People often ask us why a print company specializing in print for home builders is necessary. Heck, today, builders sometimes ask us if print marketing is still a valuable sales tool! The answer to both questions is a resounding “Yes!” We explain why in this post.
The Role of Print in New Home Sales
In a recent episode of the Digital Velocity Podcast, co-hosts Erik Martinez of Digital Velocity and Tim Curtis of NaviStone talk with Alex Kupski and Jake Hoffman, co-hosts of the Millennials in Print Podcast, about the Power of Print in the Digital Age. They conclude, “The more channels you’re present on and the more channels you’re marketing to people on, ultimately, the more effective you’re going to be. Print, just like social, just like email, just like your website, just like a commercial on TV, is a channel for you to market on. It’s another arrow in the quiver. It’s another way to reach people you might not have before.”
…the ubiquity of digital media has given print media a strange new power.” –Brandon Ortiz, Salesforce.com
Print marketing works best when paired with digital marketing. Digital marketing is often the most effective way to draw people in. With interactive site plans, interactive floor plans, renderings, virtual tours, visualizers, and Matterport tours, your website is arguably a home builder’s most potent marketing tool. But it is only effective for a home buyer’s few precious moments on your website. Print collateral, on the other hand, has a much longer life span. Brochures and floorplan/elevation minis often sit on a potential buyer’s countertop or table for weeks or months, a lasting reminder of your homes and communities. Not every prospect immediately purchases a home, so print is a great way to keep them focused on yours.
Data shows that print used in tandem with digital marketing is one of the most effective sales strategies as the two mediums strengthen and reinforce each other. A study by InfoTrends found that 66% of direct mail is opened, and 56% of consumers who respond to direct mail go online or visit a physical store. A recent article in SFGate offers some great tips to sync your print and digital marketing efforts:
- Place QR codes on print materials.
- Provide digital opt-ins for direct mail.
- Include social media reviews and comments on print materials.
- Include hashtags and calls to action on print materials.
Although digital and print marketing take different forms, They work together to engage customers and keep your brand at the top of their minds.
It isn’t game over for print marketing. The game has only changed.”
The game has changed regarding print marketing strategies. When you discover the power of fusing “low-tech with high-tech,” you will separate yourself from the homebuilders who made the mistake of transitioning to 100% digital marketing.
Print is particularly effective where there is a physical customer presence – In industries where customers interact in person, such as model home sales offices, print materials provide tangible takeaways. Homebuilders can leverage brochures, direct mail, and high-quality printed floor plans to keep their homes top of mind for buyers who may not be ready to purchase immediately.
Print Remains Relevant in the Digital Age – As digital marketing becomes more saturated, print marketing offers brands a way to cut through the noise. As digital marketing becomes more easily ignored, physical marketing materials command attention, creating a lasting impression.
Moreover, print campaigns should be fully integrated with digital efforts. Rather than treating print as an afterthought, homebuilders can maximize impact by designing campaigns that blend the strengths of both mediums. Brochures, mailers, even print ads should include QR codes, personalized URLs, or augmented reality elements that direct potential buyers to interactive experiences online. Instead of evaluating print and digital separately, builders should use KPIs that measure how both contribute to lead generation and engagement.
Why Use a Builder-Specific Printing Company?
The challenge builders face that is unique to our industry is the weekly sales cycle. From week to week, home prices may change, lot availability changes, and options may vary. The typical strip-mall printer is not equipped to automate this process. Outhouse built their business to serve a single industry – HOME BUILDING. We do all work in-house, from CAD for your construction documents to print materials for your sales centers. This allows all teams, including architectural, rendering, graphics, interactive, and print, to work in tandem. By doing so, we create accurate, up-to-date print materials that are consistent and coordinated with your digital marketing assets. Utilizing the latest technologies, we print and deliver materials on time every week, on the builder’s schedule. Challenge solved – you send us your edits, and we coordinate these changes across all platforms.
Professional Artwork Creation: Outhouse provides clients with the considerable advantage of having drafting and rendering services on-site, allowing coordination with the development of their artwork for all printed materials. This coordination offers clients superior accuracy, faster turnaround times, and lower overall costs.
Coordinated File Management: Another advantage is the ease of managing and coordinating all created artwork with professional digital file and asset management. All artwork is kept up-to-date, consistent, and coordinated between city design reviews, printed sales materials, large format displays, and interactive web products and services.
Superior Print Quality: Superior brand standard quality and consistency every time on every product is only possible with the coordination, color calibration, and production of all graphics, printing, and display under one roof. Unlike a mass-market printer like Vista Print, Outhouse is not a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) printer. We believe that good enough is never good enough, and we have the magnifying glasses to prove it! On rare occasions when colors are incorrect or print quality is not up to snuff the first time off the press, we recalibrate and rerun the job.
Builder-Specific Delivery: Unlike many industries, home building has a weekly sales cycle, and having your print delivered on time is critical. Outhouse understands this. We meet your deadlines your way on your weekly sales cycle.
The bottom line is print marketing still plays an integral role in new home marketing and sales. There’s a reason the Outhouse Interactive Floor Plan has a save button. It allows prospective homebuyers to save their customized floor plans and print them out for further review.
What about younger generations? Retail Focus Magazine tells us that print is 30% more memorable than digital. This applies to all age groups. You need look no further than nightclubs which hand out leaflets advertising upcoming events, and university welcome packs to know that print still appeals to young people. The magazine also notes the best campaigns are when print and digital work alongside each other instead of trying to compete. A younger audience may be digitally savvy, but they still appreciate a well-thought-out hard copy campaign.
Although any printer can give you a halfway decent brochure, only a company like Outhouse coordinates your CAD, rendering, and interactive projects with your print materials and sales office displays. Even if our print pricing is a bit higher, you will save significantly more overall through efficiencies in coordination.
