Changing the Marketing Coming Soon Communities

This month, we begin a 6 part series of articles. In these articles we will explore how marketing coming soon communities is changing. The series focuses on leveraging alternative media, new technology, and research tools to improve your marketing and sales performance.

For many builders marketing new homes is a product-driven exercise. They buy land, build product to model, promote communities through newspaper and/or directional signage, and then sell based on the model.

A number of market changes are leading some forward looking builders to consider alternatives to traditional media. Some of these changes include: the increase in number of in-fill projects, the high cost of land, higher cost of media, media shift toward the Internet, and tighter management of phase releases. Each of these changes has implications for marketing new homes.

At the same time, consumers are changing. They are shopping differently. The Media Audit reports that newspaper readership has declined from 60.7% in 1997 to 49% today. Reaching your target is becoming more difficult.

Layer Your Marketing to Improve Results

Layering your media and using alternative media can help you reach your prospects more directly. Using a combination of media, you can increase your reach and your frequency. You increase your qualified traffic, but it takes planning.

Up-front, when you are putting together your marketing budgets is when you need to do this planning. You may spend more on marketing up-front, but your payoff is higher initial sales velocity and sustained demand. As a side benefit, your efforts will likely stay under the radar screen of your competitors.

A Layered Approach

About a year ago, Taylor Woodrow, a major North American homebuilder, acquired a land position in Colma, California. Colma is in the South San Francisco area, but it is not what most homebuilders would consider +A land. Colma is the burying ground for San Francisco. Shortly after the great San Francisco earthquake nearly all the cemeteries in San Francisco were moved. They were moved to Colma. I'm told Woodrow's development increased the living population of Colma by more than 10%. Further, the land was adjacent to BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) rail and bordered blue collar business enterprises.

Taylor Woodrow spent much time defining their target audience and weighing their marketing options for their new development called Verano. They wanted to reach sophisticated urban buyers who might be considering lofts in the city. The challenge was to gain sufficient reach and frequency that would drive interest. They were confident that if they could get prospects to see Verano, they would become buyers. Which media could target most effectively their audience and what were the relative costs? They had to have a way to cut through the clutter to reach these sophisticated urban buyers.

In addition to on-site signage, they had several media types in their mix, including: targeted outdoor advertising on the BART and bus shelters, select magazines, direct mail, radio, and San Francisco Chronicle inserts. With strong and focused imagery, they tried to grab the attention of their likely buyers. As Toni Leance, Marketing Director for Northern California, put it "You have to cut through the clutter." All this off-line media pointed prospects to a website developed for Verano (http://www.visitverano.com). Here they educated and informed their buyers. The site became their primary means of beginning a dialogue with their prospective buyers.

While Verano had its marketing and operational challenges, Taylor Woodrow was able to quickly generate more than 300 high-quality prospects on their Interest list before opening and sold all but 3 of their homes in their initial release to those who registered at the website. While they had front-loaded their marketing investment, they were able to shut off the marketing through close-out by continuing to work their website interest list.

The Key to the Approach

The key to this approach is to fully understand your target audience. With this knowledge, a layered media approach can increases your points of contact with the buyers and your overall reach. We are not talking simply about leveraging the Web, but a combination of media that may include:

·         Newspaper - consider buying space outside the real-estate section if there is a fit with your targeted audience and your property.

·         Newspaper inserts - you can target specific demographic groups and provide much more information with a much better cost profile than a traditional ad.

·         Print magazines - consider the editorial focus, readers, and shelf life of the magazine. You may be able to drive significant lead volume. Track these with reader response cards and 800 numbers.

·         Broadcast radio/cable TV - with both radio and cable TV you can zero in on your target market by age, gender, and income.

·         Targeted Outdoor - outdoor advertising can generate millions of impressions. Transit signage and surface street signage can put you in the path of your prospects and drive more traffic to your website and community. The drawback is that you need to plan well in advance.

·         Direct Mail - when you can truly target your audience, direct mail can be very effective. Again tracking is critical.

·         Internet -targeting is the key. Among the major builder portals and segment targeted websites, the cost per lead performance can be tremendous. If you have a highly targeted segment (e.g., active adult), explore the niche websites to drive traffic. Additionally you can buy key words and phrases on search engines to drive qualified traffic to your site.

·         E-mail - very low cost once you have your interest list. This becomes your key for keeping prospects informed.

What's the right mix? Every community will be different, but with careful planning up-front, builders can drive qualified traffic more efficiently.

According to Leance "This approach works better for two reasons: First, you are reaching the non-newspaper reader. Second, it increases your overall reach and frequency."

What to Do

·         Invite your agency or in-house creative team in when you are developing your budget.

·         Then, create an outreach chart to weigh the benefits and costs of each media choice against your goals for reaching that target.

·         Put together a targeted website or pages on your main site with a URL that is positioned with the search engines. Drive all your marketing responses towards this expanded information source and registration vehicle.

·         Use the site and e-mail to communicate with your growing list of prospects

The goal is to drive qualified and informed prospects to your community. "If you can reach your prospects more directly by cutting through the clutter, and sending the right message to your targeted audience, you are going to see an increase in qualified traffic." Said, Leance.

Originally Published: March 3, 2004 - http://www.floorpop.com/Floorpop030304.html