2 Steps to Great Marketing

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The biggest mistake I see with the marketing in our industry is that people OVERCOMPLICATE their marketing. Today, I want to simplify.

There are just 2 questions you need to ask yourself…

-What is my message?

-How do I get my message out there?

See how simple that is? Let's look a bit closer at each:

Step One: MESSAGE
If you can't describe your company in one sentence, then you don’t have a clear message. Try it. The majority of you will not be able to do it. In order to get the clearest message, you need to think about the one thing that differentiates you from everyone  else. I can name about 100 builders who have the tagline, "Welcome home." No one will ever "own" that. If you think that’s your message, then you need a new one asap.


Step Two: THE MESSENGER (How to get your message out there)
Once you have your message, you need to determine how much you can spend on getting that message out to your audience. Some of you reading this will have significant marketing budgets and some of you will have $0. It doesn’t matter. You will still move forward the exact same way. Your "media mix" is based on who your audience is and where they spend their time. Clearly you can't target a specific audience if you do not fully understand who your buyers are. Think how the buyer thinks. If you are not going to buy one of the homes you have for sale, then it doesn’t matter what websites YOU like or what billboard YOU pass on your way home. Determining the right way to get your message out there is 100% about the consumer. If your budget is small, look at internet, social media, blogging, and eblasts. There are tons of very reasonable ways to get your message in front of a captivated audience without spending more than the builder down the street.

Its really that easy.

Here is a template of a Group Two Marketing plan.  You can see which campaign or "message" you are running at any given time based on the color coding. You can also see each line item of where that message is running. There is no reason to not know exactly how much you have spent and exactly where those dollars have been spent at any point throughout the year.

Just remember, it doesn’t matter how beautiful your homes are if no one knows about them. Media Plan

 
 

Comments (3 Total)

  • Posted by: Rob Patey | Time: 9:26 AM Friday, May 10, 2013

    I've found the largest problem to be the "what" of the message. Especially when talking inbound marketing. Rising above the white noise requires a courage of copy few seem to be able to craft and others are afraid to approve.

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  • Posted by: melkman@grouptwo.com | Time: 8:33 PM Monday, March 11, 2013

    Yes. Social media is important to have in today's world as a part of your overall marketing strategy and plan. Social media should help provide traffic... If your sales people need assistance selling then email me and I can recommend a great sales trainer to help with conversion.

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  • Posted by: Anonymous | Time: 11:24 PM Monday, March 04, 2013

    Mollie: You make things sound so logical. Thanks for the guidelines. Too many consultants "talk" marketing, but really don't understand the changes that have taken place .Recently, I heard a sales consultant say that since Facebook doesn't "sell" homes it is worthless. Just a stupid comment. Social media builds relationships, good will, and if done properly, drive traffic to the website. Social media, in reality, is just one element of a modern marketing program. Do you agree?

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About the Blogger

Mollie Elkman

thumbnail image Mollie is President of Group Two Advertising, one of the largest homebuilder marketing and advertising agencies in the United States. Mollie¹s blog initiates thought provoking conversations within the building industry. She focuses on new and controversial trends in the increasingly Internet savvy world we live in.