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April 14, 2020
Effective Marketing Ideas for Home Builders
Whether you are a community developer or a custom home builder, having the right marketing plan is what separates those that sit on their new properties longer than expected, and selling quickly.
Over the last couple decade’s home shoppers and buyers are at an ‘online search’ frenzy – where home buyers are wanting to search faster, and have more property info readily available at their fingertips.
With social media, new real estate market places, and online search higher than ever. Online marketing offers a plethora of creative marketing ideas for home builders to get the word out of their upcoming property, and potentially finding a buyer before or shortly after it is completed.
After researching many online sources and holding interviews, we have collected these top 7 marketing ideas for a home builder.
7 Home Builder Marketing Tips
1. Take advantage of 3D & Virtual Walk-Through Floor Plans
This is undeniably one of the best custom home builder marketing strategies available. 2D floor plans have evolved into a new design concept that visually showcases the visual experience into 3D and virtual walk-throughs.
This architectural visualization tool is what shoppers want. The first point-of-contact with clients is oftentimes a property’s online listing. Catching the attention of prospective buyers who have to choose from hundreds of competing listed properties online is difficult.
3D floor plans for home builders offer an opportunity for prospect buyers to see “virtually up-close” how areas of the home (living room, bathrooms, kitchen, patios, etc.) are arranged.
The shoppers will get “virtually live” insights into the convenience, space, and functionality of the layout. Home builders have five 3D rendering options to select from:
- 3D exterior renderings focus on the property’s surroundings and external environment (which include porches, fences, water bodies, vegetation and the neighborhood).
- Interior renders show the interior’s perspective which highlights one room and/or multiple areas like room furniture, doorways, amenities, hallways.
- Aerial renders which allow viewing of a property from above and showcases how the building fits into the environment.
- 3D floor plans give depth and details to the traditionally used 2D floorplans. This helps buyers understand spatial setup of the various areas in the property. Additional options are; 3D, 3D Tours, 360 3D, 3DT over the traditional 2DH, 2D, and color 2D floor plans.
- Virtual walkthroughs are video outputs that take clients to a lifelike virtual tour. The animation gives them a strong sense of the property’s feel, features, and setup without the need of stepping foot into the property.
3D renders more so than 2D floor plans for home builders will add an upscale appeal to advertising. Making your listing stand out, and increase potential purchases and walk-ins.
2. Build an Engaging Website
Thanks to the internet, a website is now your virtual showroom. It’s the first stop made by potential buyers when looking for a new home. This is your first impression chance to excite and grab their attention to what you as the builder has to offer and the properties for sale.
Home Builder Website Development Tips
- Website loading speed is crucial. The website needs to load fast and beautifully responsive to all screen sizes.
- Visually excite buyers with stunning photography of the properties.
- Enhance each property with the use of walk-through & 3D floor plans.
- Have as much property info available below the property media i.e. energy-efficient home design, home dimensions, surrounding area shopping, nearby schools, and crime rate.
- Each site page and property page should have areas where the buyer can sign up with contact info to get more updates on the property i.e. floor plans, materials used, staging, price drops, etc.
3. Email Campaign/s
This is among the highly-effective marketing ideas for new home builders. It’s easy to do, and a great way to always stay in the head of the buyers.
4. Engage with Previous Clients & Create New Prospects
Even for builders with great homes and real estate location, engaging with previous clients and luring in new prospects is vital to selling a home faster. With new-home construction rising, targeting and re-engaging previous clients before and better than the competition is a winning recipe.
5. Target the Right Audience for The Area
Successful builders know the neighborhood and area of the city to know what kind of home will sell best. Not doing so, can not only shoot your property in the foot, but also negatively domino effect to other properties you develop in that same area.
The first home build in the selected area from your company must “WOW” buyers or else they’ll negatively remember the name for future builds.
6) Take Advantage of Social Media
Social media is an enormous asset in the networking campaign as it allows for creative marketing ideas for home builders. We all know that the internet is an amazing tool that connects people and supplies (products) in a new way. Social Media can catapult your marketing to a whole new level, and advertise Infront of out of state buyers.
7) Realtors and Online Marketplaces
Campaigning with realtors is still a sensible and effective approach to market your property – as they are excellent sources of qualified leads. With a rise in new smart phone app market places such as Open Door, the competition is lowering commission rates across the board. Making homebuilders keep more profits.