July's Newsletter covers 5 big topics to help you market in a virtual world. Our big news is that we've launched a next generation immersive touring experience in partnership with the leading technology platform in AR/VR tour technology. Worth a look for that alone! We are helping you create greater emotional connection between consumers and their dream homes and community lifestyle - all at-a-distance. Please click below to view our topics. Reach out if you'd like to see a Demo of our Immersive Marketing Platform and examples of current communities using it.
February 14, 2020
We think it's always a great idea to spread the love to our customers and prospects.
We went pink today for fun and to use Valentines Day to share the appreciation we feel every day.
These are some of the things that make our clients special and why we like to celebrate Valentines Day by sharing the love and appreciation for you.- You are genuinely devoted to delivering the American Dream of home ownership to new home buyers. You understand that thriving and creating memories in a new home, is the goal.
- You understand that freedom is something all consumers value. You find ways to give freedom and choice in the new home buying experience. We hope your clients appreciate that you have this insight about them!
- You demonstrate new home buyer empathy. You really want to find a way to experience what your prospects are experiencing and feel what they feel so you can help them create the home they are dreaming of.
- You love the final presentation of keys and a welcome home WOW that is memorable. This final welcome to their new home is a cause for celebration, and you relish the chance to make it special.
- You manage it all with professional and personal grace. We know you are people with full lives professionally and at home. You are parents, wives, husbands, volunteers, friends, athletes, sisters and brothers. We love that we have the opportunity to support your work life.
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.
The other day I heard one of our supply chain reps was transitioning to another job. I wanted to send him a thank you note for doing so much to support our company's mission while he managed our account. He wrote back that he was "speechless" and thanked me for the taking time to say "Thanks". Is it that rare that he is appreciated? I hope not, but it got me thinking about the power of Thank You. It's something that should be on our daily list of priorities.
Small gratitudes are delivered through these two words, and they can create a positive momentum in the workplace and at home. I started thinking about where we have opportunities to say thank you. This is my list -- what's yours?
- Thank you is a word you can teach any toddler, and they benefit from the effect it has on parents, teachers and friends alike.
- Thank you lets the person who held the door open know that you appreciate the gesture and that manners do matter (like their Mother taught them!).
- Thank you tells an employee you don't take them for granted, and you notice they care about your company or project as much as you do.
- Thank you, gives hope to an airline employee being tested by demanding travellers during busy summer travel. They want to get home to their family too!
- Thanking your child for doing their part at home, tells them you noticed their small and important efforts to help.
- Thanking your friends for hikes, lunch, movies, coffee, golf, good jokes, reinforces the importance of your connection even if you haven't seen them as much as you'd like.
- Thank anyone who makes it easier for you to deliver value to your customers. You couldn't do your job without them.
- Thank your Customers. They ARE your business.
- Thank prospects. They are your future customers!
- Thank the property maintenance person at your child's school. They are true unsung heroes and often gentle rockstars of a school community.
- If you thank people enough, you know that gratitude is contagious, and it creates positive momentum in your day.
How do you know when a young millennial couple is shopping your website and dreaming about their first home? You don't, unless they self-identify. How do you encourage them to reach out so you can support their search? That's the topic of our blog post today.
We interviewed HubSpot Gold Partner Spencer Powell, with the Builder Funnel about how to develop an effective promotional landing page. "Effective" for purposes of this this article means that a landing page increases inbound leads for New Home Builder brands. The outcome of our interview is this Guide to Premium Content and Landing Page Success. If you read nothing else, listen to Spencer's answer to our first question. It's a compelling argument for creating landing pages that trade relevant premium content for a prospective home buyer's contact information, so you can get them into your sales funnel.
Marketing Blueprints: Most of our clients have invested in beautifully designed websites with gorgeous imagery of their homes. Why do you need to use promotional landing pages in addition to a beautiful, well designed website?
Spencer Powell: The answer to this question of "why a landing page?" is a good one! We recently looked back at an early client and analyzed data over 3 years that looked at leads coming into their website. The data is compelling in support of landing pages as effective lead generators. Here are the simple data:
- 5-7% of leads came through a "contact us" form
- 93-95% of prospects who came into the website downloaded a brochure, eBook, checklist and filled out information on a landing page.
- Contact us
- Schedule a Tour
- Schedule a private appointment
- Download a brochure
- Download our move-in checklist
- Download (other Premium Content - discussed below)
- Your Process of Building a New Home (repurpose from your own content)
- Kitchen Design Guide (use your existing images)
- Beautiful Bathrooms (use your existing images)
- Model Home Comparison Guide and Checklist
- Move-in Checklist
- Home Buying Checklist
- Home Design Guide - options, selections, layouts, colors
- Download e-Book for Space Planning
- Financing Your Dream Home (repurpose your content into a PDF if your brand has Mortgage products)
- Existing Digital Agencies likely have your assets and can easily create some PDF's and a landing page.
- Builder Funnel can create all of this for you.
- Upwork has excellent freelance writers and artists who are easy to work with.
- Subscribe to landing page software. Here are a few of our favorites. HubSpot (our preferred choice, but it's more than just landing page software), UnBounce, Lead Pages. They're easy!
- A second landing page says thank you to the prospect for engaging. This second landing page can then be used for another Call to Action. Offer your prospect the opportunity to schedule an appointment at your Sales Center. Some of them will be ready to take that next step. You won't know if you don't ask them!
- The form they fill out should also initiate an email that thanks them for engaging and reinforces the benefits of the Community you are marketing.
- When a home shopper fills out the form, redirect them to a thank you page and the thank you page is a landing page with the download on it.
- You can then add a "step two" on the Thank You page that invites them to take further action and come visit the Community, schedule a private tour, join an upcoming event, attend a financing workshop, etc.
- If they fill out the form, you automatically have a sales-ready lead!
- Once they've filled out the form, they get specific nurturing campaigns tied into the Community. Nurturing Campaigns leverage your efforts to acquire a lead for your home buyer sales funnel.
- Re-engage your data base with a promotional email letting them know you have a new piece of premium content.
- Immediately present the content to prospects that are already part of your nurturing campaigns.
- Post information about your new premium content on your Social Media Pages.
- Write an article about your new content in your Newsletter before you send your next update.
- Write an article about your new content in your company blog.
- If you use a branded USB drive to deliver Community content, add the new premium content as a bonus.
Landing Page Checklist - Premium Content Success
Home shoppers are online researching and getting educated so that they feel comfortable with their choice of new home builder. Giving them content they can use in this process engenders trust and prospects are willing to share their contact information in return. We hope this blog post adds value to your Marketing and that you test some of these tactics to enjoy a higher volume of leads. Thank for stopping by! See you soon. Cheers! Leslie Bridges, Chief Blogger Marketing Blueprints is sponsored by Builder Promotions. Builder Promotions is a complete solution of branded products and print collateral that support the entire new home buyer journey.
February 14, 2018
This is our "blog bouquet" of appreciation for you....
Whether you love a simple bouquet of pink, a vase of deep red roses, an armful of yellow tulips, or a tiny flower from small child, we hope you feel appreciated, always. Happy Valentine's Day! Here are a few of the reasons we appreciate you.
You are genuinely devoted to delivering the American Dream of home ownership to new home buyers. You understand that having a "home" is different than having a house.
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 in your digital marketing and in the way you welcome them to your Sales Centers. We hope your clients appreciate you too!
You are authentically interested in understanding and listening to buyers in your markets. You seem to really understand this quote: "Learn to listen - opportunity sometimes knocks very softly." We think it's one reason why prospects love your brands.
You want people to feel happy in their new home and you think about how to give them one final WOW experience on move-in day. We love implementing your ideas and helping you bring your vision to life to welcome new home buyers.
You balance it all with professional grace. We know you are people with full lives professionally and at home. You are amazing and we appreciate the opportunity to be of support in your work life.
Thank you for your business and for always being willing to engage with us. We appreciate you!
Happy Valentine's Day from the team at Builder Promotions!
It's a well known fact that in most markets, Realtors can multiply sales efforts for new home builders. So, how do you engage Realtors and influence them to bring prospects to your new home communities? Builders use every kind of event marketing concept to bring Realtors to their new home communities. As everyone knows, the goal of these events is to help Realtors see why a new home may be the best solution for their buyers and to experience, first-hand, the benefits of a beautifully designed new home community in their marketing area.
Now that we're into the new year, we thought it would be a good time to share a brief round-up of content pieces that address the Builder and Realtor relationship. We hope these provide some marketing inspiration for the new year.
- What do Realtors think about when they make the decision to show your new home community to their prospects? Builderonline.com addressed this question by publishing a list of 15 things Realtors want Home Builders to know.
- If you are trying to break through the marketing noise directed at Realtors in your region, you may be interested in this article from Professional Builder about the 5 Ways to reach out to Realtors.
- BDX is a treasure trove of content about all things Builder Marketing. This webinar about Why You Need Real Estate Agents is one of the best we've seen and it's as current today as it was a year ago when I first wrote about it in this blog.
- www.newhomesourceprofessional.com is a website hosted by BDX that is devoted to Realtor content and education. Topics include: New home 101, Why Show New, How to Sell new and The Building Process. Referring Realtors to this link is one simple way to support them immediately.
- Sales Teams go to Broker and Realtor offices regularly to be part of their internal meetings. They often drop off business gifts.
- Smart Builders treat Realtors like customers and educate them about how they build along with the value their new homes offer.
- Quality over quantity. 10% of the Realtors bring 90% of the business. Builders target the high producing Realtors.
- All Builders find creative ways to welcome Realtors to their Sales Centers. This includes everything from monthly lunch meetings to VIP wine tastings.
The BP Custom Shopper™ team is also loves anything that promotes the gourmet kitchen and great room spaces that new homes offer. There is no doubt that the open concept style, combined with thoughtful design is a knock out benefit to the right home buying consumer. This contemporary gourmet cookbook includes a custom-designed insert page to give Realtors an overview of your community while they are enjoying the well-known Food52 gourmet recipes designed for today's busy professionals. It's a way to showcase the open concept gourmet kitchen/great room living spaces new home builders do so well.
Because so many Realtor Gifts need to reinforce the educational value of a Realtor event, our team loves this journal with a custom promotional page to communicate about the benefits of a new home and your specific community attributes. The journal itself provides a simple tool for jotting down notes about your new home community during your event or meeting.
Thanks for stopping by. Check out our BP Custom Shopper™ page for a turnkey event digital marketing event checklist. Digital marketing experts and Hubspot Partner at the Builder Funnel designed exclusive content for our clients. We hope that it helps you simplify the process of growing the right RSVP list for your Realtor and Prospect events.
Cheers!
Leslie Bridges, Chief Blogger
Marketing Blueprints is sponsored by Builder Promotions, Inc. the leading builder-centric e-Commerce platform and group buying service. Builder Promotions centralizes and consolidates purchases of marketing supplies used to support the entire new home buyer journey. BP Custom Shopper™ is a signature service of Builder Promotions.
We know that our Builder Marketer clients use our platform to consolidate purchases of branded marketing supplies to save time, because they must attend to a long list of digital marketing tasks that are necessary to launching their Communities. This is the second in our blog series about how to use digital marketing tactics to fill your new home community events with lots of prospects.
In our first blog post on this topic, we covered the important asset and content building involved in getting ready for your new home marketing event. Spencer Powell, with the Builder Funnel, outlined a simple step by step process that provides a virtual map of the tactical work that needs to get done in order to have a successful Community Marketing event that brings in enough of the right prospects.
We're going to jump right in here and move to the Phase Two Execution. This assumes you've created content and built your assets for your Event. Here's the second part of our interview with Spencer.
Marketing Blueprints: So much to do, so little time. Planning really helps. Now that you've set up your schedule and all your assets are in place, how do you get people to your event?
Spencer Powell, Builder Funnel: Now that you've developed your assets and content, you'll see why it pays to get all that lined up early. At this point, about 3 weeks out, it's all about inviting your list, amplifying to the surrounding community via Social Media and consistent reminders to get them there.
Here's our checklist for Phase Two Execution, Filling Your Events:
1. 3 emails to leads in your system database for that specific community to invite them to your Event. Link to the landing page and RSVP form you have developed (see our first post for this if you haven't read it yet).
- Email #1 goes to everyone on your list
- Email #2 goes to the non-reads from email #1
- Email #3 goes to everyone who opened emails #1 & 2, but did not click
- One week before your Event
- One day before your event
- The morning of your Event
- Promote the event on Facebook once a week, 3 weeks out, twice a week 2 weeks out and several times per week in the week leading up to the event.
- You can follow the same guidelines for Instagram.
- I would sprinkle in 4-5 tweets per week on Titter starting 3 weeks out. You can be a bit more liberal with Twitter since it's a constant stream and you'll be mixing in other posts as well.
- Timing - Ideally it's 4-6 weeks out but a lot of Builder Marketers don't get the information they need to plan ahead with that cushion of time.
- Assets can be a challenge to secure for some Marketers because they are held by outsourced providers or corporate graphics departments who are over-burdened with requests.
- Weather - Out of your control and influences attendance up and down.
When our clients host an event at their new home community, we create a memorable branded gift that deepens a prospect's connection to the brand, after the event has passed. So that's one task our busy Division Marketer clients can check off their long list of Event "to dos". But we know that's not even a fraction of the work to be done to launch an event. We know that the important work of making any event a success is drawing a crowd! Our readers will be excited to learn that in this blog post, we're interviewing Builder Funnel marketing expert Spencer Powell, about building traffic for your events.
We know that economy of time is important to Builder Marketers, and we love Spencer's efficient step by step approach to planning and executing an event filled with interested prospects. And, to make life easy for our readers, we asked Spencer to create bonus content so you can download the checklist and keep it as digital resource. We'll share it later in the post. Here's the interview:
Marketing Blueprints: Can you tell us how you approach the planning and execution for new home community events?
Spencer Powell, Builder Funnel: We help our new home builder clients approach this in two phases. The first phase is building out your digital assets. The second phase is implementing your outreach campaign leading up to the event.
Marketing Blueprints: Can you start by giving us your check list for building assets?
Spencer Powell, Builder Funnel: Yes, it's a simple list. Ideally the process begins 4-6 weeks out before an event is actually going to take place. The timing plays an important role in growing your RSVP list. If you are tight on time, feel free to download the checklist and read it when it's most convenient for you.
Turnkey Digital Marketing Event Checklist
Here’s our Phase One checklist:- Make a Schedule so that tasks on this checklist are placed within the time frame leading up to your event. Even if you have less time than is ideal, a schedule helps you keep track of anyone on your team who is helping you get this done.
- Access or request existing community content you will need to share in emails, on your landing page and in social posts. Having this ready will keep you on schedule.
- Video Tour
- Community Brochure
- Floorplans
- Lifestyle & Home Imagery content
- Prepare your email content for the invite to your Database and calendar reminders to everyone who sends an RSVP.
- Develop an Event landing Page. This is where people will RSVP on your website. The landing page should include information about the event, enticing community imagery and all the event details communicated with a sense of excitement.
- Create a “Thank You Page” that is automated from the Landing page to express your appreciation for the RSVP. Tell people how excited you are that they are attending. This is where you share exciting information about the Community you are promoting. It’s a perfect place to deliver “bonus content” like floor plans, a video tour, and your community brochure to everyone who RSVP’s. Ultimately the thank you page shows your appreciation and reinforces the prospects attraction to the community.
- Prepare your Social Posts with links back to the landing page to create excitement leading up to your Event. Use event announcement, video tours of your community and home lifestyle imagery content to entice prospective home buyers.
- Facebook – Create an event page and post an album for the Community
- Houzz – Post a project around your Models
- YouTube – Video Tour
Builder Brands have every reason to celebrate the Holidays. They are building the homes and communities where families and friends gather to celebrate Holidays they observe in ways that are special and meaningful to them.
At Builder Promotions, we kick off the Holiday season with our annual Holiday Shops! They are digital versions of the retail Pop-Up Shop. This year the excitement started early again because several of our uber-organized Marketing clients are getting ready for their End of Year Events and Milestones, early! So we have worked quickly to launch our Holiday Look Book, curate our Gourmet Holiday Goods, and refresh our popular Holiday Card Pop-Up Shop. To complement our launch, we thought we'd share a list of festive ways your Brand can celebrate the holidays.
- Host a holiday Wine Tasting for Realtors who refer to your communities. Local Wine sellers love to share stories about their wine brands and will often be happy to be your event expert because the sharing and tasting exposes consumers to their product.
- Hire a Dessert Food Truck and host an open house in the evening after work for busy Millennials looking to visit your new Town Homes. Compliment the event with this fun yeti-style beverage tumbler. Catering companies are now sourcing Food trucks nationwide which make it super easy to find a festive theme.
- Reward Sales Associates who contribute to the Q4 Goals with retail apparel you can brand for your company. Check out our Holiday Apparel Book for fabulous styles.
- Introduce a Holiday Traditions Facebook Jam and ask your new homeowners to share an image or a story of a holiday tradition they are enjoying in one of your new homes. You can start the ball rolling with a few employee posts.
- Send a Food Tower to your most active Referral sources. Chances are they have a team of people who help influence your referrals, and they would enjoy your delicious gift at the office.(Psst... page 3 of our Gourmet Holiday Goods catalog.) We handle shipping directly to your customers if you don't want to distribute in person.
- Host a holiday party with a charitable focus and give customers and prospects a way to impact their local community together. Or run a Digital Fund-Raiser on your Social Media, using one of the easy fund-raising platforms around. At Builder Promotions, we use Fundly to support a local school for children impacted by Homelessness. It's a great platform to broadcast your charitable focus and super easy to donate for anyone who wants to participate.
- Build a home for someone who needs it this holiday. I know, you have to be a pretty big Builder to afford this, but the ripple effect of your giving is infinite when you put a roof over someone's head.
- Spread "Mini Miracles". Set a goal for spreading small acts of kindness in your communities. Be creative. Watch this to see what WestJet did last Holiday Season.