Recent reports are showing that 88% of home buyers begin their search online.  You have heard this repeated several times over the past few years with that percentage climbing.  But the new fact is that by 2013 more people will be accessing the internet on their mobile devices than their desktop computers.

So what does that mean to your Parade of Homes (or Showcase) marketing programs?  It means that traditional methods of marketing are not the best way to go any longer. Of course a printed map is still good to have, but the other 80% of your marketing should be online and designed for mobile devices.

Here are three must haves to include in your Parade of Homes marketing plan:

Virtual Tour Photography

360 degree virtual tours are still a great way to show a house.  It gives the builder maximum exposure for a longer period of time. If your photographer takes images of the main rooms, Living Room, Kitchen, Master and Master Bath, the potential buyer has a great review of the home. They may use the tour as a preview before heading out to visit the Parade, or use it as a reminder after the event. Many send the link to loved ones not able to attend the event.

Virtual tours should be on a website that shows the builder’s home for at least a year. One way to do it is to tie it to the Parade of Homes map and link to individual pages for each home. Those pages can have the tour, contact information, and information about the builder. The purpose is to give your builders maximum exposure for a longer period of time.

Builders can use the virtual tours to showcase their home model on their own websites and Realtors and agents can use the link on MLS.

Social Media Promotion

I think we are all familiar with Facebook, but why not have a special Page just for your Parade of Homes (or Showcase)? There is now the ability to create Facebook pages that look just like a mini website. More graphical and interactive which means more interaction for followers.

Some examples of ways to use a Facebook Page include:

• Create a special page for each builder with bio, images, logos, etc.
• Create a welcome page with a video from the Home Builder Association president or EO.
• Offer a downloadable map for the event if they Like you.
• Add open house information on the homes after the event (in case they are still available)
• Push out announcements
• Use year after year to build up a following

Mobile Marketing

Since people live on their cell phones, why not make it part of your marketing plan? We already mentioned social media, which is accessed more and more from the palm instead of the desk, but what else can you do? Here are some examples.

QR Codes can be create for each home and linked to a mobile website. You do not want to send them to a website that is not optimized for mobile devices.  That defeats the purpose. Once a user scans the QR code, they can go to a mini website created for that builder’s home, complete with bio, images, stats, and direct links to contacts.

SMS Text Messaging can be used for voting if your Association offers a People’s Choice award. Have home visitors text a special word from their cell phone, such as “home 1″ , to a SMS number, like “12345″, and they have entered their vote for home 1. After the event, that list you have created can be used by your sponsors to send out a promotion.  This should be monitored very closely, but the list is very targeted to a motivated audience. This benefit alone should help bring in some more sponsors for you.

As you sit down this year and begin planning your event, don’t forget that more people are looking online for information and they want to interact with their mobile devices. Focus some attention to those areas and you will see some measurable results.  And did I say that all these items are measurable?

———————————

Sandi Sturm is on the Board of Directors of the Mat Su Home Builders Association in Wasilla, 
Alaska and also owns MobilePlusLocal.com.

The market for new homes has been on a roller coaster ride that analysts predict will be on the upswing in many areas of the United States in 2012.  Now the challenge is marketing for the home builder more effectively with less marketing dollars available, due to lower sales in recent months.  Traditional advertising has higher costs and a blended approach is needed to spend marketing dollars wisely.

Web-based information is more affordable and more home buyers are searching online than in print for a home purchase.  With that said, many builders have achieved success with newspaper and magazine print ads in past years.  Here is the challenge.  Print ad space has higher costs but a builder wants the company message to be seen by the prospective buyer.

Enter QR Codes

One solution is QR codes.  QR codes are in essence, a printed link to web information.  Smart phones are becoming more and more the norm instead of the exception and the phones come already loaded with the program to read the QR codes.  The program takes a picture or scan of the code which takes the user to online information.  If the codes are new to you, they are not new to prospective buyers.  Overall, 44% of Americans now own smartphones.

Marketing is Timing

Many areas in the US have limited building seasons so a home builder must not gamble on missing leads by sticking with print or web marketing exclusively.  My suggestion here is to have a smaller, more affordable print ad with a QR code linked to the larger message.  On the print ad, have the builder logo, contact information, slogan, etc. and a QR code linked (preferably to a mobile website) to the builder biography, building standards, available lots, available homes, testimonials, etc.  Get the picture?  Less print cost but the message is still found by home buyers with smartphones.

Have you are anyone in your team used QR Codes? If so, where did you have the link go? Was it readable on mobile devices?

————————————————————————————-

Wayne Sturm is the Owner and Virtual Tour Photographer at Alaskarama.com and mobile marketing specialist and developer at MobilePlusLocal.com.