Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/733263
OCTOBER 2016 26 THE JOURNAL BY BRUCE SAVAGE COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT Arkansas Manufactured Housing Association Takes the Lead On Addressing Image Issues The Arkansas Manufactured Housing Asso- ciation (AMHA) has recently shown the man- ufactured housing industry how it can move forward on informing and educating the home- buying public with the latest information on today's manufactured homes. In an announcement on September 1, J.D. Harper, AMHA execu- tive director, stated that the association had been working on a series of short "Get the Facts" videos to address com- mon myths, misconcep- tions and stereotypes that many potential home- buyers have about the quality, value and safety of manufactured homes. "After many months of work by the AMHA's Public Relations Committee, these educational videos have been finalized and uploaded to YouTube. The three-part videos are available for viewing at https://www/youtube.com/ channel/UCEK7ywAbOF81KOCll9plOAA The video series focuses on the safety of manufactured homes, the good value that manufactured homes provide to homebuyers, and the modern construction techniques used in building homes in a factory setting. "We are a great believer that manufactured homes offer one of the best housing values in America today," Harper noted. "We have to be willing to let people know who and what we are in 2016, and these videos represent a very significant, tangible way of delivering our mes- sages to more and more homebuyers." "The credit for this Get the Facts video proj- ect goes to the members of the Arkansas Man- ufactured Housing Association's Board of Directors for their commitment to develop and produce the video series," Harper stated. "Spe- cial thanks also goes to AMHA's Public Rela- tions Committee chairman Ken Ross, long-time marketing representative for Triad Financial Services. Ken bought into the idea behind the project early on, and was involved with all stages of concept development, pro- duction, editing and distribution. His vision for the project was a key ingredient for a successful final product." For my perspective as someone with a long history of addressing industry image issues this is exactly what the manufactured housing in- dustry needs to do, but with even greater visi- bility and continuity. During my 15-years working for the Manufactured Housing Insti- tute, I was directly involved in numerous at- tempts to get the industry to develop and implement a national image campaign that would let the American home-buying public know exactly how the industry had evolved and was now producing some of the best housing value in America. For a host of reasons – some understandable and others not so – the industry could never agree and support such a national image cam- paign. It is only now, with the advent of new communications technologies and platforms, such as YouTube and other forms of new social media, that allow the industry to move forward such as the AMHA has recently done. Efforts by our industry to be a central part of the dialogue about housing options for millions of Americans need to be encouraged and I ap- plaud AMHA for taking up the chal- lenge. Tune in to view the videos and see what AMHA and other like-minded industry players are doing and how you can duplicate such educational efforts at your state or regional level. Be part of ex- panding and growing the market for today's manufactured homes by communicating our powerful consumer messages. Bruce Savage is a national communications con- sultant to both for-profit and non-for-profit clients around the country. He formed Savage Communi- cations Strategies six years ago to assist these clients with innovative approaches to challenging commu- nications situations. He also recently formed www.AmericanHousingAdvocates.com with Suzanne Felber to highlight on new social media how manufactured homes offer tremendous oppor- tunities to millions of Americans seeking quality housing at affordable prices. Savage served for more than 16 years as the vice president of communica- tions for the Manufactured Housing Institute and he continues to work with manufactured housing in- dustry members with various types of communica- tions and marketing programs. He can be reached at 202-664-4512 or bruce@savagestrategies.com. T J "We are a great believer that manufactured homes offer one of the best housing values in America today," Harper noted. "We have to be willing to let people know who and what we are in 2016, and these videos represent a very significant, tangible way of delivering our messages to more and more homebuyers."