May 12, 2019
I love it when our clients share a story or refer to their children during a conversation about work. It reminds me that we are working every day to support amazing females who are working very long hours creating exceptional customer experiences while also fulfilling the role of a lifetime, as a Mom. It's never easy to be a working Mother because we all feel pulled in two directions. We want to create excellence in our professional lives and meet our potential. When we are not at work (and often when we are at work) we cannot wait to be present with our children whether it's at home with little ones, listening to a college freshman on the phone or sitting through a first dance rehearsal. There are many adaptations of "working Mom" and everyone seems to find their own way to make this work. Today we celebrate that we live in a world where this can work and that our brand is fortunate to support some of the most amazing working Moms there are. It's truly one of the reasons I like going to work every day.
What interests me personally is that the females we support seem to apply their nurturing qualities to their profession. It's one of the many benefits of giving women a voice at all levels in the workplace. I consistently see some of the nurturing qualities that are so important in parenting, being applied by our clients to their professional work as marketers of New Home Communities. So here's to all the amazing Moms today! We celebrate you and these important qualities you bring to your brand's engagement with new home buying consumers:
Devotion: You are genuinely devoted to delivering the American Dream of home ownership to new home buyers. You understand that thriving in a "home" is different than buying a house. And you are completely devoted to their journey.
Giving Freedom - allowing consumers to develop their own design voice.You know that people love the freedom to choose what works for them in a home. We are inspired by your passion for helping prospects learn about all their choices and design a home that works for their lifestyle. You fundamentally understand that helping someone find their voice is a good thing.
Authentically interested: You are really interested in understanding and listening to buyers in your markets. You seem to really "get it" that consumers need to talk about what they desire in a home. They don't need to be told. People have aspirations. Listening is key to understanding them. I think this is one reason that home buying consumers love your brands.
Delight in creating Joy: You want people to feel joyful about their new home. We love implementing your ideas and helping you bring your vision to life to welcome new home buyers and give them the experience of a lifetime creating their new home. You are genuinely having fun when you are delivering joy and delight.
These are all qualities that we employ at home with our families, and businesses are fortunate that these capabilities can be infused into the work environment. The work place is better because of this.
Cheers!
Leslie Bridges Chief Blogger
P.S. Full disclosure. This blog writer is a working Mom. She knows that every day is not perfect and that the imperfect moments are some of the best times. Being a working Mom can be trying on some days and finding a work community who can embrace that is a gift without price.
P.S.S. Some of the best Moms I know are Dads.
We've just sent out our Spring Selling Season post delivering Marketing inspiration to help you make connections with new home buying prospects. We know you are thinking about how to optimize the busy spring home shopping season because we are receiving daily requests for Event ideas, Flag and Welcome mat refresh supplies, Welcome Home gift updates and creative ideas for engaging large Realtors in your markets.
In our email you can view the following four Marketing Guides which have been designed to help you turn your brand touches into memorable brand experiences.
- Home Builder Event Marketing Ideas Guide
- Realtor Engagement Ideas Guide
- Welcome Home Experience Ideas Guide
- Home Builder site Apparel and Uniform Guide
Builders are updating their brands, launching new mortgage services, innovating smart home platforms and finding creative ways to deliver customer experiences in their markets at a brisk pace. Here are some of our favorites:
Taylor Morrison - Dorothy Mortgage Technology
D.R. Horton - Home is Connected - Smart Home Platform
TRI Pointe Homes - Smart Home Innovation HomeSmartR
Minto Homes Post-Sale Experience Mastercaresm
Ashton Woods Inspiration Collection - Realtor Program
Our large builder clients are almost always in "launch mode" for a new service or experience, Community or Corporate brand update. All of these require a consistent brand message when they are brought to market. In brand marketing, there is only one version of the truth and centralized resources are an easy way to ensure that your brand touches are sending the exact same message wherever a consumer engages with your new home builder brand.
Centralization is one of those things that sometimes feels counter-intuitive in an industry that operates in an intentionally decentralized business model that is designed to serve regional home buying preferences. However, our Builder clients are finding ways to centralize their brand marketing so that they can design consistent experiences that differentiate their brand at important milestones in the new home buying process. Signing Day and Welcome Home Experiences are two areas that are being centralized more and more as Builders discover the benefits of creating a customer experience that can differentiate them in all their local markets. Builder Procurement professionals are seeing the benefits of centralization economically too.
Companies like Brand Central Solutions provide centralized eco-systems for digital marketing and digital asset management in addition to brand launch portals for marketing collateral and print. Builder Promotions recently helped a top Home Builder centralize their Welcome Experience for their largest market. The outcome was a synchronized effort that supported their three brands in four key regional sub-markets. This helped them differentiate their own brands from each other and all the brands from the regional competition. It was a way to create simplicity for the marketing teams and speak the same brand message to all their new home buying consumers.
Brand Central Solutions, a Builder Promotions company, is addressing this shift to centralized resources that are designed specifically to serve an expanding and decentralized organization. You can read about how Brand Central Solutions is approaching all industries with the successful model we've used to help New Home Builders for over 20 years.
Are you communicating one version of the Brand truth? Are your systems set up to ensure that this is conveyed in every business unit or Division? We'd love to hear about what you are doing. If you'd like to know more about our Digital Asset Management solutions or our Digital Marketing Command Center, please connect with us. Our software partner, Aprimo is the leader in this space and we are excited about bringing their capabilities to New Home Builders who are investing in customer experience design and digital marketing efficiencies.
Thanks for stopping by! We look forward to seeing you again.
Cheers!
Leslie Bridges
Chief Experience Officer
Builder Promotions is a branding and procurement solution designed to serve the needs of new home builder marketers. Our platform enables new home builders to centralize 100% of their brand marketing collateral to help drive more consistent brand engagements at the Division level. Our new partnership with Aprimo is designed to help New Home Builders make the most of leading digital marketing technology to streamline the relationship between Corporate Marketing and Division teams in service of the new home buyer consumer.
When the Lot a home buyer has purchased is transformed into the inspiring new home they will live in for years to come, it's time to celebrate!Saying "Welcome Home" on move-in day happens in many small ways that weave together to create an unforgettable experience for new home builder customers. The "Welcome Gift" that sits on the counter in the kitchen, on the dining room table with flowers, or delivered by the Sales team, is a piece of the welcome experience design.
We're excited about the 30+ new welcome home gift ideas we've just added to our Welcome Home e-Store. They are designed to help new home builders create a joyful move-in day experience for their customers.
Our New Home Builder clients are discovering the power of using custom packaging and presentation to add an extra "wow-factor" to the home owner welcome experience. These tumbler gift sets were imagined by a creative Builder marketer who asked us to package our stainless tumblers in a custom-designed gift box as Welcome Gifts. Her Agency used our template to design them and we produced the finished welcome gift. For people without easy access to an Agency, we have a Designer who can make you a priority and provide great creative. This kind of custom packaging is available on a project by project basis to help you create memorable customer experiences.
You can employ custom designed gift packaging to Wow clients, employees and Realtors alike. Here are 8 ways custom gift presentations can increase the impact of your brand touch.
- Package a luxurious throw for a Welcome Gift. Package all your welcome gifts!
- Give a piece of team apparel in a gift box to recognize employees' contribution to your success.
- Infuse holiday gifts and greetings with clever gift packaging that delivers your holiday message.
- Present home keys on move-in day and deliver them in a gift box that matches your Welcome Gift.
- Organize remotes and garage door openers for new home owners in a custom gift box.
- Reach out to Realtors with a creatively packaged presentation that is easy to deliver to their offices.
- Put an umbrella in a gift package to help qualified buyers conveniently tour your models during the rainy season.
- Package our design center journals to mark the beginning of the design phase of their new home buying journey.
It's almost October and our amazing builder marketing clients are already thinking about how to recognize employees and thank customers and trade partners during the upcoming holiday season. Ultimately everyone has the same goal. We want to convey gratitude to the people who have mattered to our companies this year.
The challenge for most Marketers is this:
How do you send a holiday brand touch that is all at once professional, creative and warm? How do you authentically demonstrate your gratitude as a brand?
Words matter, and without them, a gift can seem impersonal. A handwritten or printed card helps give any gift context. Using a meaningful quote or telling someone why you are thanking them can help you connect your message to an actual gift which is designed to share your gratitude and appreciation.
We've just published our five seasonal Holiday Guides so that our busy clients can easily deliver their message of thanks. The ideal gift helps you convey your company's sentiment of gratitude and appreciation, so thinking about what you want to say is the first step to selecting the perfect gift for your particular audience.
Here's a quick look at what each of our Holiday Guides offer this year.
Holiday Idea Guide
Gifts of every kind categorized for easy shopping, plus some fun Gourmet Food Towers. Creative and cost-effective custom packaging options for most products. Our designer can apply your graphics to a custom gift box.
Holiday Look Book
Technology, Recreation, Wine n' Cutlery, Tools, Crystal, Drinkware, Office & Executive
Holiday Gourmet Gifts
Delicious gourmet food gifts for every taste and budget, packaged beautifully and creatively for easy delivery to employees, customers, trade partners and Realtors. Use our fulfillment service to send food gifts directly to offices or residences for each recipient.
Apparel Gifting Guide
Apparel collections are neatly categorized for you into 4 types of gift recipients. The Nine-t0-Fiver, Weekend Warrior, Comfort Seeker, The Athlete. It's short and easy to view for quick ideas if you think apparel is the ideal gift for your audience.
Holiday Card Pop-up Shop
Back by popular demand! 800+ holiday cards for your Corporate business needs. People open cards more than they open emails. And this is where you can use words to help tie your gift together with a message of gratitude.
Why give gifts? We think that a little appreciation goes a long way.We like contributing to the joy and delight that comes from a creative gift well delivered. We believe in gratitude. We aim for customer joy.
Why do you give gifts?
Thank you for spending time with us here. We look forward to connecting again soon!
We hope you’ll return to check out our blog, Marketing Blueprints to see what resources we’re sharing to support Builder Marketers.
We are tweeting, pinning, posting, writing and Linking In. Here’s where you can find and follow us.
Twitter: @HomebuilderMktg
Instagram: @builderpromotions
Pinterest Board: Fun, Creative, Useful Gift Ideas
Facebook: Facebook.com/builderpromotions
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/builderpromotions/
Our blog sponsored by Builder Promotions, Inc., is a complete solution of builder-centric branded products and print collateral that support the entire new home buyer journey.
Every company has different requirements when it comes to graphic design. What kind of graphics do you need? Business cards, Facebook Ads, social media graphics, professional website or logo design, and print collateral? Your vision is critical to your business, so finding the right graphic designer who specializes in the type of graphics you need is quite essential.
- Do You Need A Designer?
- Set a Budget
- Create a Design Brief
- Look and Compare Portfolios
- Cross-Checks Their Client’s Testimonial
- Examine the Experience
These days, every business presentation revolves around creative and visually-appealing designs that push the envelope and merge beautifully with the compelling, brand-specific content. This is especially true now that our marketing assets are often first encountered online in their digital form.
Wasn’t Design Relevant Before the Digital Era, Too?
Yes, it was. Beautifully designed marketing materials always had their spot in collateral, but now are more prominent and valuable. The times are quick, and so are the demands on marketing to keep pace. On the one hand, designers are more pressured and challenged than ever to keep up with the fast-paced, competitive applications, and on the other, they are pushed to experiment with their designs, creative visions and artistic expressions more often than they usually would.
Why Are Collateral and Design Interlinked?
Collateral materials reflect the core values of your brand, reinforcing the message you want to send to your audience. To inspire your target audience make a brand connection, you need to have your visual and content presentation cohesive, relevant and on point. No matter how beautifully written your brand content is, it won’t leave the best impression unless backed up with suitable design (and vice versa.)
Staying relevant, exciting and fresh with the design methods you are using for your brand promotion is now more relevant than ever – that is, if you want to keep your target audience interested. On that note, we’ve put together a few critical design tips that will help you create remarkable marketing materials and refresh your brand.
Use Compelling Colors That Reflect Your Brand
Concerning brand recognition: colors matter. When choosing colors for your marketing collateral opt for compelling colors that reflect your brand’s personality; the right color process is everything for a good design. Create a strong palette by drawing inspiration from your logo and official brand colors.
Be Mindful of the Lines
The way you use lines in your marketing collateral may make or break the design; lines direct the eye, give a sense of movement and create emphasis. Don’t be afraid to add a little drama to the plan. If there is any “negative space” (i.e., the space in between) in the design, use it to create original images.
Make Sure That the Texts Are Readable
We understand you love to play with fonts (who doesn’t!) but don’t go overboard. When designing marketing materials for your business, choose the type of fonts your target market understands, and not those that are only beautiful to look at. Also, steer clear of using too many font types in a single document: limit your use to 1 to 2 fonts, and make them font representatives of your brand personality. Be mindful of the appropriate font size, too. Adjust the font size of your text in a way that all content of your design is easy to read. Naturally, you can use different size fonts for emphasis and such.
Trust Repetition
Repetition is vital for brand consistency and tying plenty of individual elements together. Use it smartly.
Play with Symmetry and Randomness
Whenever possible, use symmetry to give your design a sense of “calm.” Symmetry attracts the human eye, making it a perfect design strategy for your marketing collateral. If you are looking into creating something edgier, break the rules with asymmetry! Randomness and clutter can be very aesthetically pleasing if done right!
Embrace Transparency, Movement, and Depth
Use transparency intentionally to create movement and add an element of interaction. Movement and depth are your design’s friends; while movement injects life to designs through motion lines, blur effects or waving effects, depth gives dimension using horizon lines, 3D effects, texture, shadows, etc.
Include Texture
The texture is a fantastic design element that not only gives depth to designs but it also gives them a sense of tactility.
Balance Things Out
Understandably, you want to communicate as many messages as possible with your collateral, but too much of anything is, well, too much. Remember that every element has a weight, so make sure you balance those elements using scale and composition the right way.
Say YES to Contrast
To help your design pop, play with contrasts; thick vs. thin, light vs. dark, cropped vs. whole, etc. Merge the purposeful and aesthetically pleasing.
Add Dynamic to Your Design Using White Space
Utilize white space of your design as the structural support for all the elements of your marketing collateral. Adequately managed white areas help drive the audience’s attention to the design elements you find the most relevant. Remove the “excess” aspects if you feel your marketing collateral doesn’t have enough white space.
BP Central Print Hub is a marketing service of Builder Promotions, and a resource for delivering beautifully designed graphics.
When you’ve designed your marketing collateral, we help you express it in beautiful
print collateral that delivers a tangible brand touch to new home buyers after they’ve toured your Sales Center and Models.
The right designs work in tandem with branded marketing products that help you nurture new home buyer prospects. Builder Promotions pairs your graphic messaging and brand with tangible marketing products that leave a lasting impression with your home buyer prospects and stakeholders. Ask our BP Custom Shopper™ team to help you select the ideal gift(s) for Community Marketing Events, Signing and Closing.
Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you soon!
We hope you’ll return to check out our blog, Marketing Blueprints to see what resources we’re sharing to support Builder Marketers.
We are tweeting, pinning, posting, writing and Linking In. Here’s where you can find and follow us.
Twitter: @HomebuilderMktg
Instagram: @builderpromotions
Pinterest Board: Fun, Creative, Useful Gift Ideas
Facebook: Facebook.com/builderpromotions
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/builderpromotions/
Our blog sponsored by Builder Promotions, Inc., is a complete solution of builder-centric branded products and print collateral that support the entire new home buyer journey.
It’s a tight labor market and everyone is thinking about employee retention. Today, smart employers are doing everything in their power to keep their employees engaged and satisfied. From paying competitive wages to offering big perks, the focus is on actively shifting to employee satisfaction more than ever. There’s is a lot of content about the small extras. This post is devoted to some of the bigger extras and perks that let employees know you are sensitive to their work/life balance.
If you are running a team, and want to keep your people happy, here are a few ideas on the significant “extras” you could offer to show them how valuable they are to you and the company:
Laundry Service
With so many hours they spend at the office, people get frustrated that they can’t do the necessary things for themselves and their household. As a great company that has an ear for your employees’ needs, hire a service to pick up your employees’ clothes and drop them off either at your employees’ address or work.
Car Care
Someone say oil change? No, cause no one’s got time for that! Well, make sure they do. Some of the most exceptional companies around with high employee satisfaction rates have arranged for a service to come to the office and take care of everything car-related while employees are at their desks. When the work days’ done, they’ve got a freshly cleaned care to drive home in.
Take-out Meals for New Parents
Set an expense account for new moms and dads for take-out meals. Assign an amount they can use during the first few months that they are home with their new baby. The number of months is usually three, but that depends on the firm.
Baby Duty
If you’ve got (new) parents in the team, sweep them off their feet by throwing some cash their way to cover for the babysitter. Usually, firms offer these types of benefits for the employees who’ve been with them for over a year, but the agreement ranges from company to company.
Cleaning Services
Once again, your employees’ outside-of-the-office life suffers because of their work hours, overtime, and other surrounding activities. Help them out - hire professional cleaning services to clean up your employees’ homes every two weeks.
Monthly Commuter Benefits
Cover commuter expenses of the employees who come to work using public transportation. Offer a monthly stipend high enough to cover the costs.
Fully Stocked Kitchen
Make your employees feel at home – stock the office kitchen with free coffee, healthy snacks, soft drinks, etc. during work hours. An addition of fresh fruit and veggies is a huge plus.
Wellness Benefits
A healthy employee is a happy employee; encourage your people to stay in the best shape by offering wellness benefits such as reimbursement for fitness-related purchases. Typical items reimbursed include gym memberships, yoga mats, running shoes, bicycles, etc.
Flexibility in Vacation Days
Let your employees choose the way to spend their paid time off (vacation, sick, and personal time) without imposing strict limits and conditions. Adding a few bonus days as performance kudos is always a great idea, too.
Builder Promotions provides employee apparel, professional gear and branded gifts that employees use daily. Pair it with the right message from management, and your small appreciation goes a very long way.
Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you soon!
We hope you’ll return to check out our blog, Marketing Blueprints to see what resources we’re sharing to support Builder Marketers.
We are tweeting, pinning, posting, writing and Linking In. Here’s where you can find and follow us.
Twitter: @HomebuilderMktg
Instagram: @builderpromotions
Pinterest Board: Fun, Creative, Useful Gift Ideas
Facebook: Facebook.com/builderpromotions
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/builderpromotions/
Our blog sponsored by Builder Promotions, Inc., is a complete solution of builder-centric branded products and print collateral that support the entire new home buyer journey.
Whoever’s running a business knows that (happy) employees are the core of every growing company. However, keeping an employee happy is much more than a paycheck. In the era of Millennial-run entrepreneurship, where young professionals move through jobs more often, it’s more of a challenge to keep great talent.When your budget’s too thin for employee perk extravaganza, what do you do to motivate and retain your team members?
Here are five low-cost ideas that will help you show your employees how valuable they are to the firm:
1. Remote Work
Our definition of “the office” has changed. Stay current and gift your teams with some work flexibility via remote work time. With the technology advancements that are too advanced to keep up with, it’s easier than ever to work from wherever on the planet you want to be, as long as you’ve got a reliable internet connection. So, instead of nagging about your employees’ wanting to work from home today, encourage it. Let them find the ambiance they feel the most comfortable and productive in, and cheer them to work from there. When your employee feels great, they’ll work great, as well.
2. Travel Vouchers for a Weekend Getaway
Outstanding employees deserve to know they are great! Treat your all-stars to a voucher for a weekend getaway to a new destination they can drive too. If your budget doesn’t allow expenses like these, pair up with a tourist organization that’s willing to trade services.
Another option is to allow your employees to design their schedules (i.e., come to work when they want and leave in the same manner) as long as they fulfill their work and hours. Most employees will appreciate this benefit more than you know, especially if they’ve got families at home. Make “summer hours” a thing and let employees begin earlier and leave earlier to take advantage of summer fun once a week.
3. No Dress Code
Unless you are the Government or some other official public service, is a dress code essential? These days, people need to feel as relaxed as possible when they’re working, so make sure they do. Lose the dress code, and leave ties and suits for weddings and celebrations alike.
4. Lunch with Executives
People love public recognition, especially if it’s shared among their colleagues and friends.
Reward your superstar employee a lunch with you, a day at the golf course, or anywhere else you find fit to take them. Make this a unique one-on-one experience that’ll show them how appreciated they are and set a target goal for other employees to reach. It’s a win-win!
Treat your employees with respect, and you’ll get that respect back; show them they are valued, and they’ll be happy to stick around.
5. Branded Gifts that Recognize Employee Contributions
Many companies give employees apparel and branded gear to recognize completion of a team project, kudos for an event well done, or appreciation for people who go “above and beyond”. Builder Promotions has a collection of professional gear (briefcases, portable power, computer backpacks, writing instruments) and corporate branded Apparel which are all appreciated as gifts by your team members. Or develop a custom gift package to commemorate a specific milestone. Our BP Custom Shopper™ team can help you select the ideal gift(s) and packaging.
Thanks for stopping by and hope to see you soon!
We hope you’ll return to check out our blog, Marketing Blueprints to see what resources we’re sharing to support Builder Marketers.
We are tweeting, pinning, posting, writing and Linking In. Here’s where you can find and follow us.
Twitter: @HomebuilderMktg
Instagram: @builderpromotions
Pinterest Board: Fun, Creative, Useful Gift Ideas
Facebook: Facebook.com/builderpromotions
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/builderpromotions/
Our blog sponsored by Builder Promotions, Inc., is a complete solution of builder-centric branded products and print collateral that support the entire new home buyer journey.
This year’s Google Marketing Live was a huge success, and some exciting new features coming to Google ads were announced. We have decided to present you with a few keynotes that could affect the way New Home Builders use their advertising platforms as well as how they can optimize these new updates to make their marketing initiatives more effective and smarter.
To meet the growing consumer needs, Google made the updates to deliver experiences that add worth and are personal – to be trustworthy, transparent, and valuable. Simpler experiences, stronger collaborations, and better results are what Google promises to its users.
1 The Increase in Research Queries
Today’s users expect to get more personalized experiences. That’s why search queries are becoming increasingly conversational. People also rely on their smartphones more than ever before, showing how people have become research-obsessed. There has been a 150% increase in the “___ to avoid” query, while the “is ___ worth it” query has risen by 80%. That shows us that users dedicate more time to search for the best products to buy, and new home buyers are no exception to that. However, they’re using the process of elimination as well, to exclude the products they don’t want to buy. Consumers pay more attention to detail, so Google wants to give marketers tools they need for succeeding in that kind of market landscape with the introduction of features inspired by machine learning (i.e., Smart Campaigns and Smart Shopping). Since consumers do a lot of research before they purchase a new home, New Home Builders will want to learn about these Google updates.
- More Effective Ways for Content Creation
- The Value of Video Ads Keeps Growing
- TrueView for reach – to help build your brand awareness.
- TrueView for action – to drive potential prospects to convert.
- Maximize Lift bidding – maximizing of your video ads through the new Smart Bidding strategy which adjusts bids at auction time automatically.
- Too Long to Load? Abandon Purchase!