Archive for May, 2010
Consumers Are Ready For Energy Efficient Homes
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Green, Real Estate Trends on May 28th, 2010
It is no doubt that consumer interest in green building is reshaping the housing market. This interest is so strong that certain markets during the housing market crash prospered due in large to the consumer demand for certified homes including Energy Star homes.
A poll conducted towards the end of last year reveals that homeowners are focusing specifically on improving their home’s value with energy-efficient upgrades. According to the USA TODAY poll, 68% of people surveyed claim they made these upgrades to their homes. 71% of those who made the upgrades did so to add value and save money. Only 26% said they did so to save the environment. I think this goes back to why sustainable and green building practices are really catching on. Consumers care more about the dollar signs then they do the environment. I am not saying this is true for everyone, but as a marketer I would design my message with this in mind.
Experts expect rising energy costs to continue to fuel the demand for energy-efficient homes in the future. I think consumers are becoming more and more educated on green building practices and what it means for them has homeowners. They are starting to understand that paying a little more for a certified home now will help them save money in the long run. This is great but agents and home sellers need to understand how to handle these selling situations. I don’t think it’s enough to slap a certification seal on your product and expect it to market itself. We need to understand how consumers will save money and be able to confidently explain that. Consumers will be asking all kinds of questions in regards to energy savings and we need to have the answers.
55+ Communities Are Opening Their Doors To Younger Generations
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Demographics, Real Estate Trends on May 27th, 2010
As the housing market became more volatile many builders and developers were forced to change their models. This included product design and target market.
A recent USAToday.com article talks about the changes many builders in the 55+ market had to consider during the housing crash. One of these changes was the acceptance of younger residents into the once restricted 55+ communities. The article refers to it as bringing down the walls on age.
Retiring baby boomers were hit the hardest by the recession. As the article puts it, they were hit hard two times. Once when their homes lost a majority of their value preventing them from turning them into cash and when their portfolios took the big hit. This double dose of financial strain has changed the 55+ market beyond allowing younger generations into certain communities. Builders now have to design a product with all of this in mind.
I wonder if we will see this model implemented on a larger scale. Homebuilders are utilizing floor plans that are built for multi-generational families. Does it make sense to model an entire community this way? Families enjoy close proximity with family members and that’s one reason that multi-generational floor plans are popular right now. It will be interesting to see what kid of community designs we will see in the future.
Eco Friendly Rating System Separates The Contenders From The Pretenders
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Green, Marketing, Real Estate Trends on May 26th, 2010
Earlier this month the first national system used for rating the eco friendliness of neighborhoods was launched. This system will measure how walkable a neighborhood really is. With the sharp increase in sustainable community claims, there was a need for an official rating system to help consumers choose wisely.
According to USAToday.com article, the system was designed to separate the worthy neighborhoods from the pretenders. The idea is to locate stores, restaurants, and other services close to homes, which will encourage people to walk more. The rating system will give an accurate rating for communities.
This system is a lot like most LEED certification programs and was actually designed with LEED’s help. Obtaining a LEED-ND certification is believed to help developers get construction permits more quickly and attract more buyers. Experts believe that consumer will increasingly want LEED communities in the future. As these consumers are introduced to the rating system and understand it, it will become a necessary certification for buyers looking to reduce their daily commute.
These certified neighborhoods also promote a denser economy. Economists believe that our future economy will thrive off of collaboration and idea sharing. This is more easily achieved in more urban settings compared to suburban ones where things are spread out and driving is a requirement.
Obtaining these types of certifications will ultimately improve the visibility of your product. The LEED certification program is young and still evolving. It was created out of demand and I think that’s something that can’t be ignored. Consumers will be looking for these sorts of certifications when buying or renting in the future.
What Google TV Means For Advertisers
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing on May 25th, 2010
All the talk in the tech world right now centers on Google and their unveiling of Google TV. Besides it being a cool way to watch TV and search for on-line video, it also represents major dollars in the advertising world.
According to a Techcrunch.com article, Google is gunning for the four billion TV users worldwide. More specifically, they are gunning for the $70 billion annual ad spend on television in the U.S. alone. Google plans on offering innovative ways for users to watch shows, search for video, and also web browse in general. All of this can be accomplished from one spot in the house on the largest screen in the home. This sounds great on paper but many question the adoption of such behavior.
Google is taking their stab at integrating television and computer. This is an integration that will no doubt happen at some point considering our video viewing habits and the way we use the Internet. I think it’s a question of efficiency and usability.
For marketers and advertisers it’s a question of ad format. What will ads on Google TV look like? Will they be similar to those on Hulu or will they behave like Google AdWords? The big question will be about costs and analytical data. Hypothetically, if Google TV is a hit and they take over the television industry, which is pretty ambitious, Google will then control an entire industry’s advertising. Does this sound scary to anyone else?
The Affluent More Likely To Use Social Networks
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Demographics, Marketing, Real Estate Trends, Social Media on May 24th, 2010
A recent Nielsonwire.com study shows that the more affluent members of society are participating on certain social networking sites more than others.
According to the study, half of the U.S. population visited a social networking site in the last year. These numbers seem to be growing every quarter. Studies similar to this one and the data they yield are becoming increasingly popular with advertisers and marketers. An understanding of the social status of groups using social media will be a very useful tool when developing messages.
The Break Down
- According to the study, Facebook users tend to have a more upscale lifestyle. The top third segment relative to affluence was 25% more likely to use Facebook than the lower two-thirds.
- The bottom third segment was in-turn 37% more likely to use MySpace
- Users of Facebook were also more likely to use the social networking site Linked-In, which is a network for businesses and professional networking.
I think marketers can interpret this data several ways but an understanding of consumer behavior and buying habits isn’t enough at this point. If social media is the future then so is the understanding of social network demographics. If you’re building luxury condominiums and want to utilize social media in your marketing, then you better have an understanding of where your target market is spending their time on social networks (which ones).
This goes back to the core principle of social media. Social networks should never dictate a marketing strategy including whom you choose to target. I don’t recommend molding a message to Facebook because it’s the most popular social network. I suggest creating your message first, finding your target consumer, and then using the necessary social network to reach them. Social media is not a marketing strategy. It’s a tool used to execute a marketing strategy.
How To Use YouTube Effectively?
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Social Media on May 20th, 2010
YouTube is now serving 2 billion downloads a day to its users. This is nearly double the number of people who watch the three prime time TV stations in America. The popularity of online video has grown exponentially year after year. According to a BBC article, YouTube will not only continue to grow but it will start to become a worthy competitor to cable.
Many homebuilders, developers, and sales agents are utilizing the popularity of YouTube to generate leads for real estate and for good reasons. There are so many benefits to using videos when it comes to showing real estate properties. There is a stronger emotional connection with video than there is with words and pictures alone. In addition to the visual benefits, video results in a Google search are 50 times more likely to appear on the first page of a search compared to plain text.
While these benefits are great, I think a lot of companies are missing the mark when it comes to organizing their YouTube channel. For starters, a lot of companies who own multiple projects or communities will list all of their videos under one channel. This causes clutter and confusion. Property A should have its own YouTube channel named according to the community name. It could include videos of homes, amenities, community aspects, and anything else relating to that specific community. Property B would then have its own YouTube channel following the same guidelines.
It is important to be organized with your YouTube channels so that viewers can easily access videos of a specifically desired property. Someone looking for a community in Georgia probably isn’t too interested in its sister community that’s located in Florida.
Organizing YouTube channels in this manner will make things a lot easier for searchers from within YouTube and those coming from Google. If someone searches Google for your or one of your properties and gets the wrong one then they will not go through your channel looking for it. They will leave and you will have missed out on a great opportunity.
Getting The Most Out Of PPC
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing on May 18th, 2010
According to a Builderonline.com article, “Nearly three-fourths of small business owners said they’d rather work on filing their taxes than set up a search engine marketing campaign.” I find this to be a true statement as most of my clients cringe at the thought of selecting keywords, creating ads, and tracking the analytical data. Unfortunately most small businesses take this attitude but still initiate the campaign. The result is a waste of money. Below are a couple of ways businesses are missing the mark with their campaigns.
Keyword Selection Is Everything
Everything in your search marketing campaign hinges on your keywords. My advice is to be as specific as possible. For starters, being specific will produce high quality traffic or clicks. Being vague with your keywords may produce more clicks but as most of you know clicks aren’t always a good thing when they are costing money but not getting quality traffic. Being specific also makes you more visible to those who are looking for your product. Specific keywords will increase your chances in converting clicks into potential leads. It will also give you the most for your money.
Ad Copy In Relation To Keywords
Your PPC ad copy needs to relate to the keywords that generate it as a search result. If you’re selling a loft in downtown Atlanta it would make sense to include the words Atlanta, loft, and downtown in your keywords. I would suggest being more specific than this but for the sake of an example, I will keep it simple. Let’s say a potential buyer searches Google with these keywords and your ad shows up in one of the top spots and is visible to the searcher. If your ad doesn’t relate to the keywords then the likelihood of the searcher clicking on your ad is not very good. If you want to use geography-based keywords like Atlanta then you must include those same words in your ad copy. It is important to give searchers what they are looking for.
If You Do It, Do It All The Way
PPC advertising requires a lot of effort and time. This is why so many businesses don’t want to do it or do it haphazardly. If you are going to venture into search engine marketing then I suggest you do it all the way. Otherwise, your efforts may end up being a huge waste of money.
Study Reveals Shopping Habits By Generation
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Demographics, Marketing on May 17th, 2010
In March, Nielsenwire.com released a report that helps businesses understand the shopping and media habits of differing generations. This study is an important tool when it comes to developing promotion, advertising, and marketing strategies. Its findings are based on the buying habits of millennials, generation x, boomers, and the greatest generation (64+ of age).
Understanding the buying habits of each generation can no doubt help home builders figure out what their target markets may be looking for. For example, millennials don’t like to waste time shopping in stores. If they do make the journey to a store, which is becoming more unlikely thanks to e-commerce, this generation gets in and gets out quickly.
How can this relate to real estate?
For starters, this reinforces the idea that millennials will seek out only those properties that are appealing to them online. That means that the odds of them visiting a home largely depend on whether or not they caught their attention on the Internet. This could include a website, social media profiles, or online listings. If your website can’t be easily found then I wouldn’t expect any inquires from this generation. This is why web presence is important in real estate. Consumers of most generations do their research first and then choose a couple of properties to visit. It is very important that your property be a part of that research.
This is only a small part of what the report talks about. It has information, a breakdown of characteristics, and marketing suggestions for each generation. Regardless of what generation you are marketing to, a strong understanding of how it communicates, consumes, and learns will greatly help you in product development and marketing.
Engage With All Of Your Marketing Not Just Social Media
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Marketing, Real Estate Trends, Social Media on May 11th, 2010
We get it. We need to engage with our consumers through social media. Engage has become a major buzzword in the marketing, advertising, and public relations industries and for good reason. Any successful social media campaign will involve some sort of engagement so the word is relevant.
The problem is that businesses are associating “engage” only with social media. Shouldn’t all of your marketing strategies be engaging? I think they should and I also think that marketing strategies should be constant across multiple platforms.
For example, you could produce a direct mail piece that carries the same message as your social media efforts and your e-blast. Imagine receiving all three and each one has its own call to action. That would be confusing to consumers and would result in no action. If we develop a strong call to action in our messages and keep that message constant across marketing platforms, we can increase the likelihood of recipient action.
Businesses everywhere are jumping into social media because it’s new, innovative, and provides some unique communication opportunities. There are certainly things that social media can do that other forms of marketing can’t. This doesn’t mean that we should jump ship on some of the more traditional marketing tactics including direct mail and e-blasts. I suggest we figure out how to leverage each one in so that they can compliment one another. Maybe your direct mail piece can suggest recipients “like” your Facebook page. Maybe your e-newsletter can be a couple of your blog posts put together with a suggestion to read your blog for more.
I think that the power of social media reaches beyond just itself. Its usefulness can help you with your other marketing efforts if you allow it. I’m sure that there are plenty of ways that we can format our messages so they work across multiple marketing platforms.
The Growing Power Of Female Home Buyers
Posted by Sibet B Freides in Demographics, Real Estate Trends on May 10th, 2010
There have been a lot of articles and studies published recently talking about the growing power of female buyers. Their buying power extends to multiple markets including the automotive and home markets. According to the She-Conomy.com blog, women make 85% of all brand purchases. That is a powerful statistic. Coupled with this are reports on rising female salaries and an increase in single women home buying. If we know women are earning and spending significant amounts of money, how do we connect with them?
According to a recent Builderonline.com article the answer lies in social media communication. At this year’s International Builders Show in Las Vegas, a panel of four female real estate professionals pointed out several key statistics that we should be paying attention to. According to the panel, 72% of female Internet users said they had learned of a brand or product online or had joined a group dedicated to a brand or product. The panel also noted that 80% of female Internet users claim they would become a fan of a product or brand on Facebook. Additional research indicates that women influence 91% of all home-buying decisions.
So what does this mean for builders and developers?
It means that researchers are finding clear channels to communicate with an ever-growing market demographic and we need to pay close attention to it. It’s time we start tailoring messages to the female buyer in multiple real estate markets. From luxury condos to single-family homes, the female buyer is emerging and lucky for us, we know where to reach her.
The Internet and social media are continually proving to be a strong communication channel with female homebuyers. There is so much to gain from it. We can find out what they want, like, or don’t like, and talk to them directly. If you aren’t considering targeting this demographic yet, I would suggest you start considering it. There is going to be a lot of potential coming from female homebuyers.
