How quickly can brand marketing save me?

Sadly, in today's fear based economy, especially the home building industry, many of us hesitate to open the curtains in the morning. Shivering with negative anticipation, we shrink at the thought of hearing about one more failure among our peers, a reduced buyer base, or worse yet, finding our coffers empty and our lenders on their way to Timbuktu. We feel powerless, like we're spinning our wheels trying to grow and survive. At the same time there's an eerie and profound fear that we don't quite know if we're doing the right thing.

For those of you who are reaching out for help, who have heard about the solid principals brand marketing can bring to your company and want to drink the lemonade, a common question is circling. "So how long will it take before I will see results?" Or to translate, "How long before you save me?"

For decades, traditional new-home marketing practices have been about throwing out your nets to a calculated number of prospects, with hooks, speed-bumps and giveaways as your bait, which some call advertisements or mailing campaigns. We hover over our prospects like vultures with name tags, waiting for our prey to stop at a sign, call us or walk-in to our models. And then we pounce, filling in a customer card, and proudly scratch a check-mark onto our list of things to "do" today. People showed up? Didn't the strategy work?

First, let's define what we mean by results. One of the first things I do with my clients is clarify language. I make sure we're all speaking the same one before we start. It's key to positioning our strategy. Then when we know what the real question is, the answers come.

Results can come in many forms. It's a sliding scale of episodic measurements whose elements are more about what direction you're moving than just movement. For instance, efficiency within your organization, increased morale, lower costs, higher conversion rates, employee retention and increased referral rates are all results, per Se. And, so are sales. Solid, wet-ink, check-clearing sales. So, it stands to reason that if sales is your ultimate result then all behaviors, processes, measurements and initiatives should be moving you toward that end with mind-blowing precision.

The truth is by simply aligning the look of all your image materials, mapping and controlling your systems and learning what your customer needs and how he buys can all offer you immediate results. Reigning in and controlling how everyone is talking to one another and your customer can also help you emerge from anonymity. But to see yourself buckled in at the top of the brand race-car requires a two way commitment between you and all your employees. Your brand marketing specialist can be your guide but the vehicle of your success is you.

The reason brand marketing is so compelling and so elusive at the same time is it only begins to breath and move when a symphony of events, which have been carefully choreographed, are set in motion through total goal clarity.

It starts with understanding exactly who you are and what you do, and forming a plan of action based on your resources, business plan, and the talent you have. From there you put a marketing message strategy in place that gives you a voice that's real. The impact of a simple and real message (advertising) is more evident when it's backed by the entire organization's karma because then it draws customers to you. Yes, to you. No more throwing out impersonal and desperate nets. Now you can predict your success because you're actually presenting solutions that work, reaching out with messages that follow the way people are really looking for products, and following through with the customer experience you promised in the first place. It is the only way to be heard above the roar of messages that are already out there. It's the only way to true results.

To find our how you can experience predictable and fast results, contact us today. Let us help you grow.