A lot of home builders are incredibly skilled at building houses, but not so confident in building an effective marketing plan.
These 10 simple marketing tactics will help your business to attract your target market and turn them into happy customers.
1. Improve Your Website
Whether you’re a one-man-band or an international company, your website is one of your greatest marketing assets. A great website works like an always-on salesperson; attracting prospects, converting leads and closing them into customers.
But many home builders don’t give their website the attention it deserves; instead relying on offline channels like events and referrals. Website design and marketing agencies are a great investment, but you can improve your website in simple ways yourself. Make sure your site:
- Is easy to use on multiple device types
- Loads quickly
- Is secure
- Includes clear ‘calls-to-action’
- Makes it easy for visitors to contact you
2. Create and Share Content
Let’s say you have a great-looking, easy-to-use and optimised website. Ask yourself, what are you doing to attract people to it? A great website is only a piece of the puzzle; you also need content to attract your target audience and compel them to take action.
Website content you may like to create can include:
- Customer case studies, including video, editorial and quality images
- How-to guides to provide value to your audience and answer their questions
- Product fact sheets to educate your potential customers
And once you’ve created this content, share it with your audience on your social media pages and through email newsletters.
3. Get Your Customers to Create Content For You
Creating content takes time, but with some simple tactics, you can get your customers doing a lot of the heavy lifting for you.
Ask your customers to share photos of your finished projects on their own social media channels, tagging your business name and linking to your page. This “user generated content” is an easy way to extend your network and reach potential clients.
4. Gather Testimonials
Did you know that 90% of consumers read online reviews before visiting a business, and 84% of people trust them as much as personal recommendations?
Customer testimonials are an essential asset to promote on your website, so it’s worth following up with your customers after completed projects to gather them.
5. Improve Your Google My Business Listing
Your Google My Business listing is often the first thing potential customers see when searching for your home building business online. It’s like your digital White Pages listing, containing your contact information, website address, opening hours and customer reviews.
However, you can spruce up your Google My Business listing by pinning content from your website (such as a product brochure or case study), by choosing team and project photos to display, by including Q&As and even adding a welcome video.
6. Refresh Your Branding
Does your home building business have a clearly defined brand? Do you have a high-resolution logo, a consistent colour scheme, a tagline and a value proposition?
If you can’t answer each of these questions with confidence, it might be time you refresh your branding.
7. Increase Your Online Referrals
As a home builder, many of your leads might come through customer referrals. But have you given attention to gathering referrals from online channels, too?
Directory websites like HiPages present a great opportunity for you to reach prospective clients. Builders can win work on HiPages with a friendly profile, examples of your successful projects and displaying positive reviews.
8. Attend Trade Shows
Events have always been a great way for builders to connect with potential customers. They allow you to build relationships with prospects, show off your expertise and gather contact information.
Remember to be proactive in following up with the leads you attract at trade shows; you can’t always rely on your business card to do all the work for you.
9. Try Google Advertising
Advertising on Google is one of the best ways to reach people searching for the services you offer. You can create text advertisements based around your services, and only pay a fee when somebody clicks on your ad.
There’s quite a science behind running a Google Ads program, but you can get started with very little cost and see what works for you.
10. Invest in Better Technology
At the end of the day, the more quality work you produce, the more successful your home building business will become. Investing in construction technology like Cubit for estimating is a great way to accelerate your projects and improve your quality of work.
Cubit is a powerful estimating and takeoff solution that allows you to reduce errors, save time, and maximise profitability. With a reliable and accurate estimating platform at your fingertips, you can focus less on fixing human errors and more on growing your business.
To see how Cubit can improve the way you do estimating and takeoff, get a free 14-day trial today and try it for yourself.
