This week on The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast, Sara Gutterman of Green Builder Media joins Greg and Kevin to discuss how generational marketing can help home builders attract and engage the right home buyer with the right message at the right time.
Every generation is shaped by experiences which then impact their attitudes, perspectives, and preferences. Sara explains,
“Each generation is shaped by its own unique historical context. So, things like cultural events, wars, elections, climate events, and natural disasters, certainly the economy, recessions, times of boom and bust, so to speak. But as we look at the purchase drivers and behavioral patterns of those 4 main generations that are impacting the housing sector, there are trends that track with those historical events that I just mentioned, and also the specific nuances and pensions that each of those generations have. They are translated into their general purchase drivers and behavioral patterns for their homes.”
While not every home buyer will fall perfectly into a general category, there are still valuable insights that can help home builder marketers identify how to reach buyers in each generation. Sara says,
“…it’s kind of like a bell curve, right? Where you’re going to have outliers and you’re going to have both ends of the spectrum that may not fit into what the median data reflects, but if we kind of take out those outliers or the ends of the spectrum, and we focus on the main subset of each generation or the majority, I think that we can gather some insights based on the data that is pretty representative generationally.”
Understanding how the nuances of each generation can help home builder digital marketers connect with home buyers better. Sara says,
“I really believe that as marketers, you have to figure out how to communicate with someone where they are rather than where you are.”
Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about generational marketing in home building.
About the Guest:
Sara is the Co-Founder and CEO of Green Builder® Media, North America’s leading media company focused on green building and sustainable living. With a comprehensive suite of media solutions, market intelligence, ESG services, demonstration projects, online training, and live events, and Green Builder Media assists building professionals in preparing themselves for the decarbonization economy and helps homeowners live more sustainably.
As CEO of Green Builder Media, Sara has established a reputation for herself as a visionary thought leader and passionate advocate for sustainability. She is considered an expert in leading-edge decarbonization technologies, ESG strategies, and housing market insights. She has a unique focus on data, trends, and intelligence in areas like net zero (energy, water, and carbon), electrification, healthy home, resilient building, connected living, and renewable energy, as well as generational marketing
Prior to founding Green Builder Media, Sara was a venture capitalist and was involved in the life cycle (from funding to exit) of over 20 companies.
Sara graduated from Dartmouth College. She holds an MBA in entrepreneurship and finance from the University of Colorado. She lives in Lake City, CO with her husband, where she is an avid long-distance runner, snowboarder, and CrossFit trainer. Sara runs the Rural Segment for Energize Colorado and she served a term as a County Commissioner.