Marketing Ideas

Marketing Ideas for Home Builders

June 14, 2018 by K-Kom

The housing market is at its highest point since the crash, and seems likely to keep rising for the next few years. As of April 2018, the US Census Bureau announced an official number of new residential construction for the year, April 2017 – April 2018:

1.35 million building permits
1.29 million housing starts
1.26 million housing completions

This can be compared to the year 2005 – 2006, which accounted for:

2.07 million permits
1.93 million starts
1.95 million completions

So it appears we have a long way to go. Another bit of good news is that mortgage costs are only 17% of the average income, which is far below the long-term average of 24%, so much opportunity is still left to be had! How can small home builders compete with big national brands that have plenty of marketing budget and a reputation to match?

Many of the following strategies can also be utilized by other small businesses that have a budget to watch.

Search Engine Optimization

SEO encompasses many topics which are all related to how your brand looks to search engines like Google and people searching on the internet. Google has put a lot of rules in place for the purpose of ensuring their users are seeing the best possible search results for whatever they type into Google. So within that tenth of a second when you hit “search” and see the results, thousands of calculations have taken place to bring you, ideally, the answer you’re looking for.

So what determines if your website will be one of those 10 links on the first page of Google? This includes technical elements within your website like title tags, meta descriptions, internal and external linking. The number of reviews out there on Facebook or your Google My Business listing also has a major impact. How active you are on relevant social media channels is also an important aspect that builds trust in your brand.

If you want your website to show up for certain words or phrases such as “custom home builder Wisconsin” (or whatever location is in your service area), it’s your job to make sure that phrase is on your website at least a few times (including the homepage and in titles), plus other words related to that topic, that are related to your business.

Quality Content

This is a major part of SEO. Blogging, article writing, or simply compiling quality content that your website viewers may be interested in, is the best way to get into the good graces of Google and other search engines.

As well, continuously adding to the website and being consistent about it helps with search engine rankings. Compile case studies, company news, and detailed descriptions of your service offerings to start. Copy the reviews people have left for you on other websites to build website visitors’ trust.

Be the Expert

Your website is your showcase, not only for high-quality photos of your best homes but also your expert knowledge. Talk about your previous projects, what went very well, how things could be improved, new and better materials you’d like to try, etc. Remember, potential clients are not the only people who will find your website. Investors, lawyers, consultants, and your competitors will also be stopping by. So, what is your next big project that requires a few investors? Blog about topics that prove to them that you’re worth their investment money, and don’t forget to write speaking to the audience you’re looking to target.

Paid Advertising

After giving yourself a solid foundation including all of the long-term projects listed above, running different kinds of digital ads on social media, Google search and display will give your brand a major exposure jump-start.

No time to do all this extra work?

K-Kom is a full-service marketing agency with an emphasis on your digital success. Let’s grow your home building business, and let your focus on what you do best!

K-Kom Marketing Values & Factors for Success

February 20, 2018 by K-Kom

Every business that wants to thrive for many years to come will do so more successfully if values and goals are clearly written and understood by everyone within the company. If everyone knows the real meaningful reasons behind why the business exists, it will provide added motivation and purpose to the work being done. When the people care, it shows through to customers and the community.

The people of K-Kom Marketing live and work by certain values and we keep a few important success factors in mind while we do what we do.

5 Factors for Success

1. Integrity

Always be honest. Period.

2. Discipline

Utilize and hone self-control.

3. Hard Work

Work, not necessarily harder, but better and more efficiently, and constantly gain new skills and improve existing abilities to be better this year than ever before.

4. Social Skills

Work easily (and pleasantly) with others while also effectively communicating. Take time to learn how to improve communication skills.

5. A Supportive Team

This is important at work, and especially at home. A supportive environment is crucial for anyone to do and be their best everyday.

9 Important Values for Marketing & Branding

Be Unique

Be somehow different from your competitors and make sure it’s in a way that is relevant and important to your clients.

Be Consistent

Do what you do, but be consistent about it. From service or product quality control to posting on social media, to customer service. Be that company that people can rely on in an unreliable world.

Be Focused

Determine the focus of your business, while not boxing yourself into a tiny niche without the ability to logically expand products or services later.

Have a Personality

There’s nothing worse than a business that is just that – a business – untouchable by customers and voiceless. If customers feel you’re above them or unreachable, all personal touch is gone and so is any reason to be loyal to your brand.

Be True to Yourself

Ie. what your company stands for. If you say one thing and do something contradictory to that, people will lose respect for your brand, see you as inconsistent and will more likely move on.

Respect Branding Boundaries

Don’t cross categories. Expand your products or services in a way that makes sense to the categories you’re most skilled in and which are most profitable.

Word of Mouth

No matter how much marketing you do, word of mouth will always bring in the best customers. People trust people more than businesses, especially if they’re people in their inner circle.

Be Committed

This applies to you as a business owner most, but also to your employees. You all need to be committed to the business, motivated, and excited to see your goals come to fruition.

Branding is Discipline Not a Science

Stick to your guns, especially if you know what you’re doing will work in the long run. If you’re tempted to take the business in a completely different direction, step back and think about it. Sometimes pivots are 100% necessary for a business’ survival, but changing an already successful business model can potentially destroy it.

Communication with Your Marketing Agency

February 6, 2018 by K-Kom

As a business owner, your schedule is probably usually packed full, which is why you’ve taken the time to hire a professional marketing agency to take care of that very vital portion of the business.

It can be extremely tempting to hand it over and not think about it after that. Unfortunately, this is not the path to increased success or a happy relationship with the people who are doing the marketing work! Perhaps you don’t quite know exactly what you need, but you do know there’s a problem and you need a solution.

The agency will provide a list of things they need from you, to do their job in the best possible way. Once you have a good flow, establish the information you’ll usually need to have ready for them and make sure to stay organized by having one delivery method to maintain maximum efficiency.

As an agency, it’s then our job to provide as much education as you would like, to take a bit of the mystery out of our process and ensure you’re reaching your business goals.

When you feel the efforts aren’t fulfilling your expectations, tell us. Ask how the problem can be solved so you can begin to form an idea of the tactics used to solve various issues.

At the beginning of a new project, there is more need for collaboration, and as we go along we come to a lesser and more consistent level of communication.

Here are some examples of things we will ask you for, and why.

Past Marketing

Tell us all the successes AND failures the business has experienced over the years in terms of marketing techniques and campaigns. In-house or other agencies, we want to know everything so we can start off on the right foot.

Current Goals

Clearly defining your business goals and explaining these to us is of utmost importance. If necessary, sit down before our meeting and decide what is most important for the future of the business and your brand marketing campaign.

We all need to be on the same page when it comes to expectations, timeline, short and long term targets. Without this insight, your campaigns might not run in the best possible way!

Content

You will hear us talk about content until your ears fall off. This is because it’s very high on the priority list of things your site needs to be visible to the right people on search engines. With our tools and resources, we can provide some content, competitor and industry insights for you, but no one knows your business better than you.

Initial Batch

Provide an initial batch of ideas and previous content as a starting point, things you’ve seen be successful and not so successful. Photos, videos, blogs, news articles, white papers, etc.

Continuous Flow

Think of Google as a big hungry AI robot that needs data to stay fed and happy, and if your site doesn’t provide this, it will bury you alive to make room for others that can provide it, are better quality, and fresher.

As your marketing agency, we are the robot feeders and once you give us a continuous flow of what’s happening in the business, new offerings, new team additions, industry trends, etc. you’ll be heading in the right direction!