Blue Tangerine was proud to host the Fall 2019 Home Builder Digital Marketing Summit on Oct 2, 2019. Home building sales and marketing professionals from around the country gathered at the iconic Boulevard Brewery in Kansas City, MO for a day of learning, networking, Kansas City BBQ, and yes, to enjoy a selection of the finest that Boulevard Brewery has to offer.
The overall theme for the day was challenging builders to evolve from viewing the sales and marketing process as a “Buyer Journey” and instead consider it from the lens of a “Buyer Experience”. We should not just view our customers as moving incrementally from one step to the next in a process, but also consider the emotional connections, concerns, and excitement that they are feeling along the way and how we can use digital tools to support that emotional connection.
We had a great day together and learned a lot. Below are some of my key takeaways from the summit.
Tim Curtis, President of CohereOne, kicked things off by sharing some of the latest neuroscience research and understandings about how our brains react to different types of experiences. Immersive digital experiences, such as virtual and augmented reality, help provide more emotionally engaging digital opportunities, but the companies that will truly lead in the future will be those that are able to seamlessly integrate their online and offline interactions with their customers. As Tim said it, “Online + Offline is the new black!”
I was then joined by Stuart Platt, Managing Partner at Outhouse, Dave Knowles, President of TopBuilder Solutions, and Kelly Suzuki, VP of Client Success & Development at AtlasRTX, for a discussion of optimizing the digital homebuyer experience.
Key highlights included the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) , the power of Interactive Floor Plans to emotionally engage prospective homebuyers on your website, the need for a proactive lead nurturing plan and process, and the importance of continuing the positive homebuyer experience past the point of the sale all the way through the closing and warranty periods. Digital tools exist to support throughout the entire buyer experience and when used effectively can be a differentiator for home builders.
After an amazing lunch of delicious Kansas City BBQ, Erik Martinez, Executive VP & Co-Owner of Blue Tangerine, demonstrated how user experience and A/B testing techniques can be used to discover frustration points that our website visitors are encountering. It only requires a small sample of test users to often discover usability roadblocks that are hurting the website experience.
Mila Sorenson, Director of Marketing & Marketing Services at Blue Tangerine, provided a terrific overview of the different techniques and tools available in the home builder digital marketing playbook. While some of the key tools such as Paid Search or Social Media marketing were familiar to many, others, such as Voice Search and Direct Mail Retargeting were new ideas to consider. The best feedback came when the group was asked which technique Mila had shared that they were most interested in trying which they were not yet using today. The resounding answer from everyone was “Geofencing”. So be on the lookout for more targeting ads headed your way soon.
Our final presentation of the day was by Kelly Suzuki, VP of Client Success & Development for AtlasRTX. Kelly shared fascinating statistics about the expectations that today’s consumers have regarding prompt responses to inquiries and the power of using chat and text messaging to communicate with them on their terms. The home builders who can communicate in the way that is easiest for the customer will definitely provide a positive buyer experience.
This great day would not have been possible without the support of our amazing sponsors: AtlasRTX, Outhouse, and TopBuilder Solutions. Another big thank you to them for their participation.
Did you miss the summit? Checkout the highlight video and don’t worry, planning is already underway for the Spring 2020 Edition, which will be even better! Sign up below to be the first to get those details as soon as they are ready.