Ten years ago, placing ads in newspapers, having short radio announcements, and if you had the budget, a 30 second television commercial would bring in all the people you needed to your Parade of Homes or Showcase event. But today, newspapers are becoming smaller and smaller due to dwindling sales. People get their news online. Radio ads are still going out, but who is listening? Satellite radio, internet stations like Pandora, and mp3 players now compete with radio stations but without the commercials. DVR allows us to see an hour television show in 40 minutes with no commercial “interruptions.” The message here is that traditional marketing is no longer as effective for reaching your target market.
Today your buyers are online. New marketing techniques create a more interactive and personal experience, which is what the public is looking for. This is evidenced by the popularity of social networking sites, YouTube, and review sites.
Imagine this scenario. Home buyers attend your spring Home Show and learn about your Parade of Homes event. They are at your home show meeting your vendors (members) so they will not be able to attend all the builder member homes that are open that weekend. You give them a postcard with the URL of your Virtual Parade website which has 360 virtual tours of each home, builder information, home stats, and more. They can still visit each home from the comfort of their own home and contact the builder or their representative for a viewing when they are available.
Or how about this scenario. Tom and Samantha have cleared their weekend to see the homes in the Parade event. They found the event while doing a search online for homes in your area and coming across your Association website. The website suggested they Like you on Facebook to get a download of the Parade map.
Easy enough. They also saw a video message from your Association president. With map in hand, they begin their visits. They reach the first home and see a QR code posted at the door. Once scanned onto their phone, they are taken to a mobile website with the stats for that house, including price, images, and contact information, plus a bio on the builder. After the 4th house they are thankful to have those mobile websites saved on their phones for later viewing because they all begin to blur together.
And yet another example is Maude. Her husband is working on the road and feels bad that she has to do most of the leg work on finding them a new home. She begins her search online as most people do. She comes across the Virtual Parade website for your event held 3 months ago. She reviews each of the 20 homes and saves the links to the ones she likes best and emails them to her husband. They decide on the builder they want to talk to and Maude sets the appointment.
The components offered in this ebook will save your Association money, while extending the reach of your event well beyond the live event. The benefits to your members are outstanding and should even increase your membership. Why? Because all of these components are measurable. You can show results. The best result of all is an increase in leads for your members.