Do Green Home Builders Follow the New Rules of Marketing Engagement

In a still somewhat sluggish real estate market some home builders are differentiating themselves by adding green features to their new homes.  Yet, they still have one foot on first base while trying to get to second and eventually score while trying to use old marketing paradigms to make contact with today’s buyers.

For instants, who is your market and how to you reach them?  Green home buyers can’t be stereo-typed as Boomers, X’ers or Y’s, yet the method and most often the messages for reaching this group of buyers can be very stereo-typical old school methods.

Green Built Homes

This week I toured green built homes in Bothell Wa.  Bothell is scheduled for a tremendous downtown redevelopment with a vision to make it a very walkable community for all ages.  The homes I toured were listed in the multiple listing service (MLS) as “Built Green.”  When I entered the model unit the only reference to green building or sustainable development was a nice professional designed community walking map on the wall.

The homes are perfect for active adults or young professionals who want community and connectivity and no yard work. What I did find in the model homes were at least a dozen different handouts; floor plans, financing, site layout, thank you post cards, and warranty information typical marketing pieces all done very well.  What I didn’t see was anything about the homes being built green, nor prior to touring the homes did I see any information about green building, for this specific community, on the developer’s web site.

Interaction and Collaboration

Home buyers want to interact and collaborate and are used to going to social sites for information and they want it fast either online or through their smart phones.  Traditional exterior signage can be a easily be more effective and dynamic by simply adding a QR code that can be scanned by any smart phone to get detailed property and community information.  Signs and flyers should have web addresses for all social media sites and a dedicated community web site.

So much of green building is behind the walls and in the materials that make up the finished products.  Educating the home buyer and creating value are crucial when marketing green homes, this can be incorporated with interior displays in the sales center, blogs & video channel, social media platforms, and most importantly a knowable sales team that can create value linkages to the modern green home buyer.

Home builders have viewed green building as a way to differentiate themselves from the competition.  We must also see a paradigm shift in the marketing of these homes to properly showcase the features, benefits, materials, and new building techniques that go into the making of a green home.

Adrian Willanger is founder of Eco-Redux Media is LEED accredited and has an MBA in Sustainability-consults with builders/developers to define and implement their online, marketing and media strategies.