Establish program goals and objectives to clarify what you want your program to achieve and to guide program design and implementation over time.
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Define your business model, including market position, products and services, type of customers, financial model, governance structure, and the assets and infrastructure your organization needs.
Decide on priority target audience segments, messages, and incentives that will motivate customers.
Establish relationships with organizations that will assist with program marketing and outreach.
Identify and prioritize potential target audiences based on their likely receptivity to your program's services.
Solidify your program strategy and decide which customers you will focus on; what products, services, and support you will provide; and how you will partner with contractors and others to deliver services to your customers.
Many residential energy efficiency programs run into challenges maintaining an appropriately sized, well-trained workforce from program launch through maturity, as well as through the fluctuating demand of the seasons of the year. Some programs found that their contractors preferred a smooth annual...
All residential energy efficiency programs have found that outreach needs to be repeated to connect with and remind potential participants about program offerings. As marketing gurus note, the majority of people need to be exposed to a product message at least three times (on separate occasions) to...
Following up on leads that result from your marketing and outreach efforts quickly and consistently will help your program convert them from interested parties to satisfied customers. Many programs found a sizable drop-off in action if they or their contractors were not able to follow up within a...
Programs that conducted one-on-one outreach found that community events provided good opportunities for the program and its partners to connect and build credibility with potential customers. Particularly successful events were ones that attracted the program’s target audience and aligned with their...
Programs found that encouraging word of mouth outreach by asking satisfied customers to promote their program experience to peers helped attract more homeowners who completed energy upgrades. Referrals from neighbors and friends who are happy with their energy improvements can provide a good source...
Words have power, so many programs decided to use language with positive associations. For example, the Better Buildings Neighborhood Program encouraged use of the term "assessment" instead of "audit" to avoid the negative connotation of a tax audit. "Home energy upgrade" sounds more positive than...
Incentives can be the easiest approach to overcome motivation barriers and attract customers’ and contractors’ attention, as long as the upgrade and reimbursement processes are kept simple and easy to follow. Successful programs have found incentives help entice customers to complete upgrades...
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This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focused on the benefits and challenges of local programs connecting to national campaigns.
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Organizations or Programs
CoMo Energy Challenge
This summary from a Better Buildings Residential Network peer exchange call focused on the benefits, challenges, messaging and imagery of different social media campaigns.
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Organizations or Programs
Michigan Saves
This peer exchange call summary focused on integrating income-qualified programs into neighborhood sweeps.
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This article promotes the Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance’s 2012 U.S. Green Building Council /Business Courier Green Business Award for Education/Outreach - Nonprofit. The award celebrated the program’s outreach approach of reaching out to homeowners directly through community engagement and neighborhood canvassing.
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Organizations or Programs
Camden POWER - A Better Buildings Initiative,
Wisconsin Energy Conservation Corporation (WECC),
Better Buildings Near Eastside Neighborhood Sweeps Program,
Home Energy Affordability Loan (HEAL),
Keystone Home Energy Loan Program (HELP),
Midwest Energy,
New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA),
Opportunity Council,
Wyoming Energy Savers
This policy brief describes the energy efficiency financing options programs can use to help financial institutions make energy upgrades affordable and accessible to homeowners.
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Organizations or Programs
Energy Upgrade California
This report describes California property owners' specific interest, awareness, and perceptions regarding energy use, energy efficiency, home energy upgrades, and related topics. The study results were used for program design and to design and support marketing and outreach campaigns that encouraged energy upgrades
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Organizations or Programs
Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance (GCEA)
This article promotes the Greater Cincinnati Energy Alliance's 2012 U.S. Green Building Council /Business Courier Green Business Award for Education/Outreach Ð Nonprofit. The award celebrated the program's outreach approach of reaching out to homeowners directly through community engagement and neighborhood canvassing.
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Organizations or Programs
BetterBuildings for Michigan
This Focus Series interview discusses the semester-long, employer-assisted partnership between BetterBuildings for Michigan and Grand Valley State University (GVSU). This successful partnership involved an early adopter outreach campaign and served as a model for other program partnerships.
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Organizations or Programs
BetterBuildings for Michigan
This case study discusses BetterBuildings for Michigan's targeted outreach campaigns which applied varying incentives and outreach strategies to neighborhoods with a goal to understand which rebates and strategies work best in the target communities.