New Home Marketing

Spec Home Solution

Lance Sonka (NewHomeMarketing.com) — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 11:28:06 -0600

CEO discusses new Spec Homes pricing strategy.

SpecHomes.com entered the Home Builder Internet Advertising scene with a great brand, and a new take on an established product offering. But a few months later, began feeling unsatisifed with the initial response received within the building industry.

SpecHomes.com

"It just wasn't enough, we really wanted to make an impact." Says Lance Sonka, developer of the Spec Home Building Network which distributes home builder inventory listings across the internet.

"Spec Homes Inc. is a smaller company compared to some of the competing players in the new home internet advertising market. The feedback we got after launch was that we had a good product - but the customers were basically saying we are happy where we are at - with the competitor."

After conducting user research and reviewing internal test results, they changed their approach, and came up with a new way to meet their audience demands, Lance explains how...

"We knew that Home Builders paid enormous sums of money each and every month to the "other guys" for basically the same service that we provided; and that the "other guys" depended on those exorbant fees to stay afloat financially."

"So we decided to offer the services of the Spec Home Building Network for FREE. It seems that our new pricing strategy solves both the Home Builder's, and our competitor problem at the same time."

Learn about more Spec Home Solutions...

Information Sharing Builds Home Sales

Lance Sonka (NewHomeMarketing.com) — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 20:27:01 -0500

Let go of information... holding onto it can destroy the new home sales process.

In his best selling book entitled "Idea Virus," Seth Godin likens the spread of information today to the particles of an infectious virus. Note this is not just theory, but an observation of how effective message moves along the line of communication.

Technology, has both broaden the width of, while simultaneously decreased the depth of our world. It has lengthened the distance by which knowledge can flow, and simultaneously shortened the time it takes to get to it's destination. By bringing long distance recipients closer; technology has increased the number of incoming messages to us all.

The great influx of information often overloads an individual's, or organization's ability to interpret and categorize a majority of the incoming messages - thereby creating a need for "information aggregators."

Aggregators are like super filtering systems that can hold or cache information in storage until it is ready to be accessed and used; or grows old and becomes discarded as it is replaced by new information. The emergence of "micro-markets" then are needed to specialize in each of the "storage" caches to interpret and efficiently express new messages that are to be filtered. This creates a new needfor information markets as consumers and internet users alike seek specific information which specifically benefits them by answering the unknown.

Whether information seekers realize it or not, we prefer our information to be filtered and cross filtered many times. Refined, super specific, new home information is needed to implement your sales collateral into already refined information; this hybrid of information marketing creates an atmosphere where an emotional response will trigger the sales and buying process.

To learn more about information marketing for home builders, visit New Home Marketing 2.0 today...

Selling Spec Homes with Web 2.0

Lance Sonka (NewHomeMarketing.com) — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 11:08:36 -0500

Have you heard the term viral marketing?

Chances are you have, but if you haven't here is a good definition: Viral marketing is a term used to describe a message or information that spreads quickly, effectively, and contagiously through networks of friends, families, and third party relationships.

Quickly - the viral message is usually passed on effortlessly, as in email, websites, or by word of mouth.
Effective - the same message (whether broad or specific) usually reaches the intended recipient because it originated from a "trusted" source, and it's effects can be measured.
Contagious - well, you get the idea...

Something similar can said about our new housing economy that is developing in the United States.

Information should be fluid (like water at room temperature,) yet the new home information received by the public is being put under abnormal and unbalanced scrutiny at the hand of media networks. Because of low ratings, and loss of participation in traditional mediums of advertising - news sources turn to doom, gloom and scandal to garner attention.

While large media conglomerates are slowly trying to understand the new social media, they still revert to these old standards, even though they are rapidly losing effect. Instead of following money losing, failing business models - why not lead a following through the new medium of social information marketing?

In your industry, market area, and section of the world - aren't you the expert?

Why not create your own media empire? Why not deliver your own message to your prospects?

Today, New Home buyers are being "pressured" by a one-sided argument that now is not a good time to buy a new house. Try as you may to deliver the opposite message, currently you do not have enough credibility with the home buying prospects to change their mind or perception.

Why? The message and information you provide is one sided to your benefit - and it shows! Every time home builders open their mouths, it is usually to blatently benefit themselves with the sale of a new home. Nobody wants to hear about you - they want to hear about things that interest them!

Traditional media outlets generate revenue through advertising (which the value or cost of said revenue is relative to the attention by which the message attracts.) Usually, the message recipient does not always relate the two because "the sale" is usually not a direct byproduct of following through with the action that the advertisement requested.

But Home Builders generate revenue from the construction and selling of homes. Right?

Not so fast! Back to your media empire...

Today, cost effective technology fused together with the internet, AKA "Web 2.0" allows any business - even home builders to create a dynamic, and compelling audience centered message that when delivered in a viral medium can nearly equal the effect of the traditional news outlets.

Stop being a pawn in the media giants game of doom and gloom that is aiding the destruction of your revenue. Instead - take that budgeted money and create a new message that you want new home prospects to hear! (And not one about yourself - make it about them!

Make it easy to share and give it to your prospects in a cost effective, and well received way - with Web 2.0!

Home Builder Website Designed to Sell Homes

Lance Sonka (NewHomeMarketing.com) — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 08:56:56 -0500

According to a recent study conducted by the National Home Builders Association, more than 80% of new home buyers start the buying process with research on the Internet.

It seems that those statistics have yet to reach the advertising and marketing departments for the majority of the home building industry.

One Texas builder however, is getting the message loud and clear.

Tilson Homes has been building quality new homes on Texas land for over 75 years, and a quick peak at their website might foretell why many more prospective clients will consider them to build their new house in the future.

Here are a few characteristics on how this home builder website effectively delivers the information that Internet prospects want, and how you can implement similar strategies with your online advertising.

Home Builder Internet Marketing

The main objective for most house hunters searching the Internet is to gather information that will help them make an informed buying decision. An online sales counselor should be available 7 days a week during normal business hours to help answer prospective questions that are not covered in your online marketing literature.
Customer interactivity does not have to be flashy to be an effective Internet advertising tool on home builders websites. The ability to create a user account to store home search information will foster repeat visits to your website, and begins to incorporate a sense of customer attentiveness to your prospect's personal needs and wants.
It is suggested to formulate multiple access points for the main content of your website. Web marketing studies show that different web users respond to different visual stimuli. Balancing graphic links with keyword rich text links can increase your website browsers ability to effectively navigate your floor plans and home offerings easier.
A common complaint for many home builder websites is that there is not enough information regarding specific product and floor plan offerings. Stop all heavy handed advertising techniques that impede a home buyers ability to gather information! Give them what they are coming to your website for - new home information.
Provide live pictures that actually demonstrate the product that you are offering to build. A home builder only has to build a floor plan for client, to be able to re-use those images to sell to another. Most home buyers don't want to imagine their future home, they want to see it.
In case your online sales marketing, Internet advertising, and website design team miss the mark on providing the easy to find information that your web clients are looking for; create a simple keyword rich, text-based site map navigation page that allows browsers untethered access to all that your home building website offers.

We are in the middle of the information age. Gone are the days of home builders and real estate professionals being the only segment of the population to posses knowledge regarding new housing construction, and house building.

Just as the residential construction industry has implemented new technology, and techniques to speed up the the construction process itself, the online home shopper has also discovered the power and freedom that well designed technology brings.

Builders who take initiative with online marketing and information based advertising, will reap the rewards associated with more than just their core construction services.

They will be sewing the seeds of good customer service...

New Home Construction Data

Lance Sonka (NewHomeMarketing.com) — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 17:28:34 -0500

Just in cased you missed it, here is the latest US Census Bureau Release for New Home Construction Data.

Home buyer sentiment certainly has changed for the home building industry - same period year-over-year...

What are you and your organization doing to help shore the loss of new home sales?

Leave a comment below to continue this professional discussion...

New Home Sales with Online Classifieds

Lance Sonka (NewHomeMarketing.com) — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 11:47:27 -0500

Effective new home advertising on the Internet is more than combining your builder's inventory home information with a few a pictures and submitting them to the classified websites.

Property buyers who shop on the web are usually searching for specific information, targeted to a specific local search area.

Here are a couple of tips to help get your spec house classified listings higher rankings in popular search engine results:

Optimize your spec house listings for maximum search engine placement.

Utilize only house specific and relevant keywords in your ad titles and description
Limit "fluff and filler" words from content such as: the, from, and, in, at, to etc...

2. More search engine exposure equals better lead generation for builders.

Don't waste your time advertising on sites that do not have a specialized section dedicated to Real Estate, Home Builders, or New Home listings
Try to find websites that cater to your house prospects buying profile

3. Some classified websites do a better job of distributing property ads than others...

Oodle, Vast, Edgeio, Propsmart and Google Base are essential to generating massive amounts of viewers to your new home classified listings
Keep in mind that home buyers are looking for the perfect dwelling that meets their needs - so they will probably also be searching other builder listings as well

4. Multimedia and prospect interaction is a must - but don't over do it.

Limit your ads to containing no more than 6 to 10 pictures of the house
Virtual tours are nice, but make sure you utilize a fast and cost effective way to deliver the videos - there are plenty of free video hosting providers available

New Home Marketing and selling new construction housing online can be a challenge, but it does not have to be hard.

Follow the outline above and customize each spec house listing to cater to your home buyers demographics, and local housing market.

If you are a building professional who has not fully harnessed the power of advertising your new home inventory on the web, we recommend the SpecHomes.com Building Network as a great home builder Internet classified advertising solution.

New Home Marketing 2.0 - Sales Cycle

Lance Sonka (NewHomeMarketing.com) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:04:52 -0500

In the realm of web 2.0, and social community networking - shared info = trust.

On the Internet, perception of trust initiates a buying relationship.
That relationship can then be leveraged to influence a favorable buying decision.
The sales cycle continues with the informed buyer leveraging relationships with other information seekers, thereby potentially influencing another favorable buying decision.
New Home Marketing 2.0 is the resulting outcome from the trust built with shared knowledge.

New Home Buyers desperately need information about the homes that you sell.

The closer that the new home buying prospect gets to the information they seek, the faster they travel through the sales cycle. Additionally, the less information received by home buying prospects will equate to a longer buying decision.

All efforts must be made by home builders to remove obstacles and informational road blocks between home buyers and the info they need to make a favorable home buying decision.

If the desired information found at the "core" of the buying decision is accurate and true (regardless of profit to the seller) the decision whether or not to purchase your product has been made... justified by the shared knowledge found.

You may also be interested in: New Home Marketing 2.0 Begins with Trust

New Home Marketing 2.0 Begins with Trust

Lance Sonka (NewHomeMarketing.com) — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 21:33:58 -0500

Our home building industry today is mostly unaware of the "power shift" that web technology has created in the minds of our home buying prospects.

Recent software developments and the implementation of fast, real time communication has decreased the resistance of new home information flow to the consumer; while increasing the speed and efficiency by which the same information is received.

The home building industry as a whole has bullied the housing consumer for decades; in the process hording all the pertinent information needed for a potential home buyer to make a favorable buying decision.

"The cat has been let out of the bag" regarding our precious home building industry, and everyone knows it.

Because "the proverbial cat" will not get back into the bag, the dispersement of information about our products and services will not slow down - information will only increase in its ability to flow into the hands of our prospects.

We as an industry have got to stop fighting the winds of change with new home marketing and instead, build a new machine to harness the power of web technology and learn how to profit fairly from it.

Gone are the days whereby well deserving clients with money, and good credit come to us meekly like lambs to the slaughter house. The"lambs" are now well informed, self educated, smart individuals, empowered with the secrets of shared knowledge found on the internet; and embittered by the mess we have made of ourselves and their sacred homes.

The new home buying prospect has become suspect of you and your decrepit ways.

Like Dorothy who discovers there is no magical powers behind the wizard's veil - we too have been found uncovered and naked - left wanting and in shame.

Hope is not lost...

Tomorrow promises us a new chance to get it right - today.

We can change direction from within. We must adapt to the wants and needs of the shifting consumer. We have to retire our arrogant, self seeking, interruption marketing techniques - lest we dry up and die. Financial ruin and bankruptcy is near for some, and a new beginning right around the corner for others.

Let's create a new home building industry image to match the desires of a new home building consumer.

Let's take action now - loving the fight back to the lines.

Remember that we help to create "lives" out of brick and stone.

Our creations house the very breath of life that is "community" - the essence of human nature for all man kind.

The golden rule for successful business has always been - give customers what they want, and make a profit by it.

Do you know what the customer wants?

What do you want?

Are the two not the same living flesh and blood - trying to iron out a happy existence with self respect for ourselves while keeping our family in tact?

Do you want to be cold called at dinner time while you are enjoying the only 30 minutes you get to spend with your spouse and honor roll kids?

How would you feel about making the largest purchase in your life and then left alone to deal with shoddy workmanship and unkempt promises?

We are not selling porn! The product that we deliver should outlast most of the lives of those who deliver it. The home building industry cannot be about making a fast buck - we should be about making a lasting impression on a lifetime of someone's memories.

We develop physical communities out of parcels of land, but cannot maintain relationships with those that we profit from. As an industry we want to increase profits by controlling construction cost - measuring materials down to the inch used on any given job site. But what is the real cost of broken promises to our customers?

How much is spent on damage control and reinventing our image? How many feet of lumber do you have to save to equal one satisfied homeowner referral?

New Home Marketing 2.0 is not just about new technology, it's a social interaction with friends and neighbors in a digital environment.