Think like Nike – Why hyper-local marketing is important
I recently listened to an interview where experts discussed the shoe industry and how the economy has taken its toll on the apparel market. But unlike clothing, the shoe industry is still selling. But there are challenges. One of the biggest challenges that companies are now facing is the inability to market the way they used to. They no longer have the marketing budgets to handle large, national media buys. They know the importance of advertising, especially now, because in a recession consumers become even harder to reach.
To solve the problem, some shoe companies are employing hyper-local marketing to reach their core markets. Take Nike, for example. They recently released 300 shoes at $250 a pair and had customers lining up outside their local stores in eager anticipation. They were marketing to fans that Nike calls, “sneaker heads” and knew that this hyper-local market would be excited about Nike’s message and brand. The sneaker heads would help spread the message about these new Nikes.
We can do this in the home building industry, too. National home builders are doing whatever it takes to maintain profits, like taking advantage of the current $8,000 incentive for first time buyers. But without a marketing budget, they’re falling short. They are being forced to look at different alternatives for builder marketing. What about these hyper-local markets? Do national builders even know how to market locally?
What are the big boys doing to customize their marketing to the localized economies? How much power are they giving to their local divisions? These are the people who will spread the marketing message and brand. In real estate, referrals are one of the largest sources of sales, so what can home builders do? They need to shift their marketing power to their local teams who understand the local culture — the people on the ground who can energize the local market (that might mean your sales team)
Hyper-local marketing. It’s working for Nike, and it can work for any builder in multiple markets. And social media and the Internet has become an integral part of the marketing mix. Marketing guru Seth Godin talks about building communities in his book “Tribes.” He says you only need a tribe of a 1,000 to be successful. I would say in a local market, you only need a few hundred people buying homes, getting excited, and telling their friends, to be successful.
So what are you doing for builder marketing on the local level? How are you becoming hyper-local in your thinking. What are you doing to change your culture?
Podcast: Interview with Sarah Yaussi from Big Builder on Blogging, Twitter and Content
Tune in for the full interview with Sarah Yaussi as we discuss blogging, Twitter, and Social Media goodness. Learn how you can create valuable content and spread it out amongst all the appropriate networks. We explore what this means for homebuilders and tips on how to use effectively. You can also view the follow-up article she wrote below the podcast player. Enjoy.
A big fat “thank you” to Sarah Yaussi, the Executive Editer of Big Builder for her participation in the Blogging lesson in the Social Media Boot Camp series. She also did a great wrap up and agreed to re-post here. Be sure to let her know how awesome she is by leaving a comment and following @bigbuilder on Twitter
Last week, I participated in an online seminar called “Social Media Boot Camp: Blogging – Building Your Home Base.” I was invited as a guest speaker by Mike Lyon of http://www.doyouconvert.com/ fame, who hosted the event. (I still love that he called me a social media ninja, although it means I may have to start dressing the part.)
I thought the topic of blogging was a particular good one because it seems as though builders are starting to catch on to the idea that blogs are an effective search engine optimization tool. Now, let me just talk about SEO for a second. Even though I can’t see you, I know some of your eyes are glazing over at the term. The kindergarten-level explanation is that a blog, like other social media outlets, can help your name pop up higher on the list of possible matches when someone does a Google search for something generic like, say, “new homes in Dallas.” (For a much more detailed and yet easy-to-read explanation, I suggest checking out this blog post; it does a great job explaining it all in plain English.)
But being able to stack the deck in your favor when it comes to search results is just one benefit to a blog. Others include:
- Simple to implement (there are many user-friendly templates)
- Low cost (some blog hosting services are free)
- News focused (fresh content drives Web traffic)
- Authoritative (looks very professional)
- Highly interactive (comment features are king)
- Spread easily (think RSS feeds)
Given this rather long list of benefits, I’ve been noticing a lot of builders launching blogs, both separate from their corporate Web sites and integrated into their existing sites.
But with a growing number of builders sold on the blog idea, “now what?” seems to be the big question. Many builders seem to be struggling with the content part of the equation–what to post, how often to post, how much to write, what kind of voice to have, and so on. If that sounds like you, let me share with you some of the advice, suggestions, and ideas that were doled out during the seminar.
-
What’s the best blog format? While some of the seminar participants used Blogger, most liked using WordPress. We built http://www.housingcrisis.com/ on a WordPress template and have been pretty happy with it. It’s not too hard to figure out how it works, and there are a ton of different template styles and themes. (A word of caution here: Some of the coolest looking blog templates require an enormous amount of content, so you may want to rein your imagination in to make it more manageable.)
- How often do I need to post? That’s a good question, and there’s no right answer. But remember that search engines absolutely love all that is fresh and juicy content, so the more often you post, the more likely you are to have success in driving traffic. Me personally, I’m trying to step up my blogging to two to three times a week. It’s a far cry from some of the best bloggers who post multiple times a day–one of my faves is Calculated Risk, who at the time I wrote this post had posted five times on his blog–but I think that’s a good goal given that my day job has a few other responsibilities. The bottom line: Content gets moldy fast, so new posts a couple times a week are probably the way to go.
-
What should I write about? I totally feel you on this one. There are definitely times when I open up a new Word doc, and it sits there blank for quite some time. And I’m sure it’s worse for people who aren’t naturally prolific writers. But that’s really where I say, “Loosen up!” Your next blog post is not your opus. (I have to remind myself of this all the time because as a journalist my natural tendency is to write stories with facts, figures, and quotes in them, and you don’t have to do that with a blog. A blog is more about personality and perspective, in my mind.) The shelf life of a blog post is so short that it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. I liken a blog post to a paper cup; you use it once and then throw it out. Of course that doesn’t mean they should be messy and riddled with typos and grammatical errors. It just means stop stressing and get typing.
As for topics, there are a million things to write about. Here are eight ideas that are a little more imaginative than “home for sale”:
- Real estate/home building
- Local economy
- Green building
- First-time buyers
- Financing
- Local events
- School districts
- Your employees (I think this is a good one that is hardly ever used)
We covered off on a lot more, but I think that’s pretty much the meat of the session. As a follow-up, I asked participants to point me to some of the blogs they were working or thought were good examples. Take a look!
- Peachtree Residential Properties: http://atlantaluxuryhomes.wordpress.com/
- Dealssentials: http://www.dealssentials.com/
- Zach Schabot: http://zachschabot.blogspot.com/
- Wanderings of a Wayward Online Sales Consultant: http://www.leahkaiz.blogspot.com/
- Stylecraft Builders: http://stylecraftbuilders.wordpress.com/
- NewHomesDirectory.com: http://blog.newhomesdirectory.com/
- Brookfield Homes San Diego: http://blog.brookfieldsd.com/hud-does-it-again/
- Housingcrisis.com: http://www.housingcrisis.com/
- Real Property Alpha: http://realpropertyalpha.com/
- Eastern Shore Housing: http://www.easternshorehousing.com/
Reach your customers in a hyper-local Web 2.0 world
I was listening to a podcast the other day by a journalism teacher from New York who had done some research. He found multiple hyper-local bloggers who were clearing over $200,000 per year just by blogging on local news events. Basically, they attended local events and blogged about them and then sold their own advertisements on the site to grab the revenue. This brilliant social media business approach comes back to the difference between what the soon-to-be extinct newspapers are doing now versus the new media — and what’s going to happen from here. There’s not a lack of need for good quality journalism covering quality events and quality news. We still want that reporting! The only thing that has changed is the distribution of that news from newsstand to the Internet, newspaper in hand to blog on the screen.
A good newspaper may clear a million dollars in annual advertising revenue, but a single local blogger could reach $200,000 – $300,000 a year without all that excessive overhead. This new shift has moved the reporting and revenue power to the consumer. It’s going back out to the local person who seizes initiative. The problem is that newspapers cannot grasp the fact that they must actively participate in the social media conversation. It used to be you had to go to the media to get the news, but now that news is being created by everybody else! We’re all sharing the news that’s important to us. Everything is a network now. What our friends are sharing is just as important as national and international breaking headlines. But the old-fashioned newspapers have lagged behind and are just not jumping on board with social networking and new media — a bit late to the Internet marketing party.
How are you going to integrate yourself and your real estate or homebuilder business into this new media? Newspaper advertising is out. That’s not where people are going for news. As you look to media sources and those selling you advertising, remember that consumer behavior is changing. What are you doing to create your own news, to engage in your own conversations with these hyper-local bloggers — the authority figures in your own small market? How can you evolve your homebuilder marketing to incorporate the new media? Think about new and creative ways that you can engage your audience and engage your local market. And get moving!
Blogging Basics as told by Sarah Yaussi from Big Builder
A big fat “thank you” to Sarah Yaussi, the Executive Editer of Big Builder for her participation in the Blogging lesson in the Social Media Boot Camp series. She also did a great wrap up and agreed to re-post here. Be sure to let her know how awesome she is by leaving a comment and following @bigbuilder on Twitter
Last week, I participated in an online seminar called “Social Media Boot Camp: Blogging – Building Your Home Base.” I was invited as a guest speaker by Mike Lyon of http://www.doyouconvert.com/ fame, who hosted the event. (I still love that he called me a social media ninja, although it means I may have to start dressing the part.)
I thought the topic of blogging was a particular good one because it seems as though builders are starting to catch on to the idea that blogs are an effective search engine optimization tool. Now, let me just talk about SEO for a second. Even though I can’t see you, I know some of your eyes are glazing over at the term. The kindergarten-level explanation is that a blog, like other social media outlets, can help your name pop up higher on the list of possible matches when someone does a Google search for something generic like, say, “new homes in Dallas.” (For a much more detailed and yet easy-to-read explanation, I suggest checking out this blog post; it does a great job explaining it all in plain English.)
But being able to stack the deck in your favor when it comes to search results is just one benefit to a blog. Others include:
- Simple to implement (there are many user-friendly templates)
- Low cost (some blog hosting services are free)
- News focused (fresh content drives Web traffic)
- Authoritative (looks very professional)
- Highly interactive (comment features are king)
- Spread easily (think RSS feeds)
Given this rather long list of benefits, I’ve been noticing a lot of builders launching blogs, both separate from their corporate Web sites and integrated into their existing sites.
But with a growing number of builders sold on the blog idea, “now what?” seems to be the big question. Many builders seem to be struggling with the content part of the equation–what to post, how often to post, how much to write, what kind of voice to have, and so on. If that sounds like you, let me share with you some of the advice, suggestions, and ideas that were doled out during the seminar.
-
What’s the best blog format? While some of the seminar participants used Blogger, most liked using WordPress. We built http://www.housingcrisis.com/ on a WordPress template and have been pretty happy with it. It’s not too hard to figure out how it works, and there are a ton of different template styles and themes. (A word of caution here: Some of the coolest looking blog templates require an enormous amount of content, so you may want to rein your imagination in to make it more manageable.)
- How often do I need to post? That’s a good question, and there’s no right answer. But remember that search engines absolutely love all that is fresh and juicy content, so the more often you post, the more likely you are to have success in driving traffic. Me personally, I’m trying to step up my blogging to two to three times a week. It’s a far cry from some of the best bloggers who post multiple times a day–one of my faves is Calculated Risk, who at the time I wrote this post had posted five times on his blog–but I think that’s a good goal given that my day job has a few other responsibilities. The bottom line: Content gets moldy fast, so new posts a couple times a week are probably the way to go.
-
What should I write about? I totally feel you on this one. There are definitely times when I open up a new Word doc, and it sits there blank for quite some time. And I’m sure it’s worse for people who aren’t naturally prolific writers. But that’s really where I say, “Loosen up!” Your next blog post is not your opus. (I have to remind myself of this all the time because as a journalist my natural tendency is to write stories with facts, figures, and quotes in them, and you don’t have to do that with a blog. A blog is more about personality and perspective, in my mind.) The shelf life of a blog post is so short that it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece. I liken a blog post to a paper cup; you use it once and then throw it out. Of course that doesn’t mean they should be messy and riddled with typos and grammatical errors. It just means stop stressing and get typing.
As for topics, there are a million things to write about. Here are eight ideas that are a little more imaginative than “home for sale”:
- Real estate/home building
- Local economy
- Green building
- First-time buyers
- Financing
- Local events
- School districts
- Your employees (I think this is a good one that is hardly ever used)
We covered off on a lot more, but I think that’s pretty much the meat of the session. As a follow-up, I asked participants to point me to some of the blogs they were working or thought were good examples. Take a look!
- Peachtree Residential Properties: http://atlantaluxuryhomes.wordpress.com/
- Dealssentials: http://www.dealssentials.com/
- Zach Schabot: http://zachschabot.blogspot.com/
- Wanderings of a Wayward Online Sales Consultant: http://www.leahkaiz.blogspot.com/
- Stylecraft Builders: http://stylecraftbuilders.wordpress.com/
- NewHomesDirectory.com: http://blog.newhomesdirectory.com/
- Brookfield Homes San Diego: http://blog.brookfieldsd.com/hud-does-it-again/
- Housingcrisis.com: http://www.housingcrisis.com/
- Real Property Alpha: http://realpropertyalpha.com/
- Eastern Shore Housing: http://www.easternshorehousing.com/
Sarah Yaussi from Big Builder as Social Media VIP Guest
Rock n’ Roll! Sarah Yaussi, Big Builder Executive Editor and Social Media ninja will be joining us on next weeks Social Media Boot Camp. In the live training course, we will explore Blogging – Building Your Home Base.
I have asked Sarah to share some strategies and secrets on how she continually creates valuable content to distribute across networks. A social network has little value for a business if you can’t create and distribute valuable content.
You won’t want to miss this session – Sarah is a unique professional and always has delivers killer information. See you virtually on Tuesday!
