As a veteran of the home building industry, trying to keep up with current marketing trends can be a huge headache.
It has to be overwhelming to read through dozens of articles in order to understand what's hot and what's not. Lucky for you, we have compiled a list the most important home builder digital marketing trends to get you started.
It's important to note, you need to focus on the marketing strategies that work best for you. Just because it's the "latest thing in marketing" doesn't always mean it's the best route for your company to take.
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This is true for all marketing campaigns; you need to determine who you want to sell to. A successful home builder digital marketing strategy requires you to identify who your ideal customer is.
We call these your buyer personas, and they play a key role in all aspects of your marketing. To go along with that, clearly defining the type of homes you sell will help you come up with a plan for how to reach your target audience.
Let's say you're selling condos to young professionals. These are people who work in an affluent profession looking for their first home and want to be near restaurants, shops, and nightlife. This should influence the tone, imagery, platforms - all aspects - of the marketing you're planning.
Identifying these key points will ensure your campaign runs smoothly.
Search engine optimization (more commonly known as SEO) has been the talk of the internet for what seems like forever. If you have ever looked into SEO before, then you know about the importance of keywords.
However, it's a bit more complex than that. Getting the formula for your marketing campaign right requires you to take a closer look at the following:
When we say keywords, we mean the terms search engines use to determine what will show up in the search results. The key is to find the right formula to achieve higher rankings.
There is a wide variety of software on the market that can help you find the right keyword according to your niche in the home building industry.
There's one thing you must keep in mind when it comes to keywords - don't look for keywords you want to rank for. Instead look for keywords that your target market is looking for {trust us, there is a difference).
For example, Google Adwords has a free research tool that lets you type in a keyword and shows you the volume, competition level, and Adwords bid. And there are many other options for keyword tools out there as well.
In a home builder digital marketing campaign, it's essential you work on local SEO. By doing this you will let the search engines know where you're located as well as your homes. Think of this in terms of:
Your keywords could look like this:
Optimizing for local searches will put you on the map of the search engines.
Make sure you optimize your Google My Business listing. It's free to set up and increases your chances of showing up in a local search (which, as we pointed out, is quite important!).
Optimizing your company's listing ensures it's easier for a searcher to find you, it directly improves the SEO of your website, and you own the information on the listing. Plus, it gives you the opportunity to manage and show off reviews and learn more about your prospects.
In all SEO, internal linking is an important component. For every page or blog post on your site, you want to have internal links leading to your other pages. Make sure they're good links, however - Google and other search engines measure the quality.
Link to related topics and other blog posts as a way to recycle your material. You can also link to home model pages, your contact page, downloads you offer - there really is no limit!
A note here: there's nothing wrong with external links either, as long as they're of good quality and useful.
The digital era has changed the way marketers create campaigns. Instead of ads appearing in a newspaper and people having to search for them, those ads are now in various online outlets. That's why social media is the marketing tool of the future.
As of the end of 2017, Facebook had 2.07 BILLION active users. With so many users, it's safe to admit Facebook is a necessary evil.
If you want to take part in this form of home builder digital marketing, then you want to make sure you're following these tips in your Facebook marketing strategy.
Having an active Facebook business page will make it easier for you to collect followers, and your content will be easy to share so it can reach an even wider audience.
You'll even have the option to utilize Facebook advertising (which we highly recommend) and reach your targeted audience as well. Invest your advertising dollars into highly targeted ads promoting your latest content to the audiences you select. Whether they're cold, warm, or hot audiences, you can tailor your ads to capture more high-quality leads and nurture them through your marketing funnel until they're ready to buy.
Don't forget a Facebook business page is still a representation of who you are and all the content you share, so it should be consistent with your company branding.
Home builders should never underestimate the power of Pinterest.
This social media platform is one of the most visual since it's picture based. What makes it special is the ability to create inspirational boards and save them. Photos saved to boards can be repinned by people over and over and users searching for homes are looking for ideas for their dream home.
The photos you pin on Pinterest are also shareable on your other social media sites.
Instagram has 800 million active users as of December 2017. That includes us - go take a peek! But it's more than just a place to share pictures.
After recent updates, it has never been easier to use Instagram as a digital marketing tool.
The Instagram business account allows you to see real-time analytics to track the traffic on your page. You're able to create stories and your viewers can land on your page by swiping the screen.
It's also easier for viewers to contact you directly on Instagram without having to visit your website. You'll never miss a lead again.
When you build homes, you're bound to create videos of all your amazing new models.
The videos don't have to stay on your website. You can create your own YouTube channel to showcase your product. Prospective buyers are looking on YouTube for great videos of their dream home and it's highly addictive - who hasn't gone on it to watch one video and ended up watching 20?
Take advantage of the social media platforms that have the option to go live. By going live and showing your followers a new showhome firsthand, you might create new leads.
Email marketing is the home builder digital marketing tool that allows you to distribute informative content to your audience.
Let's face it, email is the way people communicate in this day and age and it's hard to find a person who doesn't have an account. It delivers information to the people who are currently part of your contacts - the ones who have chosen to receive information from you.
This tool delivers the latest news to your customers and prospects. Let's say you have potential buyers who haven't found the perfect home a chance to stay connected. In your newsletter, you can feature information about your latest blog posts, newest models, and exciting events coming up like showhome grand openings.
Another great thing about email marketing is it's easily shareable!
When selling homes, a great website is part of a well-crafted home builder's digital marketing strategy.
A website is the reflection of the type of homes you're selling and a professionally designed website that's easy to navigate will draw visitors in (in a previous section we already touched on the importance of SEO, all you need now is a great site after you draw traffic in).
It's a known fact people use their mobile devices to perform searches more than they use a computer.
A potential buyer might be searching for new homes on the train or bus on their commute to work. If you want them to notice you, your website needs to be mobile-friendly.
Make sure the graphics are just as good when viewed from a smartphone. They should be able to navigate the site without jumping through hoops, and it needs to load fast.
Don't forget to optimize your mobile site so it shows up in local searches as well.
Blogs are an increasingly popular home builder digital marketing tool. It's the place where you can communicate information to your clients; diverse information such as tips, industry news, company updates, and overall entertaining content.
As we mentioned before, make use of internal links in your blog posts to guide visitors to different pages on your website. You can also add external links to direct them to outside sources you trust.
Optimized blogs and great content will give you a better ranking in the search engines. However, not just any content should get published on your blog. You should make sure you produce only high-quality articles and posts.
Anyone who owns a website should be using Google Analytics. While you'll have to learn to understand them, analytics will help you understand the traffic visiting your site.
It shows you how many daily views you get, the time spent on your site as well as each page. You're also able to see your bounce rate and the organic traffic directed from search engines.
After being overloaded with all the home builder digital marketing terms above, this is the fun part!
In the home building industry, you already know a picture is worth a thousand words. You should post only high-quality images if you want to sell a home, but why not take it a step further...
Forget ordinary digital tours, why not also show your prospects a bird's eye view of your homes with the use of a drone? Not only will potential buyers be able to take a look at the homes themselves, but they'll get to see the neighbourhood and surrounding areas too!
You already know video marketing has become more popular than ever, and many builders are using video to replace photos. For this reason, potential home buyers now expect it so be sure to make your videos are as high-quality as possible.
When searching for a new home, potential buyers want as much description as possible. Put yourself in their shoes, would you rather see a slide show of 20 pictures of the home or a 360-degree view? The answer is obvious. Virtual reality solutions are only growing in home builder digital marketing strategies.
We all see those ads on the top or sidebar of almost every website we visit - and they wouldn't continue to exist if they weren't so effective. If you want to increase your leads, then you need to add online advertising to your home builder digital marketing campaigns.
Pay-per-click is an effective form of advertising because you're only paying for the number of impressions you make. If in a day you don't get any impressions, you're not charged an advertising fee.
If you're new to online advertising and want to get your feet wet, pay-per-click is the way to go. You'll be able to design ad campaigns and tweak them based on trial and error without it costing a lot.
Google AdWords campaigns are fast and efficient, and you can customize them to fit your needs. With this form of advertising, you can choose the locations where you want your listings to be displayed based on target audiences or even a competitor's site.
Out of all the home builder digital marketing strategies, this one has lost some appeal. However, it still makes a great compliment to your online campaigns.
If you want to promote using display advertising, it involves buying space on a specific website and paying based on impressions.
The home building industry is not backing down when it comes to current technology. In fact, it benefits more from it each day. It might feel like it's difficult to keep up now, but once you do, you'll see your sales leads increase exponentially.
We hope you found these home builder digital marketing tips useful. If you would like to learn more about marketing resources and solutions, please contact us today. We'd love to tell you more!