There has never been a home buyer that woke up one morning and said, “I’m going to buy a new home today.” Buying a new home is a major commitment and home buyers treat it as such. They take time to understand the financing and buying process, decide where they want to live, the features they need in their homes, decide between new vs. resale homes and research builders. All this before they even step foot into a sales office.
When you’re trying to attract and engage buyers in different stages of their home buying journey, it’s important to create content to effectively nurture buyers toward a sale.
Without understanding where your buyers are in their journey, it’s impossible to create the right kind of content they need and want. Here’s how you can best create content for each stage of the buyer’s journey and successfully sell more homes.
What is the Buyer’s Journey?
The buyer’s journey goes by many names: customer journey, sales, or marketing funnel. Basically, its’ the combination of steps a lead goes through before making a purchase. There are four main stages:
- Awareness: the awareness stage is the beginning of the buyer’s journey. This is when buyers transition from unawareness to discovering your brand for the first time. Buyers are gathering information during this stage. They’re not ready to make a decision yet.
- Consideration: at this stage, the buyer is defining their options. They understand what they need but haven’t quite figured out how to solve their problems. Instead, they’re narrowing down potential solutions
- Decision: At this point, the buyer is ready to make a decision. While they’re ready to buy, they may not necessarily buy from you so now is the right time for the sales pitch on why they should buy a home from you.
- Nurture: this is the final stage of the buyer’s journey. The buyer has purchased from your company and this is where you continue to provide information so they can enjoy the full value of your product. This also primes them to refer friends and family to you and potentially purchase from you again.
Content types for the Awareness stage
Buyers in the Awareness stage are at the very beginning of their journey. While your sales team won’t want to contact them just yet, you can use your website and social platforms to begin laying the groundwork for your relationship. Awareness-stage content should focus on providing educational value with little to no commitment or sales pitches. The goal for this stage is to capture their attention and encourage them to return to your website.
Here is some content that can help do the job:
- Search engine marketing: the majority of home buyers begin their searches online. At this stage, their search queries will be general, like “new homes in [City your build in]. A well-calibrated campaign will take incorporate these types of searches so your ads may appear. Buyers may not click on your ad but they will take note of your name.
- Blog post: blog posts are ideal for each stage of the funnel. Focus on creating easy-to-understand, educational posts that answer common questions and solve problems. The content can be general in nature and doesn’t have to be directly related to your homes. Buyers in this stage will appreciate the information and this establishes you as an authority in this industry.
- Videos: how-to videos are a good way to get your audience interested in your new homes. They may not know which community or plan they want, but videos can help provide the information.
Content for the Consideration stage
The Consideration stage is crucial. This is when buyers understand their problem and are beginning to narrow down their options. Buyers in this stage aren’t ready to buy but they’re more qualified than those in the awareness stage. This is when you should begin mentioning how your homes solve your potential buyer’s problems and showing how you stand out from the pack.
Here is some content you can create for this stage:
- Blog post: blog posts in this stage should center around the options you have available and position your brand in the most favorable light. Focus on highlighting features of your communities and new homes, explaining the home buying process, and anything else that makes you different than your competitors.
- Explainer videos: focusing on the pain points of the customer and showing them how you can help solve those issues will help you hook your audience.
- Email marketing: nudge buyers closer to the decision stage by providing information that offers them possible solutions for their goals. Introduce your offerings and explain why they should care.
- Retargeting/remarketing: retargeting campaigns work to encourage buyers to return to your website. You can target them based on their activity on your page, showing them ads across the internet. This keeps you top of mind and reminds them to return and complete a sign-up.
Content for the Decision stage
This stage is where buyers are finally ready to make a decision. They’ve sorted through the information they gathered during the research stage, vetted your services, signed up for your emails, and have visited your sales office. This is the most qualified lead and where most sales people focus their efforts in converting. While buyers are ready to make their decision, they want to make sure you are the right one. You should create content that reduces any doubt that you’re the right builder for them.
Here is some content you can create for this stage:
- Blog posts: yes, more blog posts! Blog posts are the most flexible content to create. There are plenty of topics for each stage along the buyer’s journey. This is when you explicitly tell buyers why they should buy a home from you.
- Testimonials: buyers want to know that you’re a trustworthy brand so hearing about other people’s experiences with you will help you shine.
Content for the Nurture stage
Your relationship with your customers doesn’t end once they’ve purchased a new home. Successful builders continue to nurture their relationships with homebuyers to cultivate referrals and possibly repeat buyers when they’re ready for their next home. During this phase, you want to show them how to get the best value out of their homes.
Here is some content you can create for this stage:
- Blog posts: create blog posts that educate your buyers on how best to enjoy their homes and get the best experience with your company.
- Referral program: introduce new buyers with your referral program, if you have one, for recommending your company to their family and friends.
- Customer feedback: use surveys to gain insight into their experience with your company during the buying process. This can help you find areas to improve to make the process smoother for future buyers.
As you can see, most of these content types can work for more than one buyer stage. Smart marketers can mix and match several of these types within each stage.
Now that you understand how you can create content to nurture homebuyers through each stage of the buyer’s journey, it’s time to start creating! If you need help putting together a winning content marketing strategy, get in touch with us.