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Builders Report Results From NAHB Home Buyer Resources
With the spring home buying season in full swing, NAHB members and associations are taking full advantage of the resources NAHB has created to help them promote home buying in their local communities. Ranging from videos to print ads to consumer brochures and more, these materials carry positive messages and information about buying a home, and also save you the cost of creating them yourself.
The resources are all available online at www.nahb.org/publicrelationstools, and many can be customized with your contact information or specifics about your local market. Many are available only for members or staff of affiliated associations, so you need to be logged in to nahb.org with your user ID and PIN in order to access them.
Here are just a few examples of how they are being used, and what members and HBAs are saying about them:
Social Networking
NAHB research shows that home buyers under the age of 35 buy 34% of new homes and 40% of existing homes, so home builders should be reaching out to this young, technology-savvy audience through social media channels. The “Federal Housing Tax Credit Explained” video that was created and posted on YouTube in March has been viewed nearly 40,000 times. It was one of the top 100 most-viewed videos in the Nonprofits & Activism category that same month.
HBAs and members such as the Ashe County Home Builders in North Carolina embedded the video on their Web site home pages. Another use is to promote it in your e-mail signatures. Here is the signature of the staff of the Memphis Area Home Builders Association in Tennessee, who also embedded it on their home page: “Confused about the new $8,000 tax credit? Don't be! Visit www.mahba.com and view the video.”
The “$8,000 Home Buyer Tax Credit” Facebook profile — with information including videos, fact sheets, photos and more — currently has more than 2,400 “fans,” including the HBA of Lake County in Florida, which left the comment, “Great to see NAHB on Facebook. HBA of Lake Co. FL applauds your outreach efforts.”
Tax Credit Promotional Resources
The tax credit resources were launched the day the legislation was signed into law in February, and include print ads, Web ads, brochures, handouts, fact sheets and more — all providing the information home buyers want to know about the new $8,000 first-time home buyer tax credit.
Many HBAs have successfully persuaded their local radio stations to run the radio spots as public service announcements (PSAs). In the recession, many radio and television stations are seeing a decline in paid advertising and frequently have unsold space they need to fill, making them more receptive to running PSAs.
The executive officer of the HBA of Wayne & Holmes Co. in Ohio, Debbie Tracy, persuaded her local station to run the spots three times a day during the prime morning and evening drive times and the lunch hour.
Nadine Condello, executive vice president of the HBA of Lincoln, Neb., wrote, “I contacted our radio stations and they were extremely responsive regarding the PSAs. There will be more than 1,000 PSAs in the next three months. Thanks for all you do.”
HBAs are also successfully pitching the other tax credit resources to local media. Lisa Ottmar, public relations director of the Home Builders Association of the Sioux Empire in South Dakota, persuaded a group of eight radio stations to run five spots a day during prime selling season from May to October. She said, “This totals a bit over 6,000 radio ads! In addition, we are also receiving some PSAs on a local television station in Sioux Falls.”
FederalHousingTaxCredit.com Consumer Web Site
HBAs and members have leveraged the consumer tax credit Web site created by NAHB in many creative ways — from simple hyperlinks to copying pages of content to creating their own handouts using the information.
Robbie Sharrett, a member in Blowing Rock, N.C., wrote on Feb. 18, the day after the legislation was signed into law: “The NAHB Web site specifically addressing consumers’ questions on the housing stimulus was comprehensive, easy to understand and easy to navigate. With the thorough information you provided we are already talking to buyers and explaining the details with confidence. Thank you for offering timely and important information to our industry and to potential home buyers.”
Here are some examples of how members and HBAs are using the Web site:
- The Tidewater Builders Association in Virginia reprinted the entire FAQs from the tax credit Web site in the March 2009 issue of its magazine, which is printed and available online, and also created a Web banner on its home page that links to the site.
- Lisa Rush Smits, CEO of Hamlet Homes in Fredericksburg, Va., used the information to put together an explanation of the tax credit for her sales managers.
- Tim Schaeffer Communities in New Jersey created its own Web banner linking to the NAHB site.
- Mandalay Townhomes in Tacoma, Wash., used the Q&A to create its own PDF consumer handout.
- Windermere Real Estate in Woodinville, Wash., used the information on its blog.
“Opportunity Knocks” Consumer Brochure
NAHB created a four-page, full-color “Opportunity Knocks” consumer brochure that describes the advantages of homeownership — including examples of the savings home owners can expect over a five-year period. The brochure can be downloaded online at: www.nahb.org/opportunitybrochure.
Members are printing them for their sales offices and model homes, such as Ashley Nguyen of Nilson Homes, who said, “We have found the ‘opportunity knocks’ brochure very informative and useful. We would like to have it professionally printed for use in our model homes.”
This brochure can be customized with local information. From Vicki Markussen, executive officer of the La Crosse Area Builders Association in Wisconsin: “Just wanted to say that I *love* how easy you guys made this to use (including the link to the labels that work) and ideas on how to personalize!”
Resources to help promote home buying are available online at www.nahb.org/publicrelationstools.
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