market!

“Never stop testing, and your advertising will never stop improving.”—David Ogilvy

“If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.”—Jack Welch

Effective advertising attracts an audience and motivates them to action. It drives customer traffic, differentiates your store and your ad from your competitors’, and always supports your store’s strategic position. By creating ads that accomplish these four things, you’ll achieve the short-term goals of increased sales and customer count while developing advertising that will become the building blocks of tomorrow’s success and prosperity.

Take a look at your website. Is it the best it can be? Sometimes it’s easy to spot the deficiencies that are preventing a website from performing at optimum levels; other times, a little investigating is required. A web audit is an invaluable tool for taking an objective look at your website’s performance. At DW Green Company, we use the audit outlined below to assess the effectiveness of our clients’ websites in five key areas of performance: User Experience and Search Engine Optimization; Content; “Clickability”; Traffic; and Credibility.

Take a look at the web audit below—you might find some new opportunities for improving your site that you haven’t considered before!

Offering exceptional customer service is indeed a powerful way to differentiate your store in the marketplace. How do you distinguish yourself as a leader in service excellence?

Most retail businesses in America believe they offer good customer service, but in reality the opposite is probably more accurate. Why? With the daily demands of performing repetitive tasks in a highly productive environment, employees are often oblivious to customers and their needs. Customer service is typically given lip service by managers, who view training and developing employees to provide an exceptional customer experience as a low priority in a cost-controlling, low-margin industry. Ironically, it is just such an investment in employee training and development that can increase sales exponentially. While operational efficiencies are essential to superior corporate performance, they should not hinder the company’s ability to gain a customer service advantage.