Parade of Homes Marketing Ideas

Thankfully, Parade of Homes season is coming to an end for many of us, and we are reflecting and recuperating, so I wanted to share a few ideas for next year.

Nurture Leads, Clients and Partners

Let's start with the main reason we're doing the parade of homes: To nurture leads, clients, and partners. I spend so much of my life helping people build relationships online, but that doesn't change the fact that it's so much more efficient to build relationships in real life.

A custom home is one of the most expensive B2C things that you can sell, so we want to look at marketing a little differently. We want to have this high ticket lens where we're focusing on the few people we need to convert. And we're investing in the quality of relationships instead of the quantity of interactions.

This is why I'm such a huge fan of the Parade of Homes and events in general. If you're investing in social media or Google Ads, you should be investing just as much time and effort into events no matter what level you're at.

There are a lot of different ways to create events and experiences. One example I saw is the San Antonio Parade of Homes' Date Night. You could do something like this, where you feature a local wine shop for a tasting along with a catered charcuterie. I recommend putting a high ticket price on it, then giving away most of the tickets to partners, leads, and current and past clients. I know this is a huge amount of effort, but it is worth it. Many of those prospects will be in town for the Parade of Homes already, and there's nothing that builds trust like talking to your happy current and past clients.

It's not that hard to come up with event ideas. The hard part is executing, and footing the bill without cutting corners. Events always sound much easier than they are, and the more you DIY, the more sneaky costs or time pits you'll run into.

How to Get a Ton of Website Visits

One of the best ways to get high-intent traffic to your website during Parade season is to create dedicated Parade of Homes pages. KC Custom Homes is a perfect example - they're often the third result when people search for the San Antonio Parade of Homes, and I bet they get a ton of traffic.

They're adding to the information on the internet, not trying to steal traffic. Their page has tons of text about the events, includes multiple outbound links to the official Parade of Homes website, and provides genuine value. They're literally going out and bringing more people to this event that might not otherwise be aware of it. They even run Google Ads that mention the Parade of Homes - finding it worth the investment to bring more awareness to the event overall.

Bya Patzer has another great POH page with beautiful photography and lots of valuable content. They're providing outbound links, and creating really nice content that adds value. E Builders does something similar - they list their homes, show where to get tickets, and provide tons of great information with outbound links.

How to Be the Builder that People Remember

When people are driving home the next day, who do they talk about? Who stands out? Asside from whatever builder got the most flashy project this year, a lot of it comes down to having the right people, materials, and environment. Production builders put on a lot more open houses, so that's a great place to go for inspiration.

Train Your Staff

Create a cheat sheet that you give to the staff manning the home. You might not want to openly share every material and partner with potential competitors, but you still want to share the details that make this home so special. With a cheat sheet and knowledgeable people, you don't have to be at the home all day, every day. When people ask questions, they can look at the sheet and provide accurate answers. If you get questions that aren't on the sheet, add them to the sheet over the weekend.

Sales Brochure & Print Materials

For printed materials, I've seen really nicely designed booklets for each home with all sorts of information. Try to actually make printed materials that people want to keep. Of course, always include ways for people to opt in - even if it's just a QR code to receive information about the finishes. You could do a charity raffle where people can donate to enter, then get their information with a checkbox to opt into your email list. A printed brochure is much bigger and less distracting than a phone screen, and if it's helpful, you'll end up on their coffee table as well as their inbox.

Feature Your Partners

You could print out little cards on specific finishes from partners you want to highlight - the fireplace, counter, bathrooms, or custom closets. Share the love. Partners are a great source of referrals. Also, it takes a village. A village that you're proud of. Show off all the people that go into your beautiful projects. On their website, Hendel Homes lists every partner they work with, and I really appreciate this. It is such a nuanced signal of trustworthiness.

Set the Mood

Don't underestimate the environment. The smell when you come into a home is so underrated. Are you baking something? Burning delicious-smelling incense or candles? How can you act like the hostess with the mostess? When I met my realtor Ward, I was touring a community by JAG, and he offered to buy me coffee from an artisan coffee truck they had on site. I wasn't going to talk to him initially, but that $7 coffee opened the door. Maybe you could bring out a coffee or food truck and give your sales team tokens they can hand out. Most people can buy the coffee after touring the home, but if you're chatting with someone, that small gesture makes you stand out.

You can't always have the biggest or craziest home in the parade, but all these little activations make you more likely to stand out in someone's mind.

Baseline / Obvious but True

Before we wrap up, here are a couple baseline things that are obvious but worth mentioning.

This is also a prime time to nurture those people who are planning to build their home maybe two or three years from now and are still thinking about builders. If they open one of your emails every six months or look at one of your Instagram posts every six months, you want to remind them - hey, we have an open house, this is a great time to see our craftsmanship. Lloyd Builders' Instagram post is a good example of how to cover this on social media.

And finally, partnering with your local builders association to be a featured builder is some of the best offline, traditional advertising you can pay for. Put your ad in the Parade of Homes magazine. This is some of the most focused advertising you can do offline.

IRL

I am a huge proponent of doing things in real life (or "IRL" if you're chronically online like me).

Us marketers have a list of all the things to do from your computer - digital ads, CRM automations, social media, etc. But all of that is secondary to meeting the people, building relationships, getting them in your homes, and showing them your products.