January 31, 2020

SmartTouch® Month in Review | Marketing New Homes in 2020

National unemployment is at an all‑time low, and the housing industry is trending up with more home starts steadily increasing year over year. In light of this, marketing new homes in 2020 is going to be an exciting challenge in terms of opportunities and helping our clients get found online.

Kicking off the new decade, in January we hired more talented people, shared our expertise with builders and developers at the NAHB International Builders’ Show, and conducted our own buyer persona workshop in response to the changing needs of Sales and Marketing in real estate.

Meet Our New Spring Interns!

Almost every semester SmartTouch® welcomes new interns looking to experience the fast‑paced opportunity of an Austin marketing agency. We recruit interns for both our Account Services and Digital Marketing department, depending on their area of focus.

As an essential part of the SmartTouch® team, our interns help in a variety of areas, including industry/client research, reporting, Facebook ad mockups, Q/A testing and more. This semester, we have three fabulous students from UT.

Sophia Scott is working with the Account Services team, Christina Liu assists the Digital team, and Reagan Cantrell would be what you’d call a utility player as she’s doing a great job helping both departments!

NAHB International Builders’ Show 2020

Robert Cowes, CEO, and Tanner Ross, VP of Client Services, presented a total of two Tech Talks and an Education Session at the International Builders’ Show 2020 in Las Vegas, January 21‑23.

2020 was the third year in a row both Robert and Tanner have attended and taught a session. This year, client Evie Tavarez, Director of Business Development & Marketing for Blackburn Communities, and partners Clint Henderson, Owner of Homebuilder Proximity, and Dennis O’Neil, President of O’Neil Interactive, Inc, co‑presented with Robert and Tanner.

Successes & Failures of Niche Marketing to Multicultural, Single & Generational Buyers

marking new homes niche marketing

Presented by Tanner Ross, VP of Client Services, SmartTouch® Interactive &

Evie Tavarez, Director of Business Development & Marketing, Blackburn Communities

With the amount of information online a buyer has to sift through, it can be hard to get your homes and your product above the fold. However, on the other hand, with the wealth of customer data also now available online, marketers have the ability to precisely target homebuyers with ultra‑personalized, niche marketing.

Trying something new can be costly for home builders and marketers, but the unwillingness to recognize where the market is going can also be costly. Niche marketing is the now of new home sales, and Tanner and Evie will walk you through it.

Download the presentation here.

Right‑Sizing Your Website for Your Specific Needs

marketing new homes, websites

Presented by Robert Cowes, CEO, SmartTouch® Interactive &

Dennis O’Neil, President of O’Neil Interactive

Both a 10‑page website and a 100‑page website can generate leads. It’s not the size of your website that matters, but the size of your community and your operational needs. In this session, Robert and Dennis walk through different website examples in correlation to the project they were built for.

Is your website optimized for your project? Download the presentation here.

Can I Geofence the Whole Town? The Misconceptions & Best Practices of Homebuyer Geofencing

marketing new homes geofencing

Presented by Robert Cowes, CEO, SmartTouch® Interactive,

Tanner Ross, VP of Client Services, SmartTouch® Interactive, &

Client Henderson, Owner of Homebuilder Proximity

The advancements in marketing technology over the past decade have been tremendous. Geofencing being one of them. It is possible to target a whole street, a town square, and every single home in every competitor’s community.

This in‑depth session plays out different outcomes and price points based on how large and targeted your geofencing zones are.

Want the inside scoop? Download the presentation here.

“Reverse” Buyer Personas

We’ve targeted and marketed to tons of different types of buyers for our home builder and developer clients. This past month SmartTouch® went through our own exercise of developing targeted buyer personas for home builders and residential developers.

We’ve been working with home builders and developers for a decade now, but every business should revisit and refresh their Ideal Client/Customer Profile and buyer personas at least once a year. Sometimes it doesn’t change, but a new year can bring new pain points and new solutions that your business will want to capture and be ready to address.

Here’s an example of one of SmartTouch®’s main buyer personas:

marketing new homes buyer persona

Market Your New Homes in 2020 With SmartTouch®

SmartTouch® Interactive is the only marketing agency that offers proven marketing and lead generation programs, a superior lead nurturing CRM and Marketing Automation platform (with a first‑to‑market app), and a cutting‑edge homebuyer geofencing solution.

We know real estate. Get in touch with our team today to market and sell more homes in 2020.