7 TIPS FOR BUILDERS TO FIND IDEAL CUSTOMERS ON TAP

Competition in the Australian custom home building industry is tough and because custom home building costs money, consumers have extremely high expectations. There is a fairly good amount of leads that you can generate by word-of-mouth referrals if you build really good homes. After all a well built and beautifully finished home is as good as a billboard, marketing your expertise and quality workmanship to those that see and admire it.

However, if you are going to build a sustainable and profitable custom home building business, you have to rely on more than just word of mouth and a sprinkling of completed home development projects. For sustainability and a never drying tap of leads, a professional builder must invest in an integrated business marketing strategy that will sell their services in the shop fronts where customers can find them easily, sample their building projects and learn more about their company.

Below are 7 surefire tips that you can use to ensure that your custom home building business is a sustainable lead magnet, generating constant leads of quality clients that will keep your building business humming throughout the year:-

#1 Brand Yourself

The most reliable way to be a trusted name in the custom home building business is to build a trusted brand that clients can count on and trust if they are looking for a professional builder. Brand building is not easy and it will require that you develop a unique selling point around your custom home building business that will appeal to your target market.

The best way to build brand equity is to clearly define your value proposition. What would you like to be known for? Would you want to be the go-to contractor for luxury home building in Sydney, Melbourne or Perth? Would you like to be the duplex and multiplex builder? Will the apartment niche be your area of specialization? What will be your style? How would you differentiate your custom building designs and services from what is already in the marketplace?

Branding also entails developing a business identity. Choose a nice business name and corporate image and use it in all your marketing merchandise including adverts, brochures, websites and other shop fronts where you will be selling your business.

#2 Observe high levels of professionalism

If you are going to be a professional builder, then you must take measures to professionalize your business as much as possible. Professionalism builds trust and confidence in the minds of the prospective clients. It will send quality customers your way. Ensure that your business is registered and with a physical address and office where customers can walk in and discuss their development plans with you.

Make sure all your staff is well trained, courteous, licensed and certified in their areas of expertise. You can also integrate professionalism in your corporate culture. Have a process or system of handling client requests, honor appointments, be responsive to client requests and be accessible.

Join the various builders associations in the Australia such as the Housing Industry Association and the Master Builder Association for your city among others.

#3 Showcase Your Portfolio

More than anything, a typical building client is looking for more than just marketing gimmicks on a beautiful custom home builder website. They want an impressive track record of the building projects that you have completed off the internet in the recent past. It is this that will inspire confidence and trust in your abilities.

As a professional builder, it is important to develop a comprehensive portfolio showcase strategy that will take your work to the shop fronts of prospective clients. There are several ways in which you can create an impressive builder’s portfolio that will attract clients to your business. These include the following:-

• Builder a robust website and upload images of your projects: Your website is going to be the number one lead market. Ensure you have a well designed and well optimized website with a portfolio area where you can display completed projects. This is one of the most important pages for a prospective client.
• Do a video on your portfolio: A professionally done video is even more believable. Do a video on your project portfolio which you can post on your website and marketing channels.
• Develop a product brochure or ebook: Customers like downloading a well illustrated brochure that can give them an insight into your business. If you are in the construction business, ensure that you develop one that highlights your strengths and your portfolio projects. By the time any business prospect makes contact, they will have done months of research into your business and a brochure makes it easier to squeeze a business profile into a few pages that can help customers have a greater insight into your work.

#4 Builders Business Marketing

Develop a comprehensive business marketing strategy that will increase the visibility of your business in the right place. For this, you will have to rely on both online and offline marketing channels in order to maximize on the lead taps.

Online Marketing: One of the most effective marketing channels in the digital age is digital marketing. Develop and curate various online portals and marketing channels that you can use to showcase your work and attract new leads.

Build a robust Website: Starting with the website, build a robust and informative website about your builders business. If you are residential builder, you should have a business website with content that is tailored around this niche in order to attract the highest number of quality leads for the business. A professional website design will make a good first impression.

Create a Social Media Presence: In concert with the website, create various social media accounts on channels such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, blog and Youtube where you can curate your content and brand yourself online. It is fairly easy to build good brand equity online that inspires trust and confidence in the minds of consumers.

Create a newsletter for your business: This can have targeted and interesting content that might be of interest to your target market. The newsletters should have captivating calls to action that will generate the builders leads for the business. You can also do seminars and builders coaching streams that impart useful building knowledge to your target market. If you develop a reputation and authority as an expert in your building niche, it will be much easier to attract high quality leads for your building business.

Run PPC Campaigns: Designate a budget for search engine marketing campaigns for your builders business. PPC marketing on platforms such as Google Adwords can be high value lead magnet, sending plenty of targeted leads from potential clients who are searching certain keywords in your niche. Facebook is also a good portal for PPC marketing campaigns. You can use Facebook advertising to drive clients to your Facebook page, website or a dedicated landing page such as a project portfolio page.

Finally, leverage various offline marketing channels such as niche magazines, newspapers and events to increase the visibility of your custom home builder business.

#5 Develop and Leverage an Email Database

As a builder, one of the most valuable assets that you can have is a comprehensive email marketing database with high value prospects. Start creating an email database right from the moment you launch your website. Create an email sign up functionality that prospective clients can use to sign up for alerts from your business. Leverage your email database not just on your website but also on other online portals such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and blog. Over time, some of the hot leads in the email database are going to convert into building clients. These may not only convert to clients but they can also refer you to their associates.

#6 Invest in Strategic Content Marketing

Content still remains king. As a building business, it pays to have a good content strategy. Content marketing should be a long term business strategy for custom builder business.

Even in the building market, the prospective clients mostly rely on the internet to find the right and safer pair of hands. Good content will put you at the top of the search engine results pages (SERPs) and ensure your building project portfolio is landing on the right eye balls. With time, this is going to generate business conversions. Content marketing can create a long term and sustainable lead generation tap that will send clients to your business over the long haul.

#7 List your business on builder’s directory and portals

Add your business to builder tradieportals such as hipages.com.au and home improvement websites such as Houzz. These are some of the fastest growing lead magnets in the building and home improvement market. They are used by many clients to find builders in their locality.

Sign up with these portals and create a comprehensive business profile that will give customers a good idea of your business. Enter details such as location, working hours and leave a working phone number through which customers can reach out to you. It is important to leverage as many building directories as possible in order to increase your business visibility. There are other tradie portals that target specific cities and you can add your business details there to maximize on the increased exposure that they provide.