Expertise and Reputation

Nationally Recognized
Annette Frahm, principal, has earned a national reputation for innovative communications, big-picture thinking and expertise in environmental behavior change. She is consulted locally and nationally for her insights and her ability to make things happen. She has more than 25 years of experience in environmental marketing and communications.

Wide-Ranging Environmental Knowledge
Sage Environmental offers expertise in a wide range of environmental issues, such as water quality, natural gardening, energy conservation and hazardous products. When you hire Sage, you get technical and policy knowledge of important environmental issues, so you don't need to explain and rewrite. Instead, you can focus on getting results.

Marketing Communications
Sage Environmental's communications experience, marketing skills and creative strategies produce results. Recent clients and projects include a communications strategy for the City of Seattle urban forest restoration, marketing for In Harmony Sustainable Landscapes and a corporate funding brochure for Restore America's Estuaries.

"We have worked with Annette Frahm for many years. Her experience and expertise have allowed us to take our message and marketing to the next level. She cares about our company, and the well being of our business, but above all she cares about us and our people. She is a pleasure to work with and a valuable member of our team."
--Ladd Smith, co-owner, In Harmony Sustainable Landscapes

Social Marketing/Environmental Behavior Change
Governments cannot change environmental behavior just by providing information to businesses and the public. Sage Environmental has more than 12 years experience in research, writing, workshops and consultation on social marketing and strategies for change environmental behavior. Recent clients and projects include social marketing research related to nitrates in groundwater for the City of Olympia and social marketing workshops for the City of Berkeley, North American Hazardous Materials Management Association and the Lake Washington-Cedar-Sammamish Watershed.

"Annette was engaging and knowledgeable." "Great overview, good pace, great presenter." "Good weaving of concepts and exercises. Helpful to hear about real-life examples." "Reminded me of importance of thinking through outreach from start to finish before starting outreach."
--Participants in City of Berkeley Sustainable Behaviors workshop

"Good balance of hands-on and slides and case studies." "Clear, attainable, step-by-step marketing process." "A great use of time. I've done some social marketing reading but practical application has helped cement the ideas. Thank you."
--Participants in Recycling Council of British Columbia workshop

"Nice overview and summary. Great hands-on activity. Thank you--you're the greatest." "Everything presented felt very approachable and attainable and usable."
--Participants in EETAC workshop

"Information was great and thought-provoking." "Wonderful presentation, easy to understand." "I thought this class was great; it should be a full day class."
-- Participants in NAHMMA workshop

Click here for our workshop flyer

Education, Training and Presentations
Annette Frahm has been making presentations and teaching workshops for almost 25 years. Audiences range from horticulture students to landscapers, government and nonprofit staff, and Boy Scout troops. She gets high marks from audiences for her effectiveness as a speaker.

Recent presentations include:

• "Green Marketing," for sales force of Falcon Waterfree Technologies
• "The Market Is Going Greener! Ideas for the Green Industry," at King County's "The Business of Natural Yard Care and Design"
• "Make Your Aim More Accurate," at North American Hazardous Materials Management Conference
• "Concerns about Pesticides" and "Challenges of Regulating Pesticides," to horticulture students as part of the Green Gardening Program

"Annette Frahm is a gifted presenter: clear, concise and credible. Equally as important, Annette goes the extra mile to ensure that her presentations are pertinent to the target audience."
--Karen Mays, King County Solid Waste Division

"Annette's stats are interesting and chilling." "Annette was extremely well prepared, slide presentation was good and notes that she gave out were helpful."
--Horticulture students at South Seattle Community College

Market Research and Evaluation
Market research and evaluation are key tools in planning effective marketing strategies and public outreach projects. Sage Environmental has experience in a range of planning and evaluation methods, including telephone surveys, mail surveys, focus groups, interviews, water quality data and sales data. One focus is key informant interviews to better understand audience barriers, benefits, beliefs, perceptions and practices. Recent clients include Thurston County, King County Hazardous Waste Management Program and Seattle Housing Authority.

"Your evaluation is a classic. Brief, to the point, comprehensive, with hard evidence and a list of conclusions and recommendations."
--Doug Rice, King County Water and Land Resources Division

"The stakeholder survey was a wealth of information and inspiration -- excellent work, THANKS."
--Tracy Morgenstern, City of Seattle Office of Sustainability and Environment

Facilitation and Bridge-building
Annette has proven skills in bringing groups together to accomplish tasks. She organized and managed a group of 11 suburban cities to create and mail postcards to their residents on reducing pesticide use in gardening (the project resulted in positive behavior changes). She helped the City of Bothell develop the mission and vision for a water quality project. For the RCBC, she facilitated the creation of a network of eco-educators.

"Great facilitator!"
--Participant in RCBC workshop

Strategic Planning
Annette helped to develop the first electric energy plan in the United States based in conservation and the first plan to protect and clean up Puget Sound water quality. She was key staff in developing criteria to set priorities for household hazardous waste education.

Awards

• Savvy Award, 3CMA, the national City-County Communications and Marketing Association
• Outstanding Personal Service Award, North American Hazardous Materials Management Association
• Silver Anvil Award, Public Relations Society of America
• Blue Pencil Award, National Association of Government Communicators

Employment History and Education
Annette Frahm has more than 25 years of experience in environmental marketing and communications. Her employment history includes the Local Hazardous Waste Management Program in King County, Puget Sound Water Quality Authority, Northwest Power Planning Council, Battelle Seattle Research Center, Western Resources Institute and Westview Press. She has an M.S. from Cornell University in environmental sociology and energy policy.

Other Expertise
Sage Environmental has a range of associates with collective expertise in environmental issues, marketing, communications, graphic design, market research, planning, facilitation, outreach and evaluation.