Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hello and thank you for joining us for a recorded presentation on how to use ENERGY STAR for
New Homes Online Marketing Toolkit. Today we’ll go through a couple things regarding
the Toolkit. First, we’ll talk about what kind of uses there are for the materials that
you create on it. Second, we’ll talk about accessing the Toolkit using the ENERGY STAR
online website. Third, we’ll go through creating marketing materials step-by-step
using the online system. And fourth, we’ll talk about next steps: what you can do after
you’ve created your materials using the Online Marketing Toolkit.
First, we’ll talk about the different uses for the materials that you create.
The Online Marketing Toolkit is a great free resource that allows builders to create customized
point of sale materials in just a few minutes. You can include company specific information,
such as contact information, website addresses, logos, and also selecting customized consumer
messages, features and benefits to focus on.
Here are a couple benefits of the Toolkit: it’s free, it’s easy to use, it has customizable
templates, it gives you the ability to co-brand with ENERGY STAR using the ENERGY STAR name
logo, templates, and look and feel of the document, and also it allows you to highlight
energy efficiency benefits to consumers.
Here are a couple different examples of materials that you can create. There are fliers, fact
sheets, web buttons and display cards as well as other templates for you to use.
Next, let’s talk about how you can access the Marketing Toolkit online in just a few
clicks.
First, you’ll want to go to the ENERGY STAR website homepage at www.energystar.gov. Then,
go to the “New Homes” section in the bottom right hand corner and click on the link “For
Residential Professionals.” You can also go straight to energystar.gov forward slash
homes to access this next page.
This is the energystar.gov forward slash homes page. On the bottom right hand corner you’ll
see “Partnership Information” and where the arrow’s pointing here, you’ll see
a link for “Update My Account.” You can click on this link here or you can go straight
to energystar.gov slash MESA, M-E-S-A stands for “My Energy Star Account.”
That'll take you to the walk-in page for your individual account. If you misplaced your
username and or password, or are having trouble signing in, please contact the ENERGY STAR
hotline. Contact information for the hotline is provided through links on this page when
you’ve forgotten your password or forgotten your username and password just click on the
links here.
Once you login, you’ll be taken to your account page. Here’s a view of an example
page and you’ll notice the third link in “My ENERGY STAR Tools” is the “Marketing
Toolkit” circled in red.
From here let's talk about actually creating materials using the Toolkit in a step-by-step
process.
Once you click on that Marketing Toolkit link, you’ll be taken to this “Welcome to the
Toolkit” page. Use the links on the left navigation bar to select a template. To ensure
proper functioning of the Toolkit software, your computer security must be set to medium
or low and pop-ups must be enabled. Turn off all pop-up blockers associated with your browser
to ensure that the Toolkit will work properly.
Here are a couple of templates that might be available to you. Select the type of template
you want to start working on. I’m going to select the “Home Features Flier.” Templates
differ by partner type also, so builder templates will have different value propositions than
rater templates. Keep this in mind when selecting the template for you.
Once you select a template to customize, a new screen will open with customization options
for that specific template. Use the “options” menu on the bottom left hand side of the screen
to adjust the onscreen resolution quality and the zoom level.
First, click on the “Select Background” radio button. This will pull up a small screen
of background images to select from. You can see that I’ve selected one of our canned
images here, but you can also use some of your own images from your computer files.
Next, select “builders website” and enter your own web address for consumers to see.
I’m going to add a fake builder website, www.topnotchhomes.com. Next, click on “choose
a headline.” I’m going to select a canned template that says quote “Buy a new home
that has a view of the future with ENERGY STAR and builder’s name.” Here, I’ll
use “Top Notch Homes” in place of the words “builder’s name.” You can also
create a completely customized banner or select from a couple of other canned responses here.
Next, click on the “Features” button. Here, you can select canned features to display
or write your own for each of the five paragraphs. After selecting and editing a block of text,
scroll down to make a selection for each of the remaining paragraphs. There are eleven
canned features to choose from. Uh, and you also have the option to create your own text.
I’m going to select the first five canned template and insert them here. Once you choose
which features your flier will talk about, you can select images to complement that text.
You can choose to have no image, use a canned photo or diagram or add your own saved picture
by browsing your own files. For my first image, I selected the canned photo of HVAC equipment
since my flier talks about efficient properly-sized equipment in ENERGY STAR qualified homes.
Next, I’ll click on the “Select Image 1 Caption” button so that I can add a description.
Here, I simply wrote “efficient equipment” to describe the feature of an ENERGY STAR
qualified home. You can also chose to leave descriptions blank if you chose aesthetic
images rather than technical ones. As with the first image, select photos and captions
for the next two. I added mine here and you can see them, in, uh, the form of a house
and also an ENERGY STAR qualified lamp. Finally, click the button for “Builder’s Logo”
and add an image from your own files. You can see here that I added an image for the
made up company, Top Notch Homes, but you can also choose to leave this field blank.
There are a variety of ways to finish the files you create. Once you finish customizing
the template, you can save a draft version which enables you to work on materials over
multiple sessions, save a final version or generate a printable PDF file or other electronic
file format. Because your materials are password protected, you can save the templates that
you have started to customize and finish them later on. You can also make changes to templates
that you’ve already finished. You’ll need WIN ZIP to download the ENERGY STAR Marketing
Toolkit Template. WIN ZIP can be downloaded free of charge from www.winzip.com.
After clicking the download button, you might find a display similar to this one letting
you know that the pop-up window has been blocked. If your pop-up has been blocked, just right
click the yellow ribbon or other notice if you’re not using the Internet Explorer and
select either “temporarily allow pop-ups” or “always allow pop-ups” from this site.
Next, click “download now” to open or save your file.
And you can save different file versions also. PDF, Low-res PDF, EPS and TIFF formats are
all available to you for downloading.
Next, let’s talk about next steps for using the customized materials that you’ve already
created.
You can distribute your new materials in a number of ways. Hold them prominently in your
sales office or model home for consumers to pick them up while they come in. Hold them
at events like ENERGY STAR educational sessions that you might host in your local community.
Hand them out at home shows that you might attend. Send them through direct mailers or
post them online using social media.
Also, take a look at our other free resource online. This is the page energystar.gov forward
slash homes and in the bottom left hand corner there are all different resources for partners.
The three links circled here are marketing resources, educational resources, and free
online webinars that are hosted live over the internet. Click on any of these links
to find a number of different free resources available to partners and industry stakeholders.
We thank you for joining this presentation. If you have further questions, please visit
energystar.gov forward slash homes or feel free to e-mail us at enegystarhomes@energystar.gov.
Thank you very much and have a great day.