Is This Thing Broken?

by Dawn Sadler, Idea One Media on July 7, 2009 · 0 comments

Rethinking Buyer Communication

Rethinking Buyer Communication

Let’s say hypothetically that your marketing team (maybe that’s you) ran an online campaign that, in 24 hours, generated more online leads than 12 weeks of physical traffic in the sales office. Within two weeks, none of these had yet converted to an on-site sales visit.

Would you call this campaign a success or a failure?

To accurately answer this question there are, of course, several other factors to consider:

  • How much did the campaign cost?
  • How effective was the follow up effort from the sales team?
  • What was the content quality of the download and did it sufficiently fulfill the promise made in the offer?
  • Was there an automated follow up effort that moved them down a defined sales path?
  • Is the product price point market appropriate?
  • Was there a clear next step outlined for the buyer?

However, in the current market environment (and I would argue in all markets both strong and soft) we too readily confuse “Did it work?” with “Did it work today?” when analyzing the success of a marketing campaign or initiative. We want to walk buyers to the altar right after we have offered to buy them their first drink.

It’s understandable. We have real and immediate pressures: paying the bills, keeping a job, appeasing an executive team, assuaging construction lenders, and talking shareholders off the ledge. There is nothing wrong with needing and expecting quantifiable results (contracts and closings) today. It is a healthy and necessary expectation in every business, including ours.

The difference is that the results you achieve today (contracts and closings) are very likely the result of a marketing campaign that took place last month, last quarter, or even last year. Online registrations do not represent a buyer who has moved through the first several cycles of the buying process and is ready to write a check. Very often they are simply potential buyers who have given us permission to contribute to their discovery process.

The truth is that every marketing campaign lasts six months or more. Beyond the initial result, marketing and sales have to work together over a period of time to contribute to a meaningful discussion with the buyer that informs their buying process. Too often we follow up with a couple of phone calls and then relegate the leads to a mass email marketing campaign. After all, if they didn’t call back or didn’t come into the sales office after the first couple of emails they can’t be serious buyers, right?

If this post feels discouraging because you are sitting in a sales office waiting for the next sale or an office looking at Q3 projected closings feeling the weight of a clock over your head, I have good news. Remember that marketing campaign you ran three months ago? Six months ago? The leads you gathered are likely further along their buying process than the new leads you bring in today (after all, remember how dismal last December was? Or March?). Don’t give up after a few phone calls or a few emails.

Their silence doesn’t necessarily mean they’re absent.

Maybe it just means they’re listening.

PS. The hypothetical campaign? You probably guessed (because you’re clever) it wasn’t hypothetical at all. The builder pulled the plug on online marketing after two weeks.

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Communicating with Today’s Buyers

by Dawn Sadler, Idea One Media on June 21, 2009 · 0 comments

how effectively are you reaching potential buyers online?

How do you communicate with potential buyers today?

More importantly, how do potential buyers hear and interpret your message? Your product? Your brand?

Buyers today form relationships differently. They research differently. They process information differently. They build trust differently. And their sphere of influence is different today.

They Twitter. They blog. They instant message. They commune on MySpace and Facebook. They share on YouTube and Flickr. They can find virtually information on anything and anyone (including you) with a few keystrokes typed into a search engine. They get nearly all of their information, news, and entertainment online.

They form relationships differently today. We know that. Within the new home industry, we have collectively worked to develop online strategies to reach the estimated 80% of potential homebuyers who start their search on the web.

But are we already too late?

Just as we are working to catch up with how to communicate to them on the web, they’ve moved on. They’re now mobile. Email is being replaced by text messaging. The internet on their desk is being eclipsed by the wide variety of phone apps that can do anything from give directions to make a dinner reservation. The former captive audience in front of the tv became the quick-to-click audience in front of a monitor. Today they have become a distracted audience on the go.

In the midst of their world, where is our product? Our message? Our brand?

How will we reach them?

If it seems as though the challenges of the current housing market are already tapping out all of your resources, the thought of creating an effective online strategy can seem overwhelming.

We have good news.

1.    An effective, integrated online strategy can cost up to 50% less than a traditional marketing campaign alone.
2.    You likely already have all of the prospects you need. They just aren’t being effectively engaged.
3.    Online strategies are more measurable, more flexible, and more personalized than traditional one-size-fits all media.

This isn’t about large spends on Adwords or other paid advertising. This is about building credibility and trust online. It’s about creating an intelligent strategy that drives new leads online, even if you stop advertising.

We know that the last ten or twenty years that we have spent in this business are no roadmap for the next ten to twenty. The past is irrelevant. Those of us still here are left with the charge to start new, be bold, and most of all listen to what our buyers and potential buyers are already trying to tell us.

After all, don’t all revolutions begin because an establishment failed to listen to the people?

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Overcoming The Cost of Can’t

by Dawn Sadler, Idea One Media on April 17, 2009 · 0 comments

t

We have been remiss in our blog updates as of late due to an expanding team and expanding responsibilities.

Part of this expansion has included the shift from a virtual company to a fully dedicated on-site team. This has been a critical move for us, as it enables everyone to work collaboratively and much more quickly through new initiatives, the continual testing process, and product launches.

We’re excited about this accelerated model, but one of the key challenges for any collaborative team is the task of overcoming the creative cancer of can’t.

“A page can’t be designed a certain way,” despite the fact that it will increase our SEO.

“A particular metric can’t be tracked,” despite the fact that a client is requesting it.

“We can’t put a call to action in a specific online location,” despite the fact that it will increase conversion.

“We can’t test that many pages,” despite the fact that it is critical to our success and that of our clients.

Can’t is an expensive word, and not just for marketing components of the  homebuilder industry. It is an expensive word at any level of the hierarchy, and we work within an economic climate where can’t is too readily believed.

“We can’t sell homes at these prices.”

“We can’t sell because we don’t have a marketing budget.”

“I can’t follow up with my prospects because I’ve called them already and I don’t want to bug them.”

“We can’t make that construction change.”

We all nod in resigned agreement when we hear these excuses, collective victims to our circumstance. We think, we’ll just have to accept lower conversion rates, status quo websites, and generic reporting metrics. We’re powerless to do anything but wait for our price reductions, increased marketing budgets, and for our prospects to decide to come back through our sales office doors on their own.

This is all patent nonsense.

Can’t is one of the most expensive words in business. It stunts creative problem solving and it disempowers the collaborative process. Whether that collaboration is between a team, various levels within an organization, or the give and take of the front line sales process, it’s difficult to achieve anything beyond mediocrity when the culture of can’t is allowed to foster and thrive.

So how do we manage through a culture of can’t?

Most often can’t is simply a shortcut to the real answer: I do not have time to research how to do this, I do not believe making another round of calls to the same prospect list will produce a sale, I feel overwhelmed, or I don’t understand the importance of this in the context of the bigger picture. All of these are valid responses within current industry realities, and all of these can be identified and more easily managed than the communication and productivity roadblock of “I can’t.”

Identifying these true underlying themes within an organization requires a little more time, a lot more listening, and sometimes the willingness to hear things that can be difficult or uncomfortable. However, this investment can make a team feel more heard, more valued, and more inspired to take the initiative to work through creative roadblocks to greater profitability.




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New Media ROI for Home Builders: How Expensive is Your Savings?

by Dawn Sadler, Idea One Media on March 2, 2009 · 1 comment

How much did you save on marketing this month in bypassing new media initiatives?

How much did it save to pass on website improvements, veto a long term email strategy, or reject A/B testing for your landing pages? How much did it save you to say good enough is good enough? How much value did it bring to your organization not to go out on a limb with new ideas?

More importantly, how much did it cost?

A Tale of Two Builders

The picture below is a real world example of a home builder who made those same decisions. The pie chart below is from Google Analytics and is a breakdown of the sourcing for website traffic.

This builder (we’ll call him Home Builder A) is saving his company thousands of dollars per month in new media costs. His online presence has no bells or whistles, just a static landing page and a few emails to his database of several thousand whenever traffic dips. 

home builder using traditional media

source: Google Analytics

He is saving thousands per month in marketing costs. Or is he?

As the diagram indicates, virtually all of his traffic is direct traffic, meaning that a visitor has to physically type his URL into their browser. It’s a strong indication that this home builder is relying on traditional media (in this case, radio and print) which is significantly more money invested each month than a cohesive online strategy.

Further, the low percentage of traffic from referring sites indicates that his database of prospects have begun to tune out his sporadic email marketing messages. Less than one half of one percent of his database is clicking through to his landing page.

Home Builder B has a different approach. He knows that traditional media still plays a role in his overall marketing plan. However, he has also embraced low cost new media initiatives to increase visibility among the 80%+ of buyers who start their search online.

home builder using integrated marketing

source: Google Analytics

This diagram shows a balance between traditional media (direct traffic), an SEO program (search engines), and online marketing through paid search, social media, a consistent long term email campaign strategy, and online PR (referring sites). His commitment to long term relationship building has paid off: his emails reach a click through rate of more than 30% and his sales office traffic is the highest in his area.

Which home builder are you?

If your marketing plan follows the same strategy as home builder A, you already know the cost. Stop advertising for even a week and traffic - already anemic by economic and consumer fear factors - drops below the point of creating enough volume for your sales team to convert even a single sale. Like the proverbial rat in a wheel, you feel compelled to keep spending to get results.

If your marketing plan follows the same strategy as Home Builder B, you know that the success of your community does not rely on whether or not you place a display ad this week. The organic traffic generated from your SEO strategy will still drive prospects to your website. The testing you invested in for your landing page means that you can feel secure that you will capture a larger percentage of visitors to leads. Your sales team does not need a radio spot or a full color display ad in order to have leads to drive to the sales office.

So how much did you save by passing on those website improvements, creating a veto of a long term email strategy, or rejecting the investment of A/B testing of your landing pages?

In the end, how much will it cost?

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The Buyer Tipping Point: A Case Study

by Dawn Sadler, Idea One Media on February 25, 2009 · 1 comment

money-on-a-scale

Yesterday I wrote a post about what it would take to move a buyer through an economy of fear to the action of buying a home.

So, when my assistant Danielle told me later that day that she had purchased a home, I was curious. What was the specific tipping point for her?

She is in her mid-twenties, recently engaged, and is purchasing with her fiance. The following are her answers, unedited. She bought a foreclosure because there were no new homes within her price range. However, there are lessons here for all of us. In particular, her long buying cycle and the role of the internet in influencing her decision.

Q. What was the number one reason you decided to buy a home now?

A. The number one reason we bought was we felt like it would be stupid NOT to buy right now (hello…lowest prices in almost 10 years AND insanely low interest rates!?!). Also, we both feel like paying rent is like “throwing money away.”  We want to start building/investing in something of our own.

Q. How long had you been looking for a home?

A. We’ve been watching prices of homes for over a year (maybe even two).  But we’ve been seriously looking (found a realtor, looked at maybe 10+ properties in person/week, and not to mention viewed pretty much everything that was in our price range online every single night) for about two or three months….we actually didn’t think we’d find something this quickly (we thought we’d take up to six months) but a great home popped up in a neighborhood we liked, so we jumped on it.

Q. How did you first find your home (internet or drive by)?

A. Internet-our realtor would send us lists of homes that fit our needs almost daily and we’d tell her which ones interested us.

Q. How long did you look on the internet before viewing a home, and how much research (crime, prices for the area, financing) did you do?

A. At least a year.  Even when we were living in Roseville we’d look at prices in the Bay Area (so maybe even 2 years).   We would find homes on the internet that we liked (we used ziprealty a lot) and then on the weekends we would check out a bunch in one area (maybe Green Valley one weekend, Brentwood the next). If we got a good feel for the area then I was the one who would do more research on the area (I have to admit-I was worried about crime a bit at first in Concord, but once I compared it to other towns I’ve lived in it made me feel so much better!) Same thing goes for prices for the area, most of this research was just obvious from us watching the prices so closely, but we also looked up stats and trends online about the different areas we were looking into.

Q. Who was most influencial on your decision - parents, friends, etc.

A. Both of our parents have been very influential…Steve’s dad actually has been buying tons of foreclosed properties in the mid west for the last year (he even bought a historic hotel) and turns them around and rents them and he’s been making a killing at it.  We are very lucky because he actually is helping us with our down payment-that’s how much he wants us to start “investing in our future”

Q. Why did you decide to buy at a time when the economy was so uncertain?

A. For a few reasons:

The most important is that we’re really lucky that Steve has a secure (and great) job in these crazy times.  He works for a company that sells lab equipment to Veterinary clinics/hospitals/etc, and they just had a record quarter.

We also told ourselves that we wouldn’t buy until the prices were low enough that our we could easily make our monthly payments with both of us waiting tables or doing some other min wage job (Also, we have a roommate who is moving with us, so that really helps).  Some people are out there saying that you should wait until the market turns to buy, but we think as long as it’s easily affordable to us, it’s a good investment.

And, what is probably what was the deciding factor- our mortgage/tax/insurance all together is going to be much LESS than what we pay for rent in our tiny two bedroom apt.  We thought about it and decided really the only thing we’re giving up is the fact that we are month to month in our apartment, and even then, if worse came to worse we could move out and try to rent the house out.

Plus, as my dad said to me, if things get so bad that we can’t afford to pay our mortgage we’re going to have a lot more to worry about than about possibly foreclosing our house (like standing in bread lines…)


Maybe a grim way to look at it, but I think it’s true.  I feel like it’s a good risk to take even though the economy is so uncertain.

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Moving Buyers Through Fear to Action

by Dawn Sadler, Idea One Media on February 24, 2009 · 1 comment

gold-key

One of the most basic of human responses to fear and uncertainty is inaction. We can feel frozen in place, unable to make a decision because there isn’t enough evidence for us to feel confident in the outcome. 

It’s true of our buyers, and it is also true of ourselves in how we run our companies in a time of economic uncertainty. 

I preach optimism. I don’t always live it, but it’s certainly the direction I try to steer towards. I do this mostly because the alternative has no real upside. But as I see the stretch of “For Lease” signs in retail windows along my street and big box stores left empty, there is an impact. It’s impossible to ignore the realities. 

I know buyers see the same realities. Buying a home today in the wake of mass layoffs, dwindling retirement funds, and housing price declines is largely a leap of faith. As home builders and those who serve them, we have to both understand and respect this. 

In my work I am forced daily to answer the question: how do we move buyers through fear to a point of decision? 

Get Out. Reaching beyond the confines of your model home complex to speak to potential buyers in informative email campaigns, feeding positive news into online PR portals, and creating video tours that enable buyers to engage are just a few examples of virtual outreach. Just because your traffic is down doesn’t mean people aren’t listening, it means they are retreating in their buying process. Meet them where they are.

Don’t Sell. If you want to move a prospect to action, solve a problem before you sell a product. Maybe buyers are confused about current tax credits. Maybe they don’t understand current financing guidelines. I recently switched email distribution vendors after a series of emails from the new vendor that consistently solved problems. It didn’t feel like they were trying to sell me anything, it felt like they were trying to help. What problem can you solve for a buyer?

People First. Your product is not so compelling or unique that it will move prospects off the fence. Neither is your merchandising, your seven dollar brochure, or your big ad.  The single greatest asset in a fear market is salespeople. People move through fear to action when they trust what someone is telling them. Coaching salespeople beyond qualifying for wants/needs/ability to purchase to values based selling is a key component in moving prospects to action.

Listen. One of the greatest and most underutilized new media tools for homebuilders is online surveys. The more you ask prospects about their experiences, their opinions, and their feedback to your product the more trust you build with them. In the current economic climate people are nesting and gravitating toward products and companies that they know and trust. You do not have to be a big builder or a builder for several decades to earn the attention of today’s buyer, but you do need to be an engaged builder. Ask a prospect one question and you will win out over a hundred of your competitor’s messages.

Selling homes in today’s fear market takes trust, and trust takes patience, time, and a consistent and dedicated effort. The good news is that it is not expensive, the bad news is that no amount of money can create a shortcut. 


 

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Pulte’s Urban Play

by Dawn Sadler, Idea One Media on February 14, 2009 · 3 comments

www.pultelaundry.com

www.pultelaundry.com

Have you seen this in your area?

I was watching an episode of Iron Chef on The Food Network earlier this evening when a commercial came on. It appeared to be a low-grade, local ad that featured a young woman dealing with the frustrations of a laundromat. It was catchy in that it was so bad. It caught my eye and I was curious to find out what they were selling.

It surprised me to find that it was Pulte Homes, and they were selling me on the idea that it was time to “move on” to my own home.

They instructed me to visit www.pultelaundry.com, which of course I did. I was greeted by bright colors and a funky beat. There were three videos all speaking to the challenges of urban rental life: laundromats, difficult parking, no garage. The videos contained attractive young people in mini- Coopers and copy written for a young audience: “Spending Time at the Laundromat? Not Cool. Spending time in your new home with laundry? Way Cool.”

(The commercial also promised me a free iTunes download, though at the time of this writing they were no longer available.)

Pulte builds several communities in the area but listed only three, all entry-level urban projects in the East Bay.

There are a lot of things about this campaign that I can respect: vertical marketing by region, product type, and buyer profile for example, instead of Pulte relying on their behemoth corporate site to connect with young buyers. The videos weren’t slick and high gloss; they definitely had a campiness that caught my attention more than a corporate ad would have. And they did go beyond the cliche and boredom of “stainless steel appliances” to speak to real issues that urban renters face. (I remember those days of parking blocks away in the rain at night in SF.) It was a fresh message that spoke to buyers on a different level than “Rates are low, prices are low, how come you’re not buying, what are you some sort of idiot?”

So I applaud Pulte and the venerable Stone Group for their efforts. My husband and I talked about the ad. We visited the website. I viewed all of their videos. I will probably talk about it in developer meetings all week. I am blogging about it. Isn’t that all what all marketers hope for?

So for that, Pulte, bravo.

But I have some questions:

Why wasn’t this also posted on YouTube? After I visited the website and viewed all three YouTube-y (oh sure, it’s a word) videos I clicked over to YouTube, positive that they had been posted there as well. After several searches (turning up some fairly unflattering Pulte videos), I saw no sign of it. Aren’t young hipsters who live in urban areas and drive mini-Coopers more likely to see the videos there than on The Food Network on a Saturday Night on Valentine’s Day no less? (Ok, but I have an excuse. My in-laws are in town.)

Why can’t I embed? This would have been solved by posting on YouTube, but you can’t go viral if you make it hard for people to share you. I could have put your video here, for example. Free advertising. Of course there is the notion that you wanted to protect your copyrights, in which case you either haven’t seen the video or it’s time to review the strategy of posting videos online in the first place.

Why doesn’t the “Connect” tab actually do so? If you’re marketing to Gen Y, “connect” means something very different that here’s our generic email address and our physical location. Connect means FaceBook and Twitter and a blog. I can respect that this is a campaign and you may not be ready to make that kind of commitment, but at least provide the ability for visitors to connect with a real person without coming to your sales office. Because chances are that most of them will not without some interim relationship building mechanism that makes you stand out beyond a clever campaign. This is more true of Gen Y than any other age group.

“Join” doesn’t fool me either. Just as “connect” means something different to generation 2.0, so does “join.” Filling out a registration form isn’t “joining” anymore. Friending, following, tweeting, commenting. This is the new fluency of what it means to join.

Why was the button to turn the sound off so hard to find? Ok, maybe that was just me.

It’s possible/probable that Pulte already knows this (and really, so much more - they’re Pulte) and are simply in phase one of their campaign to reach out across the generational culture barrier to see what works. Kudos to you, Pulte.

But how much more traction would all of our campaigns have if we did not speak to Gen Y, but with them?

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Finding Bottom: 5 Things Every Salesperson Must Know

by Dawn Sadler, Idea One Media on February 10, 2009 · 0 comments

find-your-bottom

Are we at the bottom of the market?

There are no crystal balls to predict the exact bottom of the housing market, but there are ways to help buyers through the fears associated with the perception of further housing declines.

The truth is, different markets and sub-markets will find their bottoms independently, depending on factors such as the depth of foreclosures, the area job market, the decrease in home prices, and others.

Micro-Markets: Small Scale Housing Recovery

Here are a few key indicators within your market that every salesperson should not only know and integrate into their sales presentation, but also communicate through a strategic email marketing campaign that is shaped around helping buyers understand the importance of the micro-market conditions that impact their decision:

Inventory. There are four basic types of inventory that you need to know for your area: new home inventory, foreclosure inventory, resale inventory, and future inventory. You know this, but do you know the numbers for the area that you are selling in? Foreclosures have hit many areas hard - but not all. Areas with lower foreclosure numbers will likely rebound faster. In many areas, home builders are not planning on building within the next several years which will contract inventory and drive demand back up. Each of these sub-markets within your area will coincide to create an overall picture.

Absorption Rates for Each Group. How fast are foreclosures being snapped up in your area? How does that compare to the number of new homes being sold? Divide the number of units available by the monthly absorption rates to roughly estimate how much inventory you have on hand. This number will change monthly, but having some benchmark to communicate to buyers conveys that you are informed about the market and gives your sales presentation more credence than “Oh, I think we’re at the bottom. Yes, definitely. I would say so.”

Contrary to the pundits, buyers do not need the fundamentals to be perfect to buy. They need to understand what the fundamentals are and make a buying decision based on solid information.

How your area compares to others. It is estimated that 80% or better of prospective buyers start their search online. It is also estimated that potential buyers who start their search online search a radius of 300 miles, compared to 100 miles of non-internet shoppers. This can greatly expand the potential market for any given new home community. Buyers who are shopping in nearby areas can be influenced by fundamentals, and a strategic online campaign (email, online PR, landing pages, SEO/SEM) can increase traffic. An intelligent online campaign that pulls buyers in organically from other areas and educates them about inventory, absorption, and other factors is a far more compelling message than a clever tagline or lifestyle photo.

Historical pricing fluctuations. The problem with national media is that it makes commentary with a broad brush stroke. “Housing prices down 37%!” Buyers do not have to be fixated on these reports (and often are not) in order to be impacted by them. These messages are snippets on their Yahoo home page, local news teasers embedded in their prime time viewing, headlines on the newsstands that they pass on their way to the morning commuter train, and fodder they overhear at the water cooler. These soundbites sink in, but they often have little relevance to the pricing in your area. How much are values off in your area? What does your 20 year chart look like? It may not be the Richter scale you imagine. Even if it is, show prospects in definite terms so they can make an informed decision.

Job markets for your area. Again, national media reports (as it should) the collective and dismal estimated 600,000 jobs lost in January 2009. Even the most optimistic have a hard time with the reality of those numbers. But what does that mean in your area? Who are the major employers within a 50 mile radius of your community, and how many jobs have they lost? Are they hiring? An area that is supported primarily from financial institutions is likely harder hit than one supported by the medical field. We understand that all areas are hit hard, and that this is a relative argument, but it’s important to understand trends for your area and be able to communicate key components that drive economic recovery for any given region.

Selling today is about a lot more than the brand of your windows or the feature/benefits of a jet tub. Creating a path of influence for buyers requires an intelligent, patient, and strategic approach and a constant eye on the changing fundamentals within your area. As salespeople, we need to take the initiative to go beyond the headlines to create the micro-market information that can persuade our buyers. The sales books that we have in our sales offices need to offer more than schools and restaurants. They must be every-expanding tools of specialized knowledge.

As managers we must coach our sales teams for it, and as marketers we must engage it in our strategies.


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All Hail The [New Media] Chief: What Home Builders & Presidents Have in Common

by Dawn Sadler, Idea One Media on February 4, 2009 · 2 comments

point-the-way

 

Whatever you may or may not believe politically, both liberals and conservatives alike cannot deny that we are in the midst of a political revolution.

This is not a discussion about policy or bailouts, but rather the continued use of new media by Barack Obama’s team to be a part of the conversation about his presidency. 

I receive emails from Barack Obama weekly. Michelle has also dropped me a line, and of course David Plouffe. Today, the day after a high profile interview in which President Obama had to answer for the embarrassing withdrawals of three key appointees, I received an email that included a video portion of the interview that focused on his economic policy. He took a proactive position in refocusing attention where he wanted it.

In the past, presidents hid behind a media veil and left their personal brand in the hands of media pundits trying to sell 24/7 air time on one-too-many cable news channels. No wonder they were always under attack.

The parallels between presidents and home builders is very similar in this regard.

We hide behind our static online brochure websites and email blasts and let bloggers and reviewers and social media participants run wild in the (online) streets with our message and our brand. We let media pundits instill fear and more fear into the minds of potential buyers and we do not do enough to counterbalance that with our own proactive messages. 

We just keep hitting buyers over the head with “Buy now! New Prices!” week after week.

Presidents, like home builders, have a message and a brand. The Obama Brand uses their massive database of email subscribers to consistently create a compass that redirects public attention and, more  importantly, perception.

Yesterday I wrote about how to deal with negative feedback. Although it is an important step, it is only a beginning step. As we gain more confidence in our ability to meet the challenges of social media feedback reactively, we must also move to shape our online brand proactively.

Who has control of your brand today? Create a Google search of your company and the names of each of your new home communities and you will find out (hint: it may not be you).

Your databases are phenomenal starting tools. More than just an avenue to announce new specials and new pricing, these databases give you the ability to truly influence the mindset our your buyers, gain valuable feedback that could change the mindset of your organization, and create a starting point for regaining control of your brand.

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Brand Attack: 7 Steps To Managing Negative Feedback Online

by Dawn Sadler, Idea One Media on February 2, 2009 · 4 comments

head-in-sand

Andy Warhol once said that everyone has their 15 minutes of fame.

Man, those were the days.

Today an embarrassing gaffe or an unfortunate business misstep can find a wide viral audience and a permanent place in the search engines that we often wish would disappear in a mere 15 minutes.

Today you don’t have to be a celebrity on the front page at the grocery checkout to know the power of someone speaking out against you or your brand, whether true or not. Blogs, reviews, and social media do not have the same rules of journalistic integrity of traditional media (such as it is), and the internet has given birth to an insatiable amount of blank space to fill.

Due to the personal nature of blogs, reviews and social media they can have a powerful impact on persuading buyer behaviors and decision making. 

If the threat of negative commentary is keeping you as a home builder from expanding your presence online, you may be missing a key opportunity to join the conversation that is persuading potential buyers.

Here is a simple five step process for managing your brand and your critics:

Be aware. Many home builders turn a deaf ear to online critics, shrugging them off as an inevitable part of doing business. However, this can mean missed opportunities to turn negative feedback around. Sign up for Google alerts for your company name, the name of each new home community, the names of all of your competitors, and any news relating to the housing market in your area. Being aware of the conversation regarding your brand is the first step to effectively managing it. It may also surprise you to find that along with critics to your brand, there are also supporters.

Create a strategy. This doesn’t have to be a complex and arduous document to create, it can be as simple as responding to all comments within a certain time, designating a single point person for responding, determining what approval processes need to be cleared or if your designated party has authority, and a standard practice of always posting a note of thanks to positive feedback. Your strategy will stretch and grow and change as you go along, and that’s okay. Just have one to start with. 

Acknowledge comments publicly. On occasion, there are wildly inappropriate comments that should not be acknowledged. However, this is the exception. All comments, whether made by your harshest critic or your most avid fan, should be acknowledged in the same public environment that they were made in. People who engage in social media are a tribe, as is every subscriber base for every blog. Showing that you are engaged in that community earns respect within it, and minimizes future “flames.”

Acknowledge the comment privately. In addition to the public acknowledgement, social media is about personal connection. It’s important for your critics and your fans alike to feel that they matter on a personal level, and you are not just acknowledging publicly as a PR ploy. A simple public acknowledgement such as “I am sorry to hear that you had that experience, and I’d like to know more. I will email you for details” followed by a personal email covers all the bases.

Follow up. It’s amazing how grateful people can be to get a call back in today’s business environment. It is fast becoming a lost art. After you have heard their concerns, tell them you will follow up on a certain date and then do it. Even if you have to say, “I don’t have an answer yet, but I want to let you know I have not forgotten you and I am working on it” you can gain credibility with your critics. Sometimes you can’t solve their problem (we want a third bathroom in that standing inventory home!) but letting them know that you asked, and the reasons you can’t accommodate their request, can lessen the negative feedback even if it doesn’t eliminate it.

Follow up again. Whether it is a critic or a fan, make a note in your calendar to follow up in 30 days and six months, even if the problem was resolved or could not be. We tend to be an industry of working closest to the money and putting fires out along the way. Creating a policy of following up months later can turn a one time critic into a fan - online and off.

Know your boundaries. You will not please everyone, and it not your job to do so. It is your role to create, implement, and track a basic one page plan of what your company does in a reasonable effort to resolve issues. You cannot control what every critic says about you online, but you can gain the confidence of your internal and external communities by addressing each in a systematic, ethical, and honest way.

Social media and all its perils are here to stay as online communities grow bigger, stronger, and more persuasive. Creating an action plan today can translate into real buyers tomorrow.

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