I have said for years that there are no truly branded builders in this country. There are many great builders, with excellent reputations and top-notch branding materials, but seriously no truly branded builders. To own a brand means you dominate a specific category. Xerox owns the copying brand… you make a Xerox on a Canon or Nokia copier. Xerox has captured the brand. Godiva owns the gift candy brand! In my opinion Coke owns the cola brand. There are many books on how to build a brand, how to grow brands, how to brand brands… yada yada yada! In order to own a brand you must first know which one you want. In the building industry, there are quite a few possibilities if you dare.

So, can you tell me any specific builder brands? Here are a few possibilities:

• Green Builder (good luck with that one)
• Energy Efficient Builder
• Log Home Builder
• You Move in 90 Days Guaranteed
• Nothing but First Floor Master Suites
• Homes for First-Timers
• Hurricane-Resistant Construction
• Sustainable Products Builder
• 10-Year, 100% Repair Guaranteed (Hyundai started this in the car business)

The ultimate power of the Internet isn’t it ability to find you millions of customers, although it may do that. The true power of the Internet is its ability to find you a very targeted customer. Therein is the secret to building a specific niche.

Because all new home sales are local, there is little to no national builder marketing. Have you ever seen a builder commercial during the super bowl or during your favorite prime time television show? Not likely. That’s because builders know – especially the ones who can actually afford national advertising coverage– that most home buying decisions are made based on local criteria. The typical local market is a 30-minute drive in any direction and that is pushing it. You don’t need to own a niche on a national level. Remember, for most practical purposes, the housing market doesn’t really exist on a national level, only local. Therefore, you only need capture a niche locally. Granted, the niche needs to have enough market depth to make financial sense. But if you can find a true market position and capitalize on it, you could potentially own that brand in your area.

For discussion purposes, let’s use the “You move in 90 days guaranteed” niche. As a builder, your unique selling proposition is that you guarantee your buyers that you will have them moved into their new home in 90 days! I have worked for a builder who successfully guaranteed every settlement date and it worked, so it can be done. 90 days may be pushing it, but indulge me. There was a pizza chain who built a huge brand on a similar promise. Do you remember the Dominoes promise: You get fresh, hot pizza delivered to your door in 30 minutes or less — or it’s free. For reasons outside the scope of this conversation they can no longer use that USP (unique selling proposition), but it worked like magic. Your USP isn’t a slogan, it’s a unique (no one else does it), selling (the message must be compelling) proposition (it asks for acceptance).

So, if your market position is “You move in 90 days guaranteed” is that a reasonable USP?

Unique: I guarantee no one else is doing it in your market.

Selling: To buyers who have time constraints it is a very compelling message.

Proposition: The promise comes with a guarantee that a buyer must accept.

Now, like Domino’s Pizza, there is more to the promise than words. They had to be able to perform or they would be giving away a lot of pizza. They designed their entire system around that promise. The orders had to be immediately processed, the pizza had to cook quickly enough, the drivers had to know the area, and they had to keep it hot and tasty just to name a few challenges.

If your brand is built around the promise “You move in 90 days guaranteed” you will have to make sure you can achieve it. That means you must be able to price the house, spec the house, build the house and finish the house on time. It can be done and many systems builders already do it, but I know of none who are trying to lay claim to the brand.

There are many market positions a builder can attempt to fill. The scary part is by claiming a market position to brand; you are essentially accepting that you will lose the rest of the market. That shouldn’t scare you because if you can capture your target you will win big. What if the executives at Domino’s had said, “no, we don’t want to pursue that promise because not everyone wants their pizza in 30 minutes or less?” Or what if FedEx decided that guaranteed overnight delivery would mean they would lose people who were perfectly content with 72 hour delivery? The point is that if you can successfully brand your company as the owners of a targeted, specific promise and succeed, you will win big.

Call or contact us today at Power Marketing and learn how you can position your building or real estate company to maximize the Internet to truly capture a local brand. It’s possible and we can help you do it today.

Brian Flook · builder home sales training · builder marketing · homebuilder marketing · housing market · Internet marketing · Power MARKETING · real estate marketing