As the principal of a home building company, you know Internet marketing is important; but you probably have at least one trusted marketing professional to take care of the details. Understandably, you have too much on your plate to be bogged down in day-to-day blogging, social media posts, email campaigns, etc. However, every principal of a home building company should be aware of these four high-level aspects of Internet marketing.
What an Effective Overall Internet Marketing Strategy Looks Like
Here’s a broad overview of what the Internet marketing strategy for a medium to large home building company should include.
- Effective Website: Easy-to-use, mobile-friendly website optimized for lead generation and search engine exposure.
- High-Quality Blog: A company blog on your website that includes original, helpful, search engine optimized articles posted at least once a week.
- Social Media That Engages: Regularly sharing your blog posts and helpful 3rd party information within Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest.
- Lead Nurture and Generation: Content marketing paired with website calls-to-action and drip email campaigns are the foundation of a builder’s lead generation strategy.
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Software that organizes and tracks website leads to be distributed to sales professionals.
- Sales Training: Sales and marketing are two different disciplines, but they must work together for your business to grow. That’s why you need to ensure your sales professionals are trained to convert the leads produced by your website into sales.
The Need for Measurement and Accountability
It’s crucial that your team regularly measures and reports the effectiveness of each Internet marketing tactic. For example, you don’t need to know what your team posted in social networks today, but you do need to hold your team accountable for showing you how social media is contributing to measurable lead generation, new opportunities, and closed sales. Despite what many people say, it is possible to demonstrate the effectiveness of digital marketing strategies like social media and blogging for lead generation. The key is implementing a builder inbound marketing strategy via marketing automation software. For details, check out “4 Important Ways Builders Benefit from Inbound Marketing Software.”
The Resources Necessary for Effective Internet Marketing
As the company principal, you also need to be aware of the tools and resources your marketing team needs to produce qualified leads that convert to sales. Marketing professionals for medium to large home building companies need the following:
- Marketing automation and analytics software
- CRM software
- Enough manpower to generate frequent, high-quality content
- Time to analyze and report on progress monthly
- Time to do frequent research to remain up-to-date on the ever-changing digital environment to ensure your Internet marketing strategies are effective.
The Difference Between In-House Marketing and Hiring an Agency
To execute your Internet marketing, you can hire in-house marketing professionals, or you can hire an agency that has experience in Internet marketing for home builders. There are advantages to both; however, hiring an agency is often more economically beneficial. If you already have one or more marketing professionals busy handling other types of marketing – such as print, television, trade shows, etc. – hiring an agency allows you to have a whole team working for you without having to add anyone to your payroll. Additionally, you gain the benefit of a team that has experience implementing successful Internet marketing for other home builders across the country.
The Takeaway
As the principal of your home building company, you shouldn’t be bogged down in the details of Internet marketing. Your limited time is needed elsewhere. However, it’s important for you to understand what your marketing strategy should include, hold your marketing team accountable for results, and consider whether it’s best for your company to hire an in-house internet marketing team or an agency specializing in home builder internet marketing.
Interested in exploring the option of hiring an Internet marketing agency that specializes in helping home builders? Contact Paveya at info@paveya.com or 855-372-8392.