PART FOUR: Marketing & branding that packs a Punch!
So, we have great properties, and we have an even better specification that is perfect for your customers – now we need to make the scheme a place where your buyers want to live. This is the opportunity to get your development ‘on brand’ and ‘making sure the blood runs through all the veins’ (the way I like to describe making sure everything is on brand). The name, colour, branding, brochure, website, signage, communal areas, sales suite, the coffee cups they drink from when they visit – everything and everywhere should be on brand. Why? Well, if you can create a real brand, one that people aspire to be part of, you can either increase value (look at high end brands) or outsell the competition 3:1 – something I have done several times in my career.
My starting place in every development is: I want buyers to want to live here. Yes, you have read this right. I don’t want them to have to choose mine over the competition next door - I want them to want to live here, and branding is an important part of this process. Creating a brand that your buyers will resonate with is important, as when they leave your show home, they will be showing others (hopefully boasting!) about the property they are buying with the brochures and brand collateral that you have carefully and diligently designed. Think about it, when someone leaves the show home and discusses it with their loved ones, what do they show this third party? Are they telling them or convincing the third party about this development? With poor brand collateral, I don’t think you will even make the conversation. With a strong brand and identity, your development will not only be discussed, but the buyer will try to ‘sell’ it to everyone.
This blog is part of four segments (know your customer, know your property. Specification. Marketing & branding. Pricing.
I believe that if you get this right, you and your property development are onto a good thing.
