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At the McStain Greenlee Park development, the VIP event was intended to introduce the concept of green building to the significant people in McStain's business world. The event was conducted in cooperation with the Chamber of Commerce. A catered lunch was served to the assembled county commissioners, city council members, interested business owners, and community leaders. The intent was to associate McStain with affordable, energy efficient, environmentally sensitive development. The concept was that since there was pressure to restrict building in the county, those buildings which were approved should have a net positive benefit to the county and the municipalities. These were not just houses, they represented the state-of-the-art in environmentally-friendly housing. They were more affordable; they had less impact on local infrastructure through energy and water conservation features. They reduced the export of local dollars since less money was flowing out to distant power plants due to the increased energy efficiency of the homes. They were more politically correct (which all the politicians took credit for); and they represented a far-sighted view of development in the county.

The media was invited after lunch and participated in the tours of the environmental aspects of the homes. The event was a success. Subsequent McStain development in the county was facilitated by this early introduction of green features to the county officials. (See case study in Chapter 7.)

Wildview was a new development that encompassed a wetland area in northern Colorado. The development took advantage of the lake area. Preserving the environment and wildlife habitat became the theme of the development.

Architect and builder Randy Hartman’s project was the first green home to be built at Wildview. To market the home, Hartman created an event that made the home and the experience memorable. He called it "Cinco de Mayo Minus One" (May 4). He hired a mariachi band and created a dancing space. The event was catered by one of the best restaurants in the area. Hartman partnered with a wildlife protection organization, in keeping with the theme of the development, and had eagle and hawk demonstrations on the patio. Guests were taken to the model home in horse-drawn wagons that circled around the parking area. An educational slide show was presented in the basement showing the house in all phases of construction, highlighting the green features. Before the event, Hartman courted local media. As a result, a video crew covered the event, which was a smashing success. Hartman sold the home. In fact, he felt he sold the home too soon. There was so much interest in it that he thought he could have sold it for a premium.

My construction company, Lightworks, specialized in co-marketing with other companies and organizations. One example that was highly successful was a result of research where we identified a target audience that was likely to use our design/build services. A friend was a salesman at a BMW dealer. We saw that we shared our perfect client in terms of demographics and decided to do a co-marketing event together. It was to be at his dealership. We invited an art gallery to join in the event and hired the tastiest caterer in town. To broaden the theme, we invited a solar energy non-profit organization to put up a display. We also made the event a fundraiser for the local symphony, which supplied a string quartet. We pooled our mailing lists, and several hundred people attended. Everyone involved felt the event was highly successful. It led to several high-end projects for us (I think it sold more Beemers though).

Local schools are always looking for interesting new ways to augment their academic programs. Green building is a great way to bring together many of the topics that children are studying in school. Recycling home waste into building materials is a topic that always holds their attention. Environmental issues like global climate change and depletion of the ozone layer are typically covered in middle schools, and the role of buildings in reducing these issues is fascinating to these students. There are many opportunities to discuss what you are doing.

Hold a green design competition at local high schools.

High school drafting and design classes appreciate having "real world" applications for their students. Each semester, I teach a class at a local high school. This is often done in conjunction with a local builder who offers $25-100 scholarship awards for the best green design. The competition is conducted with the support of a local newspaper or other media. This project educates young people and provides publicity for the students, the school, and the builder.

Consider becoming a columnist for your local paper. If you live in a large metropolitan area, you might try one of the small local weekly newspapers first. They are particularly hungry for local news and features. I started my writing career by creating articles for a local paper. By being a columnist you can help to educate prospective home buyers about the features of green building that are most important in your market. This, in turn, will make your sales process easier. Also, when you contribute to the paper, they will be more likely to cover you as a news feature as well. This writing experience can help you develop longer articles for magazines and regional papers that will attract a larger audience to your open houses.

Cross marketing uses a variety of media to reinforce your message and generate traffic through your homes. Medallion Homes in San Antonio uses a variety of marketing channels to reinforce one another. Carrie Gehlbach, VP Sales and Marketing, describes their approach. "Our newspaper ads and morning radio spots send them to the web site. From the web site they can order a CD-ROM and that sends them to the model home. Our focus is to get them to the model homes. We've sold about 60 homes from our web site alone."

By using interactive media like the CD-ROM and the web site they are able to provide prospective buyers with a greater amount of information and pictures before they arrive on site. By doing so, the sales staff has more time to qualify the buyer and close the sale while the customer is in the sales office.

Bill Eich leaves a mark on his Iowa homes. He says, "One of the most effective things we do to market ourselves is to affix a brass kick plate on the home with the year it was built and our logo. Our ads show me putting the kick plate on after final inspection. It is a symbol of our signature on the home, and it makes our clients’ homes something special."

Continue to Emphasize the Benefits to Buyers

Would you like to purchase this book?

Building Green in a Black and White World
by David Robert Johnston

Also See:

I. Marketing Strategies Introduction

II. Community Relations

III. Media Relations

IV. Brochures

V. Marketing Strategies

• Develop and Innovative Marketing Strategy
• Marketing Ideas
• Emphasize the Benefits to Buyers

Table of Contents