BPI's Marketing Hub
Brand Yourself with New BPI Logos
By Hannah C. Wood
We're happy to announce that BPI has updated its internal-use logo and associated logos for you.
BPI aims to build brand recognition for the organization, and for you, across advertising, social media, print materials, etc.
Please look out for an email BPI has sent, or will send, you (via Constant Contact) with instructions on how to download the following:
- the revised BPI Brand Protection and Logo Use Policies and Procedures
- a memo about the logo changes and formats
- your updated logos (e.g., BPI Certified Professional logos, BPI GoldStar Contractor, BPI Test Center, Continuing Education, HEP Professionals and Listed Product)
For BPI Certified Professionals: Please check your email from February 2nd.
For Continuing Education Providers with active and pre-approved courses: Please check your email from February 7th.
For Home Energy Professionals (HEP): Please look for an email next week (week of February 13th).
For BPI GoldStar Contractors and BPI Test Centers: We will email you the week of February 20th, following your renewal deadline of February 15th.
Reminder: The BPI (stand-alone) seal is for BPI use only. If you have used it on your website, or on any other marketing materials, please remove it as soon as possible. Instead, please use your approved logo. Your logo contains the text (for example: BPI Certified Professional) relevant to your affiliation with BPI.
Industry News
Building Performance News and Discussion
By Quinn Korzeniecki
BPI News
Due tomorrow, Friday 10th! BPI seeks nominations for both the 2017 Tony Woods Award and the Building Performance Hall of Fame. The Tony Woods Award will go to someone who made a difference in the industry in 2016. The Hall of Fame will award those who have made the home performance industry better throughout their careers. Learn more and nominate someone here!
Three new Embertec plug load management products are now included as BPI Listed Products, a service that features products and materials that have met product specification industry standards.
Industry News
Women working in low-income weatherization programs can apply for one of two Larry Armanda Scholarship Awards by February 17, 2017, to receive registration, a 3 night stay at the HPC National Conference host hotel, and $250 for travel expenses toward HPC National in Nashville from March 19-22, 2017.
More than 80% of employers in the energy efficiency sector have at least some difficulty finding qualified job applicants, according to the U.S. Department of Energy's second annual energy and employment report.
Federal, State, and Local News
EmPOWER Maryland will save customers $4 billion on electric bills over the life of the improvements, which were made between 2008 and 2015. Total lifetime energy savings will be equivalent to the electricity used by 850,000 residential customers over five years.
The Arizona Home Performance with ENERGY STAR lowered administrative labor costs for quality assurance by 50% while increasing customer satisfaction with the program by 50%. They created a seamless data collection and transfer process using home performance extensible mark-up language (HPXML) data dictionary and data transfer standards.
Tech Talk
Learn how to properly install airtight dropped soffits for ducts, fans, or can lights, in this video.
Do you know how to accurately measure relative humidity in a home? Learn more about the process in this article.
About the Author
Quinn is the Senior Communications Associate for BPI. Would you like to write articles to engage homeowners about home performance? Contact Quinn to contribute to BPI's Homeowner Blog.
Partner News
The 2017 National Home Performance Coalition Conference & Trade Show is Coming to Nashville in March!
By Lindsay Flickinger
Our Sustaining Partner, Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), is hosting the conference. "TVA has been such an engaged and innovative sustaining partner since coming on board two years ago. I am so excited to see what they have in store for our community as guests in their home state of Tennessee," said Chris Docchio, HPC's Director of Partner Relations.
HPC is also excited to partner with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP). The partnership between the HPC and WAP will help bring the entire industry together through a single national gathering where training, education, research and policy on building retrofits dominate an exciting agenda.
Coming together under one roof, as one industry, to discuss best practices and opportunities for growth, is a step in the right direction toward our common goal of ensuring that all American homes are provided with the highest levels of energy efficiency retrofits possible.
Over 125 breakout sessions to choose from
Check out our Program Pages! This is your one-stop shop in planning your personalized adventure in Nashville, giving you access to each day at a glance, detailed presenter information, full session descriptions, and more.
You can customize your conference experience before you even get to Nashville! As you browse through the program, you can "favorite" sessions and events to add them to your schedule. All of that information will be saved and transferred to your conference app, which will be available in March.
Who will be at HPC National?
HPC's National Conference brings together a community of energy efficiency focused people from various industry backgrounds including home performance and HVAC contractors, weatherization professionals, program administrators, thought-leaders in residential energy efficiency, utilities, manufacturers, distributors, tech companies, government officials, and more.
Examples of companies represented by presenters include:
- American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE)
- Building Performance Institute (BPI)
- CLEAResult
- CSRA
- U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)
- Georgetown University
- Habitat X
- ICF International
- National Association for Community Services Programs (NASCSP)
- Owens Corning
- And many more!
Examples of exhibitors include:
- TruTech Tools
- Panasonic
- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP)
- Home Depot
- The Energy Conservatory (TEC)
- And many more!
Discounts available for BPI GoldStar Contractors, Efficiency First members, and more
You can register to attend the conference by clicking here. Following are the registration prices and date cut-offs, as well as information on available discounts:- Regular Registration: $775 (ends 2/17/17)
- Late Registration: $875 (begins 2/18/17)
- One-Day Pass: $400
- Student Rate Full-Day: $625
- Student Rate One-Day Pass: $240
- BPI GoldStar Contractors are offered a discount. Contact BPI at marketing@bpi.org for your rate today.
- Efficiency First members receive a $100 discount.
An organization that registers five or more employees from the same organization may be eligible to receive a group discount of $100 off the current registration rate per person. For more information about group discounts and to receive the group discount registration code, please contact HPC's Robyn Hall at 412-424-0040.
We're looking forward to seeing you in Nashville!
Marketing Corner
To Blog or Not to Blog: Should Your Small Business Start a Blog?
By Stevie Valle
This blog was originally posted on Service Direct and has been lightly edited.
As technology evolves, so too should your marketing and communication strategy. With the growing focus on instant gratification, most companies allow you to manage your accounts 24/7 online without the need to ever speak to a customer service representative. It is estimated that, by 2020, 85% of all business interactions will not require real human interaction. If you've relied on direct, personal interactions with your customers up until this point, keeping that strategy will put you at a definite disadvantage. Now more than ever, it's important to develop successful ways to deliver your message to current and potential clients through new, relevant mediums.
Every small business seems to have a blog these days, following the marketing "how-tos" available online touting "content is king." Unfortunately, many of these how-tos leave out the hard questions like, "Is blogging the right marketing strategy for your business?" When done properly, managing a successful blog for your business can bring in new business as well as assert you as thought leader in your industry. But before you jump in, here are a few things to consider.
Have you figured out your company's voice?
Consistency is one of the most important pieces to developing your brand and reputation. After all, if you keep changing your tone and message, your customers will be left confused as to what your business is trying to accomplish. But before you can even get started building your brand, you need to develop a clear voice.
At its most basic level, your brand's voice is the personification of your company. It's the tone you'll use throughout your marketing and communication efforts and should reflect the company's goals and values. Will you be the witty sales team that produces the most unforgettable promotions? Or maybe you're an expert in your field with case studies or research you'd like to share with your community. Whatever the case may be, defining your voice is instrumental in choosing the right content to share with the right audience.
Do you have something to say?
What will the theme of your blog be? Will it be a how-to or will it chronicle your experience running a business? Once you define the theme of your blog, take some time to research relevant topics you'd like to cover. A good rule of thumb is to be able to come up with enough topics to get you through 5-10 posts. If this doesn't come easy, you may need to spend more time researching your target audience, or may need to reconsider your blog's original theme.
Anyone can throw together a decent piece of content, but are you saying anything new or just rephrasing a topic that has been covered to death? Your approach to writing for a business blog should be similar to that of a journalist. Once you find topics you want to cover, you'll want to determine your angle. Can you add a higher level of knowledge through your own business experience? Do you have a great story that makes your topic memorable? Ultimately, you'll need something refreshing that your target will want to read without feeling deja vu.
Can blogging fit into your current marketing strategy?
If you're like most small businesses and blogging wasn't part of your initial marketing strategy, before you dive in head first, you'll need to consider if blogging fits your current strategy. You may find that the time commitment will take away too much from the successful marketing strategies you already have in place. Or, when you dive in to your target audience, you may find they don't spend much time reading blogs. In both cases, you may discover adding a blog may yield little to no results and you'll really want to know this before you devote too much time or too many resources to the project.
Developing a blog as part of your content marketing strategy is something many businesses consider in the digital age. A successful blog strategy can drive traffic to your website, establish your business as an industry leader, and even generate leads for new customers. Taking the time to consider if adding a blog will work for your business will help you stay focused and start off on the right foot if you decide to create a blog, or will save you a lot of time and headache if you discover blogging will not work for you before you get in too deep.
Stump the Chump
Let's Play Stump the Chump!
By BPI
We need you! We received no new stumpers for February (although we got many great responses to last month's submission!), so we do not have a new one to offer up. Please send images and stories you have to qkorzeniecki@bpi.org.
In the meantime, take another stab at January's stumper:
January's stumper came from a contractor located in northwest Ohio. They did a small addition on a two-story home earlier this year. When the contractor was in the attic, he discovered that a second floor dryer vent had come apart and was blowing openly into the attic. They told the client and fixed the vent by reinstalling it directly up through the roof.
After two months, the customer called and said it was taking 3+ hours to dry a load of towels. They had the appliance repair man out and he said that the two year old dryer was blowing the correct temperature air out of the back and to get the ducting checked.
Our contractor returned and took apart the metal duct expecting to find a clog or lint all over, and, instead, found nothing. Clear and free. Total length of the run is 15-20 feet.
What could be a possible explanation?
Send us your answer to this month's stumper! Email qkorzeniecki@bpi.org to enter to win the contest, and be featured in the next issue of BPI's Performance Matters.
JOIN THE DISCUSSION! Each month's Stump the Chump challenge will be featured as a topic on BPI's discussion page on Home Energy Pros, the home performance industry's very own social networking site. To send your answer there, and discuss with other Stump the Chump fans, simply visit BPI's discussion page and click on the right-hand 'Sign Up' box to create a profile, then add your comment.