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by Michael Kiely

on Mar 19

Kiely: rural living

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Nationals’ New South Wales upper house MP Duncan Gay immediately responded: “They sit around in their black skivvies, drinking imported beer with their ponytails dangling, and don't think about the harm they're causing the community. It's an embarrassment in the Dubbo community and it's caused anger in the community. They don't need smart arses making these sorts of statements.” Oh Duncan. Shut up.

Dubbo is where we go to buy books and have a half decent meal out here. Juliet publishes Regional Business Magazine and she recently discovered that people out here are greener than average. “Regional consumers have a high level of environmental awareness and will support proven green companies and brands,” she says. She has conducted the research and found that half of the survey respondents sought investments based on environmental considerations, while three-quarters of the survey respondents had boycotted a company due to poor environmental performance. Now that’s serious stuff.

But curiously, when asked to identify green businesses, they mentioned local and regional businesses more often than larger organisations, which means that “green messages from large corporations delivered via traditional marketing media are not getting through,” says Juliet.

“Survey respondents indicated that third party endorsement is important in establishing green credentials. Communication material issued by environmental groups, independent research and rating agencies, and even referrals from friends and colleagues, hold much more weight than material issued from other sources,” she says. “They also identified the internet, radio and magazines as more trustworthy media.”

Well, she would say that, wouldn’t she? Juliet publishes a magazine. But she runs a great operation and she’s as sharp as anyone I worked with in the big smoke. And if you can stay in business in regional media, you’ve got guts and grit beyond the average. Degree of difficulty: 10. (Selling metro TV, degree of difficulty: 2.)

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