More showhome traffic equals more sales. But you've noticed a decrease in your showhome traffic as of late. So how do you get more people out, touring your showhomes and talking to your sales representatives? We'll share some of our secrets in this article.
Reading time: 5 minutes
Level: Novice
Key Takeaways:
- understanding the buyer's journey
- the details on marketing funnel basics
- what role content marketing plays
If you'd like to read a summary of this post, simply click here.
The way people buy homes has evolved, which means the way homes are being marketed needs to evolve as well. The world wide web has drastically changed not only the mediums and platforms available to new home marketers, but the process homebuyers go through in preparing to make a purchase.
In order to grab the attention of your potential buyers, you need to meet them where they're at in their home buyer's journey. How do you do that? You create a solid conversion funnel that guides them toward taking the desired action you'd like: visiting a showhome and signing on the dotted line!
Let's dive in...
The Home Buyer's Journey
Buying a home is a major decision. Realistically, it's the biggest purchase decision most people will make.
We mentioned evolution. It used to be that your Marketing team would build awareness by blasting ads out, and then prospects would contact your Sales team to get more information. This is no longer the case.
Now, with such a huge decision (and the associated costs), it's no wonder today's buyer wants all the information they can gather before they commit. In fact, most home buyers today spend a majority of their time online, finding answers to the questions they have, and avoid interacting with a salesperson until it’s absolutely necessary.
With over 90% of home buyers doing their research online before even setting foot into a showhome, you need to be able to provide the information they're searching for, where they're searching for it, ahead of time. The answer? Digital marketing of course!
But first, we need to brush up on a few marketing funnel basics.
Marketing Funnel Basics
The marketing funnel should provide your potential buyers' space to make their own decisions. They should be moving from one stage in your funnel to the next, at their own pace, because they've made the decision themselves to seek out information.
This doesn't mean you can't influence them and nudge them along in the right direction. But if you try to push or sell them (especially too early in the process), they'll bounce right out of your funnel.
A simple conversion funnel is made up of four main steps:
- Creating awareness
- Building interest
- Educating
- Taking the desired action
This process is then repeated at each stage of the funnel, moving the prospect through their home buyer’s journey until the person is ready to purchase their new home.
Sounds easy, right? Well, it can be if your funnel is set up correctly - taking the right actions at the right time to guide prospects further and further along.
In order to maximize your conversion rate, a well-designed and effective conversion funnel takes planning and optimization. You'll need to figure out what you'd like the outcome to be.
To do that, you need to understand the people you're marketing to. By that, we mean your ideal client. You need to make sure you have your buyer personas clearly defined, so you can tailor your conversion funnel appropriately.
If you don't have your buyer personas set up, check out this awesome free tool from HubSpot to help you out. But if you already know that you want more showhome traffic and you understand who your buyers are, you're ahead of the game!
Now, if you have your funnel set up properly, you'll start to see more people coming into the top of your funnel. From there, it's simple math, really. The more you put in the top, the more that comes out of the bottom!
All you need now is the right tactic...
Content Marketing
If your marketing is still heavily focused on using traditional tactics like radio, print, and signage, you’re losing market share to your competitors, mainly the ones who are putting their focus into digital marketing. You need to shift your focus to attracting buyers to your home builder brand, getting their permission to market directly to them, and nurturing them through each step of their buyer’s journey using relevant and helpful content.
Capturing your potential buyer as a lead by nurturing them using the right content is key. You can offer premium content such as a home builder comparison worksheet to help them make a decision on which builder to choose. Or perhaps they'd prefer a downloadable guide on the newest communities in your city. Offering these types of free materials will help them in their journey and keep them coming back to you for more information.
This type of content is meant to keep your brand top-of-mind. And when they're ready to make a decision, which showhome do you think they'll want to visit? If you've provided them with all the information they were looking for, you can bet you've peaked their interest in your home building company.
Summary
Understanding that the way the modern buyer purchases a home has evolved is key in developing a new home marketing strategy to get more showhome traffic. The old way just doesn't cut it anymore.
Focus on creating a strategy that speaks to your ideal buyer where they're at in each point of the marketing funnel. Addressing the points and questions they're asking at the right time, in the right way, means you become a dependable source for them - someone they turn to when they have more questions.
Capture leads and then nurture them with the right content to stay top-of-mind on their list. As long as your content delivers the answers they need, you'll have much more success in moving prospects further down your marketing funnel.
By focusing on your marketing funnel, and setting it up correctly, you'll see an increase in your showhome traffic. If you're interested in getting more details and help in how to do that properly, click the button below to get your copy of our free step-by-step guide.
