As a seasoned contractor, you already know that the home building industry is incredibly competitive. With nearly half a million home builders in the United States, you need to work harder than ever to generate leads and differentiate your business from the rest.
Of course, your job doesn’t end once you’ve captured the attention of potential customers. Once those prospects enter the sales funnel, you’ll need to guide them to the finish line. For most homebuyers, a home purchase is one of the biggest investments they’ll make during their lifetime—and you need an effective marketing strategy to show them why you’re the best choice for the job.
So, what’s the best way to plug leaks in your sales funnel? Two words: lead nurturing. It’s the strategy you need to build relationships with prospects, earn their business, and turn them into loyal brand advocates. Here’s how to close more sales and build long-lasting relationships with your customers through lead nurturing.
Lead nurturing involves developing and building relationships with customers at every stage of the customer journey, typically through inbound marketing. It’s a powerful way to create meaningful relationships with prospects, inform them about your home building services, and show them why you’re worth hiring over the competition.
Lead nurturing is a must-have component of any digital marketing strategy. Why? It’s simple: Most leads aren’t ready to hire you yet. Instead, they’re scouring the web, comparing different home builders, and exploring their options before taking the next step in their buying journey. According to marketing research, only three percent of the market is actually buying—and a whopping 65 percent of marketers don’t leverage any type of lead nurturing strategy.
When you tap into lead nurturing, you’ll position yourself as an industry leader and highlight your value proposition to potential homebuyers. From content marketing to social media, nurturing leads is an effective strategy for driving sales because it keeps you top of mind. In turn, when your prospects are ready to dive into the home building process, you’ll be the first one they call.
Ready to take your marketing strategy to the next level? Maybe your competitors already have strategies in place to nurture leads, but you’re going to take a different approach. Here’s how to ignite your home building business with the power of lead nurturing.
What does your email marketing strategy look like? If you’re not sending regular emails to potential customers, it’s time to revamp your process. According to Campaign Monitor, 59 percent of marketers say email marketing drives the highest return on investment out of all digital marketing strategies—even more than AI, chatbots, and live video.
Email nurturing not only offers a better bang for your buck than paid ads, but it’s also possible to create ultra-personalized content by leveraging your consumer data. Email segmentation (see: categorizing subscribers into groups based on specific characteristics) allows you to send highly relevant content to leads based on the stage of their customer journey so you’re not sending mass emails to your entire subscriber list.
For example, if you just published a new blog post on different architectural styles, you could send it only to subscribers who have engaged with relevant landing pages on your website. If you send every single email to your entire subscriber list, you’ll only end up with unopened emails and lost subscribers who are tired of irrelevant content.
Already have a great email marketing strategy in place? When you’re ready to take the next step, marketing automation can be your MVP. With testing and automation, you can start A/B testing your emails (subject lines, CTAs, send times…you name it). Plus, you can automate your email content to send triggered emails when subscribers take specific actions. This way, you’ll be able to effortlessly nurture prospects throughout every stage of the customer journey.
Your content marketing strategy might seem like an afterthought, but trust us—it matters. When done right, content marketing can be an incredibly effective strategy for building trust in your brand and connecting with potential customers. From blog posts to FAQs and webinars, our clients have leveraged high-quality content to build brand awareness and keep prospects invested.
Content marketing also contributes to your other lead nurturing strategies, like social media and email marketing. You can use social media and newsletters to distribute the content you publish online. Alternatively, you can top off your blog posts with CTAs to encourage leads to sign up for your newsletters or follow you on social media.
Of course, content marketing comes with a catch: According to the 2016 Lead Nurturing Trends Survey, relevant content is the biggest obstacle to lead nurturing success—and this holds true even now in 2023. As a business owner, you’re constantly on the construction scene, managing your team, and keeping clients satisfied. Maybe you’re already working overtime to keep your business alive—and you don’t have time to create personalized content for every stage of the sales funnel.
So, what’s the solution? Consider hiring an experienced marketing agency to handle content creation for you. When you choose a partner with experience in contractor marketing, you’ll be able to publish tailored content on your website without spending hours behind a desk.
What is just as important as your content marketing strategy? Your social presence. Social media marketing is a great way to build relationships with prospects. It creates easy opportunities for communication—all while putting your content where prospective home buyers spend their time.
Why is social media marketing so effective? It’s part of the daily routine of most users, according to Pew Research on social media use. And with most users scrolling through social media multiple times per day, there’s a good chance you’ll reach potential leads with relevant content.
You can use social media platforms to distribute content, establish credibility, and highlight your brand identity. For the best results, you’ll want to establish a regular posting cadence and build out your content calendar. If you’re short on time, try tapping into social media automation tools to create a seamless posting schedule.
Not all leads are created equal. With lead scoring, you can easily assign values to leads based on their behaviors. This way, you’ll be able to focus your marketing efforts on the leads most likely to convert into paying customers.
Because not every lead will be in the same stage of their customer journey, you shouldn’t invest the same amount of time and energy into each one. For example, your lead-scoring strategy might assign more points to prospects who spend more time browsing your website, and fewer points to email subscribers who rarely open emails. By focusing on prospective customers who actively engage with your brand, you’ll be able to generate the best return on investment.
Once you’ve scored leads, you can take the time to follow-up with highly qualified leads. For example, our clients encourage their sales teams to reach out so they can address concerns, answer any questions, and stay top of mind.
To successfully guide prospects through the sales funnel, your sales and marketing teams need to work in harmony. That means they need access to the same data so they can create a seamless experience for prospective customers.
At the end of the day, lead nurturing requires a team effort. Your sales and customer service team should gather information about your target audience through sales calls and one-on-one interactions, while your marketing team should leverage actionable data to drive results.
Let’s face it: First impressions can make or break the way potential customers view your brand. Lead nurturing isn’t just about delivering a positive first impression; it’s about engaging your target audience by providing relevant and engaging content throughout the customer journey.
When you guide prospective home buyers through the process, you’ll be able to plug potential leaks in your sales funnel and close more sales. So, what are you waiting for? Reach out to our team today to kickstart your marketing plan with high-converting lead generation strategies.
