Green Marketing in Sustainable Construction: Analysis of BHI Architecture and Urban Design

This report analyzes the green marketing strategies of BHI Architecture and Urban Design in sustainable construction in Australia. It includes identification of brand priority audience and their psychographic profile, critique and analysis of green marketing strategies based on the 4p's of marketing, and strategic recommendations.

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Executive summary
The report is based on green sustainability in construction. It begins with a simple but elaborate
introduction to the issue based on a previous report. What follows is the body of the report that
reflects on identification on brand priority audience & their psychographic profile which is
discussed in details. This includes the green marketing strategies basing them on the 4p’s of
marketing. What follows is a conclusion in the form of a reflection of the report and the insight
gained from it. Lastly is a list of references from where the information used in the report was
sourced from.

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Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................4
IDENTIFY BRAND PRIORITY AUDIENCE & THEIR PSYCHOGRAPHIC PROFILE................................................5
Brand priority audience...........................................................................................................................5
Brand psychographic profile....................................................................................................................5
Green Marketing strategy critique and analysis......................................................................................6
1. Price.............................................................................................................................................6
2. Promotion....................................................................................................................................6
3. Product........................................................................................................................................7
4. Place............................................................................................................................................7
Strategic recommendations:...................................................................................................................8
1. Vigorous and relevant advertising...............................................................................................8
2. Readjust the prices......................................................................................................................8
3. Changing to a sustainability brand image....................................................................................8
CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................................10

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INTRODUCTION
Green marketing is the process that involves selling services and/or goods that are environmental
friendly, that is; they cause very little or no environmental pollution. (Ottman, 2017). This
implies that the product or services are either produced in an environmental friendly way or are
environmental friendly. Sustainable building involves considering a buildings entire life cycle
that is; from planning stage to designing, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and
eventually its demolition. (Madurwar, Ralegaonkar & Mandavgane, 2013).This is done by via
utilizing materials that are recycled and also bio-degradable materials. Given the high rate of
pollution, many companies have turned to using environmental friendly ways for production and
also producing green products. Buildings consume some 30% of the world's resources, 10% of
water and around 40% of the world's energy. In this case scenario, the country of study is
Australia and the company to be analyzed is BHI Architecture and Urban Design. In Australia,
there is Green Building Council whose sole authority is to accelerate and promote sustainable
building for a better environment that is healthy, productive, livable, and sustainable. Thus a
large number of companies in Australia have adopted green construction. The company is a
construction one and has adopted sustainable architecture in a bid to be environmental friendly.
The report will seek to analyze how BHI Architecture and Urban Design practice its green
marketing. Furthermore, the Australian constitution under The Environment Protection and
Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 ( EPBC Act) seeks to promote construction that is
environment friendly. (Miller, et al, 2015).

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IDENTIFY BRAND PRIORITY AUDIENCE & THEIR PSYCHOGRAPHIC PROFILE
Brand priority audience
Brand priority audience is a customer that a company primarily targets to win them as their
client. The target audience for BHI Architecture and Urban Design practice in green marketing is
the private sector and the government. Australia population is expanding randomly especially in
the urban areas. This has created a business opportunity for the private investors to construct
more housing facilities for profit. Also, the government has also come into play to try and
provide affordable housing to it citizens. BHI Architecture and Urban Design have embraced this
opportunity to act as a contractor on behalf of the clients (private sector and government).
(Haslam McKenzie & Rowley, 2013).
As previously mentioned, there is an expansion of the urban population due to rural urban
migration in search of jobs by Australian population. Thus, the geographical location of the
brand’s target audience is the urban setting.
The Australia government like any other government has a mandate of ensuring a sustainable
environment for its citizens. Thus it has a positive attitude towards sustainable construction and
hence that’s the reason why BHI Architecture and Urban Design are targeting them for
construction contracts. Also, sustainable construction is much cheaper both financially from an
environment point of view in the long-run and has thus both the private sector and government
tend to prefer it. Also, the green houses are in demand amongst the Australian population who
are rapidly embracing environmental sustainability. (Kibert, 2016).
Brand psychographic profile
Psychographic is the basic overview into the customers’ preferences in a bid to quickly identify
potential customers. For brand psychographic profile, BHI Architecture and Urban Design will
have to carry out a psychographic segregation aimed at dividing the market into consumer
preference thus identifying a target group which prefers green construction. BHI Architecture
and Urban Design then use this information to create and implement highly targeted marketing
campaigns. (Alexandris, 2013).
Given the urge for transformation into a sustainable environment and also given lower cost of
production associated with green construction, the government and private sector are leaning
towards it. Also, the Australian government gives rebates and incentives to investors who invest
in sustainable environment. This is a major point of attraction to the private invests in a bid to get
the incentives and rebates. (Li, Rubin & Onyina, 2013).
Despite the investment in sustainability being attractive, there are various barriers facing the
implementation of sustainable consumption and are as follows:

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1. Green construction involves use of renewable energy like use of solar and wind energy.
The cost associated with initial capital for setting up renewable energy is quite expensive.
However, after the initial capital, only a small cost is incurred as the recurrent costs in
terms of monthly billing which accrue unlike the use of electricity (HEP or nuclear). This
may be quite a turn off for companies with a minimal initial capital outlay. (Hess, 2013).
2. Also, there is the issue of split incentive. That is, for the contractor (BHI Architecture and
Urban Design), it quite expensive to construct but the cost of maintenance for the client is
quite lower by about 14% compared to traditional buildings. This may be quite a put off
for the clients in considering green construction. (Wong & Zhou, 2015).
Green Marketing strategy critique and analysis
The green marketing strategy is how BHI Architecture and Urban Design will undertake their
marketing in a bid to penetrate the market and win over potential customers. (Ko, Hwang &
Kim, 2013). For this to be successful, the company will have to come up with a well-organized
marketing plan that will ensure the right market mix that ensure maximization of profit while
also ensuring adherence to the principles of green environment. The green marketing plan will
incorporate the objectives of the company, their corporate goals, strategies, and tactics. For
marketing, BHI Architecture and Urban Design will use the 4p’s of marketing. The 4p’s of
marketing are as follows; price, product, place and promotion. (Tapp & Spotswood, 2013).
1. Price
This is the monetary value that a consumer anticipates to pay for a product or a service. (Nagle &
Müller, 2017). If the price is higher or lower than expected, then it will not sell. Customers
usually attach a price to a product with regards to the value they place on the product.
In this particular case scenario, BHI Architecture and Urban Design will use the pricing as the
green marketing strategy to promote sales and gain new customers. Generally, the pricing of
green construction is a bit more expensive than that of unsustainable construction. However, as
mentioned earlier, the Australian government is giving incentives to green manufacturers. This
will mean that cost of production will be relatively lower compared with the environmental
benefits accompanying it compared to unsustainable construction and the environmental costs
accompanying it. Also, the initial cost of installing green energy in the building will be a bit
costly in the short-term but a bargain in the long-term. This is because the energy is renewable
and there will be no recurrent monthly billing involved. This will be a major selling point for
BHI Architecture and Urban Design. (Borin, Lindsey-Mullikin, & Krishnan, 2013).
2. Promotion
This is the communication tool that a company uses to acknowledge their presence in the market
and also to market their product or service. (Andrews & Shimp, 2017).There are various ways of
marketing a product by show casing its benefits. The most commonly used ways are branding
and advertising.

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a. Branding – this is the perception of a certain product in a customers’ mind. In this case,
given the product is sustainable construction, the brand image should create a perception
of that the product offered by BHI Architecture and Urban Design is one that has a
positive repercussion to the environment. For example, the brand naming should have a
catch phrase such as, “sustainability for a clean and healthy future.”(Aronczyk, 2013).
b. Advertising – this is communication geared towards creating and increasing awareness
of an existing product in the market and also encouraging repeat purchasing. This form
of usually takes place in the media such as print media like magazines and journals,
social media, television and radio. It is very convenient as media is widely used and thus
can reach a large number of the target audience. The only downside of advertising is
that it is expensive but if the returns match the cost, then it can be quite convenient.
(Beckner, 2014).
3. Product
A product is a good or service marketed with the intention of making a sale by a producer to the
consumer. In this case scenario, the product is sustainable construction. When a product is said to
be sustainable, it thereby insinuates that the raw materials used, manufacturing of the product
and disposability of the product are all eco-friendly thereby reducing the company’s carbon
footprint. BHI Architecture and Urban Design has adhered to this and thus can use this as a
marketing strategy to sell their product to their target audience that embraces green construction.
(Wei, Samiee, & Lee, 2014)
4. Place
In this case scenario, the place is the distribution channel or the supply chain and the location of
the business. For better marketing, the location of BHI Architecture and Urban Design should be
structured in such a way that oozes sustainability. For example, they may install solar panels as
their source of energy, and also utilize transportation services of companies who embrace green
energy in motor vehicles. As for the supply chain, there will a direct link between the company
and the target audience. That is, all the target audience has to do is to visit the offices for
consultation and purchase of services. (Monczka, et al. 2015).
As for the raw materials which are eco-friendly, the company will contract local companies
which support sustainability. Also, for this case, there will be a direct link between the suppliers
and BHI Architecture and Urban Design. The supply chain is as follows:
Suppliers of raw
materials and other
supporting services
BHI Architecture
and Urban Design
practice
Target audience and
existing customers

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Strategic recommendations:
These are the recommendation that the company needs to improve on so as to attract more
targeted audience and thereby increasing their profitability. They are as follows:
1. Vigorous and relevant advertising
To create product awareness among the target audience thereby increasing the sales volume and
consequently the profit margin, then promotion is really necessary. However, for cost
effectiveness and attaining the acquired goal, BHI Architecture and Urban Design should use the
appropriate channel of advertisement and branding.
For advertisement, I would recommend use of billboards and magazines. The target audiences
are huge companies in the private sector and the government. Billboards are very easily
observable outdoor while magazines and journals are readily available in the target audience
offices. For this reason, the adverts will be easily accessible to the target audience. (Sadeh,
Nooraie & Hajikarimi, 2013).
2. Readjust the prices
As mentioned, the Australian government is currently offering rebates on taxes and incentives
for companies operating in green construction. This cut in cost of production should therefore be
transferred to the target audience. Given that any business is driven by the urge to make more
profits, then BHI Architecture and Urban Design should revise their pricing downwards
accordingly to attract the target audience. In connection to the same, the prices should be
reviewed in a manner that will also be financially beneficial to BHI Architecture and Urban
Design thus revising the prices downwards should be balanced accordingly to suit both parties.
3. Changing to a sustainability brand image
The branding of a product and company represents the self-image of the company. Therefore for
branding, it should be done in a manner that exhibits the company as sustainable or eco-friendly.
This means that BHI Architecture and Urban Design should rebrand in a manner that creates an
image of sustainability to the target audience. This can be done by creating a logo or a motto that
exhibits an eco-friendly message. In so doing, the government and other private sector players
who support sustainability will want to be associated with BHI Architecture and Urban Design
thus improving on sales and the profitability ratio. (Költringer & Dickinger, 2015).

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CONCLUSION
These are the learning reflections that have been gained from the report generated. The carbon
emission level world over are increasing and it created an urgency to embrace green energy.
Carbon emission from unsustainable energy is considered to the major detriment to achieving
sustainability but on reflection of this report, it creates a different insight where sustainability is
also hindered by unsustainable construction. Therefore, it is quite evident that eradication of
carbon emission from unsustainable energy cannot fully eradicate pollution. Other measures such
as green construction should be incorporated to achieve a green environment. Also, from the
report, green marketing is quite crucial in creating awareness on green construction. From an
Australian point of view, green construction has hit a milestone mainly due government
subsidies and rebates and to achieve the same in other countries, the same should also be
practiced.

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