Greenspiration Home Captivates and Educates Green Consumers
Greenspiration Home Creates “Niche” Sponsorships to Compliment Unique Homeowner-to-Homeowner Approach
(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) May 24, 2011 - Greenspiration Home LLC --- There are great green building products and there are the consumers that want them. In between is a vast and complicated distribution chain weighted with enough apathy and misinformation to discourage any homeowner from going green. At least that’s what Trish Holder believes, and like the content on her online publication, Greenspiration Home, that belief is based on experience.
Holder, a long time writer and marketing consultant for the commercial HVAC industry, spearheaded her own green building project in 2008. While building her own private LEED registered home, she discovered how ill-equipped the residential construction industry was at helping her build green. The experience inspired Holder to create Greenspiration Home, an online publication directed specifically at homeowners.
A Unique Venue for Homeowners and Advertisers
“Providing relevant green building information that doesn’t bore or confuse the average homeowners isn’t easy, but that’s precisely what the industry needs and that’s what Greenspiration Home delivers,” says Holder.
The Greenspiration Home blog, or “editorial” as Holder prefers to call it, is decidedly experienced-based, even anecdotal. The information is candid, entertaining, and most importantly, told from the homeowner’s point of view.
Greenspiration Home’s approach to advertising is as creative as its editorial. You won’t find a cluttered mosaic of Google ads on this for-profit website; you will find several niche sponsorships such as Made In America and FanADtics (advertisers who are “fans” of Greenspiration Home and its initiative to educate homeowners). Sponsors have their own space within the website and are encouraged to base ad content on information.
Advertisers like Ed Fritz, president and owner of AtticFoil Radiant Barrier, see the value in the Greenspiration Home approach, one that “buddies up” to the homeowner to chat about how this product worked and how that strategy did not.
“I think most contractors building homes don't offer green solutions simply because they aren't sure what is available and how it works,” said Fritz. “As a manufacturer of a green energy radiant barrier (and Greenspiration Home, as an informative resource for green building), it is our job to educate people on the options that are available for green living.”
Engaging the “Lady of the House”
An important part of Greenspiration Home’s approach is making sure that women relate to the content. The look, feel, and overall presentation must appeal to women, insists Holder. It doesn’t matter whether a given blog is about HVAC or countertops, it must demonstrate relevancy to women.
Greenspiration Home also includes topics that traditionally appeal to women, like furniture and home décor. This content frequently relates to domestically sourced goods or product durability – issues that are completely relevant to green home ownership.
“So many building publications fail to engage women because their look and point-of-view is decidedly male. Yet we all know that women make most of the decisions when it comes to building or renovating a home,” says Holder.
Marla Esser, owner of Sustaining Spaces LLC and HomeNav, another Greenspiration Home advertiser, agrees.
“Women make or influence 80-90% of the decisions about a home. It is not only important, but imperative, that we reach women. Our product helps to simplify home management and operation and most homeowners I know, especially women, like to simplify.”
Esser likens reading Greenspiration Home to “having a cup of coffee with a friend.” She finds the website’s approach refreshingly different from other home building or renovating publications and a perfect fit for building awareness for HomeNav, an interactive manual and resource guide that helps busy homeowners keep track of things like appliance warranties and maintenance procedures.
Other companies, including Dupont and Columbia Forest Products, have recently come on board as Greenspiration Home sponsors. Because Greenspiration Home is so consumer focused, almost to the point of homeowner advocacy, Holder believes advertisers gain an extra bit of credibility from their presence on the site.
“We put homeowners first,” says Holder. “That’s something that the residential industry desperately needs, along with more effective education and communication.”
Greenspiration Home LLC is an online resource dedicated to helping homeowners build, renovate, and decorate green. Whether your aspirations lean toward deep green and granola or practical and energy efficient, Greenspiration Home is loaded with homeowner-based content that will save you time, money and frustration.