marketing » NDG Communications, Inc.

With 10.4 million monthly visits originating on mobile devices, Trulia is releasing a new ad platform that will allow advertisers/homebuilders to place geolocated ads on the most trafficked pages of the Trulia smartphone app and mobile website.

Mobile banner ads will appear above search results mapped by zipcode and will show a contact name, phone number, and photo.

Why is this such a big deal?

30% of Trulia’s weekend traffic is from mobile devices
Homebuyers searching on mobile are 60% more likely to take the next step
Mobile searches have grown by 250%

However, it’s about more than advertising to mobile users—it’s about offering content specific to a user’s geographical location and tapping into the buyers who are most likely to visit your communities and homes.

Click here to learn more about Trulia’s new geolocation
mobile advertising platform.

It’s no secret that homebuyers are using their smartphones and tablets to conduct new home research and to find new homes while visiting neighborhoods. With ownership of smartphones and tablets skyrocketing, mobile advertising has now become an effective way to create brand awareness and generate sales.

Here’s some recent news about mobile trends we wanted to share:

Tablet owners say they are less likely to use a laptop or desktop computer after purchasing their tablet.

70% of mobile searches result in action within one hour.

What works in traditional online advertising will not necessarily be successful with mobile campaigns.

What’s the conclusion we can draw here? It’s that if you haven’t started seriously considering mobile advertising, now’s the time. Mobile is where you want and need to be to connect with savvy new home buyers on the go—and now at home as well.

Click here to learn more about how you can use mobile advertising to connect and engage the right buyers to generate real results.

What inspires people to buy your product? Chances are, it’s the very same thing that motivates you to build that product.

According to Simon Sinek, author of “Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action,” people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. It’s a concept he refers to as The Golden Circle.

Every company or organization knows what they do, most know how they do it—but very few, Sinek says, know why they do it.

A real world example? Take Apple.

Apple is a successful, innovative company with loyal customers. What sets them apart from other computer companies? Instead of simply saying they make great computers, Apple starts with their why—challenging the status quo.

Apple’s goal—and your goal—is not to do business with everyone who needs your product, but rather people who share your “why”. This is especially true for a purchase as important and personal as a new home.

Your “why” gives your customers something to relate to, it encourages them to act, and can lead to greater brand loyalty. It’s also what truly sets you apart from other homebuilders.

What’s your “why”?

Click here to read more about The Golden Circle, or click here to watch a video where Sinek shares more on this concept.

On Friday, several NDG Communications team members and I attended the Mid-Atlantic Marketing Summit on Intelligence & Insights on the Future of Communications at Gannett headquarters in McLean, Virginia. We learned some interesting new things and found affirmation about the effectiveness of tactics we’ve begun to employ for our clients—and ourselves.

For example, when it comes to online content, presenters reinforced the importance of micro-targeting—the more focused and relevant the conversation, the better the engagement and response. Make your messaging so specific to your target audience that they not only read it, they start to see themselves in it.

In terms of social media engagement, we were reminded of just how critical it is to talk to and about your prospects. Research has shown time and again that when companies talk about themselves, engagement drops. But, talk about your buyer—what’s important to them, what’s trending in their world, what keeps them up at night—and watch engagement go up!

Click here to learn more about the event.

As we continue to explore social media marketing, I got to thinking about Klout—a service that measures your social web influence and scores you based on your Facebook and Twitter activity.

The service has many benefits. For brands, the service identifies your most influential topics and, more importantly, helps you build brand awareness by connecting with more influential people.

In addition, you can offer influencers a perk, then—assuming they like it—they will likely spread the word through their social networks. Since people generally value others’ feedback and recommendations over traditional advertising, that social share is great for your brand.

Currently, the makers of Klout are working to measure activity on Facebook pages, YouTube, Instagram, Tumblr, Blogger, WordPress, Last.fm, and Flickr.

Klout is not the only service out there measuring social web influence. There’s also Kred and PeerIndex, to name a couple. Click here to read about similar tools.

Curious to know which homebuilders have the most Klout? Click here.

Our BDX (NewHomeSource.com and its affiliate network) account manager has just informed us that a recent campaign for one of our national homebuilder clients has achieved record-setting CTR results—“the highest performance we’ve ever seen from corporate creative”—a 570% increase over the industry average.

Research, testing, best practices, solid strategy, and superior creative helped us generate these exceptional results, but still we are not satisfied. NDG’s commitment to our clients inspires us to further refine and constantly improve our results, even record-setting ones like these.

Practice makes perfect. But practice can also lull us to sleep on our feet.

We can become so focused on the process, on completing the task, on how we’re getting it done, that we often forget why we’re doing it in the first place—and as a result, we may sacrifice innovation, threaten quality, and risk failure.

In every business, in every industry, this trap awaits those who believe that processes can be perfected once and forever, as well as those who fail to ask at every turn, “why?”

—Why are we doing it this way?

—Why is this a better choice?

—Why will the end-user, customer, client, or consumer act?

—Why will people do this, want this, discuss this, buy this?

In short, why will it work?

Before you know how, you must know why. Otherwise, “how” may just be a roadmap to nowhere. Relying on “how” creates assumptions, leads teams astray from targets, and can make even the most sensible people throw logic and common sense out the window.

Why aren’t more companies focused on the “why?” Because it’s hard work. Because the “why” constantly changes. Because the “why” is not technology, but human nature. And because, sometimes, we must admit that there is no “why” and start all over.

At NDG Communications, the “how” is the method by which we carry out and create our work, but the “why” is the reason the work actually works. Because we always ask “why,” we know our work has a much better opportunity to create success for our clients.

By Hilary Suskey,
NDG Senior Marketing Manager

Based on new research from NDG’s client Stanley Martin Homes, the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area is among the healthiest housing markets in the country. Stanley Martin’s Market Research Analyst Andrew Hughes decided to research the factors that help the D.C. market thrive when others cannot. Click here to learn more about what makes D.C. such a stable and successful market for new homebuilders and real estate in general.

Sarah Eckel,
NDG Director of Account Services

The ever-changing technological landscape has provided the real estate marketers and real estate buyers with several new tools to utilize when searching for a new home. The most popular of those tools today are the iPad and the iPhone because of their many apps, and other smartphone platforms are also in wide use in the Real Estate industry among both agents and buyers, such as Android and Blackberry. There are countless useful apps out there, but only a select few that are affiliated with some of the most effective real estate listing sites.

If you’ve done your homework and you know that your buyer profile is an avid smart phone or tablet user, here are a few apps that connect with some of our preferred real estate listing sites. All of these apps serve the general purpose of allowing potential homebuyers to search for homes, so we’ve outlined some of their other great features that help prospects find homes of interest.

The TRULIA App from Trulia.com

Listings include thorough information, and overall this is the easiest app to utilize when looking for homes based primarily on location.
The search function is map-based and powered by Google, making it very easy to use only if you are searching first by location. Secondary filters allow users to select the price range, square footage, number of bedrooms, and number of bathrooms.
There is a separate map search function that allows users to search only for homes where the price has been recently reduced. When users view the listings they can see when the price was reduced and by how much.
Use your Trulia.com account or create one in the app.

The ZILLOW App from Zillow.com

Map-based search functionality allows the user to easily find homes in a particular area of interest.
Search results also display animated banner ads linking to mobile websites.
Zillow’s signature Zestimate® feature is shown on each listing, allowing users to fully understand taxes and any previous sales history of the home.
Users do not need to navigate one layer deeper to view photos, as each listing displays photos on the main detail page, making it very easy to navigate the listing content.

The REALTOR.com App from Realtor.com

Allows you to search the largest amount of homes for sale because their listings are powered by MRIS.
The app can automatically sync up to an existing Realtor.com account or a new account can be created directly from the app.
Listings are easy to browse and all information is accessible in very few layers.
The email and share to Facebook and Twitter features are very easy to use, making sharing more likely.

The HomeFinder App from HomeFinder.com

Great resource for searching open houses on the weekend.
Listings are powered from a large, national database of newspaper websites.
Many options to filter your search by price range, type of home, location, and features.
You can also sort by distance from a specified location or price.
Google powers the mobile-friendly driving directions feature, making it useful for navigating to homes.

Hilary Suskey,
NDG Senior Marketing Manager

The Baby Boomer generation is changing, and these changes are greatly affecting their homebuying decisions—and how we must market to them.

Today Baby Boomers represent 78 million people in the U.S. population; the youngest are now approximately 46 years old and the oldest are approximately 65 years old. They are now moving out of the work force and into retirement while still holding on to about $3T in disposable income—and yes, that “T” stands for “Trillion.”

Family has become an even strong motivator for Baby Boomers than before, as they have now transitioned into the roles of grandparents. These Baby Boomers aren’t necessarily looking to live in active adult or retirement communities since their top housing priority is now to live near at least some of their children and grandchildren.

In fact, according to a recent white paper published by Advertising Age, 3 out of 5 of those currently working expect to live close to at least one of their children after retirement, so it’s no surprise that 14% of those retiring in the next 12 months expect to sell their house in order to buy another one closer to family.

These consumers are looking more towards spending time with family, and seek their family’s emotional support during retirement. In 1998, 61% of this generation associated retirement with travel; now that number is around only 45%, further demonstrating the shift in their priorities toward family, according to the white paper.

And, the report tells us that this age group now spends more time watching TV, movies, online video, and mobile video than Gen-X or even the Millennial generation. Baby Boomers spend more time online than any other generation, spending 91 billion minutes online last year—meaning that rich content such as video and interactive websites are not only useful, but a necessity for homebuilders attempting to reach members of this group.

Boomer Facts:

Women between 50 and 64 are twice as likely as men of the same age to be the principal household shopper
Value health and financial wellbeing, and take pride in home, community, and family
Watch high volumes of TV, in particular news, sports, and talk programs
Consumers of both daily print newspapers and print magazines
And yet they are now spending more time consuming online media than younger generations

The Takeaway:

Don’t market to Boomers based on their age; speak to them based on who they are, and what their values reflect
Family, children, and grandchildren are potent motivators for this group now
A home in close proximity to family is now seen as more important that traveling in retirement
With Boomers spending more time consuming online media than younger generations, rich media is even more important for reaching and engaging this group for new home marketing

NDG Communications, Inc.

Category Archives: marketing

Mobile Advertising Connects with New Home Buyers

Inspiring Others to Act

NDG Sets New Online Advertising Record for National Homebuilder Client

The How and the Why

Why the DC Market Works

The Best Mobile Apps for Real Estate Marketers

The TRULIA App from Trulia.com

The ZILLOW App from Zillow.com

The REALTOR.com App from Realtor.com

The HomeFinder App from HomeFinder.com

Homebuying Trends: Changing Priorities for Baby Boomers