5 Myths about Digital Marketing for Custom Home Builders

Digital marketing isn't new. It's been around almost as long as Google, and it's continued to improve and expand over the years. Today, you can even market on social media sites like Instagram and Facebook. So why are some custom home builders late to the party? It might be because you feel like word of mouth is still the best way to drum up business, or it might be because you don't think you have the time for a digital marketing strategy.

The truth is, quality digital marketing is one of the simplest ways to generate qualified leads you legitimately want to work with. There's a lot of information swirling around out there about custom home builder marketing, and not all of it is true. That's why we've decided to debunk five of the most common myths out there about digital marketing for custom home builders, so you can have a clearer picture about how digital marketing might work for you:

Myth #1 I don't have time for it

Since digital marketing is one of the top methods to generate qualified leads in a way that offers massive ROI, this myth is just silly. Digital marketing really doesn't take all that much time, compared to the leads you have the potential to generate when you do it right. You can start your company's digital marketing strategy as easily as setting up and regularly posting to a Facebook page. Really, you can put as much or as little time into digital marketing as you want to, it's just that the more time you put in, the more you're likely to get out of it. You can have a quality beginning digital marketing strategy by just posting one blog a month to your website, and interacting on your company's Facebook once a day.

Now, if you want to see serious results from your digital marketing strategy, sure, you'll need to put a bit more time into it than that. But if you've been considering digital marketing, and the only thing that's holding you back is the time commitment, you're leaning on an unfounded myth. If you truly don't have time to manage any aspect of your home building company's digital presence, then you should at least consider hiring someone to do it for you, whether they're an intern or a digital marketing company.

Myth #2 I have enough leads

Let's be honest. This one is just weak. No company has too many leads. If there actually comes a point where you have more jobs than you can handle, that just gives you the opportunity to start picking and choosing which jobs you actually want to do. The more leads you have, the greater your opportunity to break into a higher priced market. And ask yourself this: how many of the leads you have right now are exactly the types of projects your custom home building company wants to be working on?

When you have more leads than you can handle, you have the power to choose the projects that you genuinely want to do, and you can start to tailor the work you do to the higher price point your home building company is looking to break into. Digital marketing, when done properly, works to generate qualified leads, those leads you actually want to work with, rather than leads you'd rather not. And when you're picking and choosing which projects you'd like to work with, you're guaranteed to have the freedom to move up in the market.

Myth #3 No one uses email marketing anymore

Take it from anyone in business today, email is so far from dead. In fact, most people would rather have you contact them by email than phone these days. Strategic email marketing definitely has a place in your digital marketing strategy, especially when you know how to do it effectively. A great way to get people interested is to send out a monthly newsletter with some before and after photos of recent projects. It's also the ideal platform to showcase different types of homes you've built recently.

This sort of regular email marketing provides those on your email list with content they're genuinely interested in, and it reminds them who to go to when they finally decide they're ready to build that custom home. Best of all, emails are a great place to ask for five star reviews from previous clients you know you've satisfied. The more reviews you have, the better your online ranking, which also works to boost the number of qualified leads you draw in.

Myth #4 Professional photographers aren't worth it

When it comes to custom home building, image is everything. Your entire business is founded on the idea that you can build someone the dream home they've always wanted. Showcasing that is too important to gamble on a sub-par photographer or someone's iPhone camera. One of the absolute best things you can do for your digital marketing platform is hire a professional photographer who can go out and take pictures of some of your best projects, both before and after they're completed.

Those high resolution, quality photos speak volumes about your ability to create a home that's above and beyond your client's expectations. What's more, you can use those professional photos in a variety of ways. Whether you want a gallery on your website, quality background photos for your home page slider, or just some decent photos to send out on your monthly newsletter, a professional photographer is well worth it.

Myth #5 It's free

This last one is a bit different from the others. One of the biggest pervading myths about digital marketing for custom home builders is that it's free. It's not. No form of marketing is ever free. Anyone who tells you that you can market your custom home building website for free isn't being honest.

While digital marketing is truthfully far less expensive than traditional marketing efforts like paper ads, radio ads, and tv commercials, it still costs a little bit. Even if you end up doing all your digital marketing yourself, it takes up time. There are a lot of digital marketing aspects you can complete on your own, but you're still spending at least a small amount of time writing those blog and posting to your company Facebook account, and time is money. So, don't let anyone tell you digital marketing is free. When done right, it provides massive ROI, which means you have to spend a lot less to get a lot more, but it's still going to cost you at least a little time and money.

If you're not sure how much you should be spending for a quality digital marketing strategy that works, get in touch with us here at Evenbound. We've worked with a number of custom home builders, and have cracked the code to digital marketing strategies that deliver the leads you want. Check out the custom home building case study below to see how we market differently for better results, and then get in touch if you'd like to see how we can tailor our strategy for you!