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Building Green in a Black and White World-- Chapter 5

The following is an exerpt from the book Building Green in a Black and White World. Section 3; Chapter 5; Part 2; Media Relations

David Ritchey Johnston
January 1, 1900
HousingZone

Media Relations

Headline The local media can be your best marketing ally. Green building is press worthy. Another new subdivision or building project is not very exciting to news reporters, but a new home that is good for the environment and healthier for children has many angles for a reporter to use as a "hook."

Green building stories can show up in many parts of the newspaper other than the real estate section. Building green is business news and is often featured prominently to highlight a new business approach.

Cover Environmental stories can show up in the science section by covering a specific aspect of green building such as indoor air quality or saving trees. Local news sections are always looking for features that highlight a local business. You want to get your story into as many hands as possible. Often other sections of the paper will reach your prospective buyers more effectively than the real estate section.

Peter Pfeiffer, an Austin, Texas, architect involved in sustainable architecture, says, "I realized that contributing articles to professional journals is nice, but publications like Better Homes and Gardens mainstream green. They are some of the best marketing approaches we have done. I get fifty times the response from these articles than I get from a professional magazine. The same is true for the papers. When I can get into a section other than real estate, I get a much better response."

-------Attracting the Media--------

Creating public events at the home site is an effective way to attract media attention. Philip Russell in Pensacola, Florida, conducts special classes for school children at their new homes before they hang the sheet rock. This program is called the Behind the Walls Expo^TM. School buses line the streets, and television cameras are close by to feature the little ones learning about the environment in a new home. At one such event, the local TV stations covered the event with generous airtime. This TV coverage drew in long lines of prospective homebuyers and the home was sold the next week. (See the case study in Chapter 7.)

-------Target Your Advertising Carefully--------

News Ad Bill Eich, a builder in northern Iowa, learned the value of marketing green and dramatically grew his business through advertising. Local advertising didn’t result in much sales activity so he ran his ads in a regional magazine that featured his homes in the "lake country." The magazine’s circulation covered a wider area and attracted retirement and second homebuyers from around the region. All of his ads show Eich putting the kick plate on after final inspection, his personal signature of quality.