A new homes development is not marketed once. Each release has its own plots, prices and buyers, and the marketing has to move with construction, the show home and the incentive position. On top of that sits fair housing law, which constrains both the words and the targeting in ways general marketing teams routinely get wrong.
Fair housing law governs the copy and the targeting
Advertising for housing may not indicate a preference or limitation based on protected characteristics, and that applies to images and to how advertising is targeted as well as to the text. Phrases describing the ideal buyer, or audience targeting that narrows who sees a housing advertisement, are exactly where this goes wrong. Get the copy and the audience definitions reviewed together, and keep records of both.
Market the release, not the development
Buyers are choosing a plot, a plan and a price in a window. The material that sells is the plan with the actual dimensions, the plot position, what is included and what is an upgrade, the current price and the reservation process. Register-your-interest pages that reveal none of this collect email addresses from people who then discover the price is wrong for them.
The enquiry has to reach a person quickly
Buyers register with several developments in an evening and book viewings with whoever replies. Decide who answers, how fast, and what happens outside sales hours, and measure it. A slow reply in this category is not a lost lead, it is a reservation taken at the development down the road.
Measure reservations, not registrations
Registrations are cheap and correlate poorly with sales. The numbers that matter are appointments booked, appointments attended and reservations taken, by release, with the source carried through. That requires the sales system to record where the buyer came from, which is a plumbing job to do before the first release rather than after the third.
Questions people ask about new home marketing
Can we describe the kind of buyer a development suits?
Be careful. Language indicating a preference about who should live there can breach fair housing rules. Describe the property, not the person.
Do portals do the work for us?
They produce volume and put you next to every competitor. Your own pages are where the plan detail, the incentive and the reservation process can actually be explained.
When should marketing start?
Before the show home, with the plans and the price guidance, so that interest is registered and qualified by the time you can show.
How should incentives be advertised?
Clearly, with the conditions stated where the offer appears. Incentive terms hidden from the advertisement are an advertising problem and a sales one.