Finding new customers can often be harder than building a new home. For many housebuilders, planning an effective, measurable marketing campaign without spending a fortune is hard to come by. Consumer behaviour changes. Online algorithms change. Data protection changes. Strategies and campaign ideas that were once filling up your leads list no longer have the same impact that they once did.
If you want to reach and connect with an audience that’s interested in buying a new home, you need to meet them where they are. A solid campaign is the way to do it – and the post-GDPR period is a better time than ever to give your marketing efforts a leg-up. Make the most of recovery and build a database of fresh, compliant, ready-to-buy prospects with these lead generation marketing campaign strategies:
1. Set your marketing campaign objective
Here-and-there marketing cannot compare to the clear action plan that comes with a lead generation marketing campaign. Specify what you want achieve from the get-go, how long your marketing campaign will run for, and how you will measure success. Instead of planning to ‘get more sales’, figure out which area you need to focus on. Maybe you want to sell more homes in a particular location? Or persuade prospects to sign up for your online valuation tool? Some examples of specific objectives for housebuilders include:
- Sales of new homes will increase by 15% in three months.
- Marketing database will grow by 50% in three months.
- Company website’s search engine ranking will increase.
2. Figure out your campaign budget
If you seriously want to achieve your objectives, you can’t always rely on free advertising and promotion. Not that it’s all unsuccessful, but there is always a cost for good marketing. Create a list of the different areas you plan to tackle with your marketing efforts, such as paid ads, sponsored posts, email campaigns, search engine optimisation and social media advertising. Estimate the costs involved, from creative design to website banners to prospect generation tools. Add them all up and figure out whether you can afford them all. If not, work out which lead generation strategies will deliver the best return-on-investment (ROI) and where you should cut back.
3. Slide into third party email campaigns
We have more online platforms than ever, but email still trumps in terms of lead generation marketing campaign strategies. If you can offer something of value (such as property listings) you can easily acquire new leads for your email database. But how do you reach them in the first place, without blowing your budget on online ads? Using a partner to reach an entire database of opted-in homeowners is a cheap, direct and the non-invasive way to reach home buyers. See how we can help you target the perfect prospects, with laser-like email campaigns, to grow your own database. We’ll even segment each lead in terms of location, current property value, number of bedrooms and reason for valuation, so you won’t waste any time at all with your marketing efforts.
4. Create one strong sign-up incentive
For new homes developers campaigns, this could be creating an ebook such as ‘The hassle-free guide to buying a new home’ and using it to bring in new leads with online marketing. Set a budget for social media advertising and Google ads, then create well-crafted headlines with clear incentives to persuade readers into sharing their email address for expert content. Your campaign should be designed as a series of emails, purposely spaced out to build on your free content or offer. Once your leads are opted-in, share related content on your blog and property listings to turn prospects into buyers.
5. Target new audiences with outreach campaigns
We’re all wired to trust a recommendation from someone we know and outreach marketing is the way to harness this and supercharge sales. Placing articles on third-party sites is a tried-and-tested method for that appeals to the right people at the right time, as an extension of a an already-trusted brand. Reach out to publishers, companies or even bloggers that are an organic fit for your house builders firm: it could be anything from property advice sites to home renovation blogs. We offer a range of article placement options specifically designed for housebuilders. By placing an article on our sister site you can reach our super-engaged audience of over 100,000 unique monthly users, with up to 25,000 page views guaranteed. Creating a few strong pieces of content and placing them around trusted online spaces – either as article placements or sponsored articles – is a sure-fire way to lead generation marketing campaign gold.
6. Measure your results
It’s important that we get the best ROI for our marketing campaign investments and the only way to figure this out is to measure the outcome properly. This is the only way you can tweak and repeat campaigns successfully in the future – it’s all trial and error. Look back at your objective and see how close to your desired outcome you are. Is the spend a success? If so, start planning your lead nurturing to stay in touch with new prospects and customers. If not, figure out exactly what didn’t work and how you can improve it next time. Did you target the wrong market by placing an article on a site that didn’t quite fit with your target customer? Maybe the emails you crafted didn’t carry a strong call-to-action? There are plenty of reasons a lead generation marketing campaign can fail: if you want support and advice on how to get it right every time, contact us for a chat or a demonstration.
