Cost-effective Advertising Ideas

As industry consultant Joe Stoddard says, “Everything you know about advertising and marketing will be obsolete in five to 10 years. Ads, billboards and TV are all seen and watched differently now.”

But what does that mean to you, especially in this soft housing market and slow economy? It means you have to find ways to reach the people who are most likely to require your services.

Target Market
Much of what you decide to do with your advertising and marketing budget depends on the audience you are targeting. You have to understand your market. A builder's goal is to match the right buyer with the right product, says Stoddard, principal at Mountain Consulting Group LLC in Lawrenceville, Pa.

“It’s about generating the right traffic, not the most traffic,” he says.

The first step is to evaluate the effectiveness of your advertising. Take a look at what you are spending on advertising and determine how it is working out in terms of return-on-investment. Look at everything you’re to determine where your traffic is coming from. After a month or two you should have some idea at to who is attracted to your business and services, and you can cater your ad message to those groups, Stoddard says.

Go Online
Research confirms that nationally, 80% of prospects visit Web sites prior to visiting a new home or contacting a builder, says Bonnie Alfriend of Alfriend Sales & Marketing Solutions in Pebble Beach, Calif. Therefore, your Web site is your most effective form of advertising, especially with the tech savvy and influential X and Y customers, says Alfriend. In short: cut back on print ads and bolster your Web presence.

“You need to get smarter about how you leverage the Internet in your marketing scheme,” Stoddard says. "Builders oftentimes think they're on top of it if they have an e-mail newsletter or an e-mail marketing list, but that's actually last decade," he adds. Stoddard suggests participating in social networking through blogs and texting rather than mass e-mail newsletters. “People, especially Generation Y, think of e-mail as something they do with their boss; texting is something they do with their friends.”

Everything about your products and services, including pricing, should be on your Web site. Eliminate any “come see us to learn more” messaging. “If they go to your [Web] site and you don’t have pricing, they are going to go to someone else,” he says. 

All this is not to say print ads don’t have their place, but make sure you have your company URL on each print piece that you publish.

Go On-site
For builders, turn your model home sites into an active gathering space, Alfriend says.

Whether you throw an informal get-together to lure people to the location, or send invitations to a dinner party, the group that attends your event becomes your target market, Alfriend says. You want to make sure that the prospects view your business and model sites as active, positive and exciting--a place where a lot of business is going on, she says. 

One of Alfriend’s clients even allowed a charity walk to start and finish at the site. This exposure to a large crowd (albeit not targeted), still positions your company favorably as a charitable member of the community, and for little, if any, cost.

Get the Word Out
That same builder client who hosted the walk doubled his business’s exposure by submitting press releases to local newspapers for coverage. This helped generate buzz before the event and familiarized potential customers with the home and event before they even set foot on site.

While print ads may not be as effective as they once were, positive exposure as part of the news can be quite effective and inexpensive—and often free. “Public relations is your best bet at an inexpensive advertising program,” Alfriend says. Write up short press releases on your latest exploits and achievements, and then send them, along with photos, to your local news source.

Likewise, do not hesitate to volunteer to write for a publication or to take time to be interviewed. “Nothing is more powerful than a byline or a mention in an article,” Stoddard says. At no cost to you, people who read the article will likely see you as an expert and regard your company as being at the forefront of the industry.

One client of Stoddard’s even negotiated with a local Penny Saver newspaper to print an editorial on the front page of the paper. Granted, the client was purchasing ads at the time, but, to this day, that front-page editorial is still the best advertising the company has ever run, Stoddard says.

Outside of the press, consider entering design competitions. Another of Stoddard’s clients concentrated on entering as many design contests as possible in one year. Each was free or had a nominal entry fee. The client ended up winning or earning honorable mention in 11 of the 13 contests entered, all of which was fodder for press releases and mentions on his Web site.

Traditional Ads
If the Web seems too adventurous for your company, then Victoria Downing, president of Remodelers Advantage in Laurel, Md., has some tips on more traditional advertising to help you get over your fears.

“Try to find as targeted a publication as you can get,” Downing says. The key here is knowing your potential clients.

She suggests advertising in small community newsletters, church bulletins and regional newspapers. While these means may not reach the masses, you have selected a group of people that will see your ad.

She also mentions sponsorships of NPR radio shows or segments.  "Those who listen to the show are loyal,” Downing says.

Just make sure your Web site is mentioned on every ad you submit.