By Thane Tennison, Advertising Manager, BDX
You may have heard about the newly updated NewHomeSourceProfessional.com (NHS Pro). The site has recently gone through a complete overhaul and looks great. The new format, similar to the New Home Source platform, allows builders to better showcase their homes and communicate offers to agents.
Agent outreach is a priority for the BDX in 2013 and a big priority for builders. Agents represent the “repeat home buyer” and as the BDX expands its relationships with local MLS organizations we’ve seen an increase in traffic and ad impressions.
By advertising on NHS Pro builders have an opportunity to reach this typically “local” audience with unique and relevant advertising. Promoting an agent sales program or grand opening event can convert web traffic to foot traffic and provide measurable results. More importantly, builders are reaching active agents with buyers that need a home, which is a great advantage of subscribing to NHS Pro or one of our MLS partners.
For the past few days we’ve been testing ad performance for local builders and while volume is still building for some markets, we’re seeing consistent performance of a .20 click through rate (CTR). Performance for individual campaigns ranged from a .44 to a .07 and a median performance of a .19 CTR. I’m pleased to see that non-agent specific messages would perform so well and anticipate more targeted messagin to show stronger results.
The new NHS Pro allows BDX to clearly identify and isolate active local agents. This means we can target agents with specific messages and by using re-targeting we can reach them on the sites they visit the most such as celebrity gossip or college football.
If you’ve done online advertising to reach local agents, I’d love to hear about it. Whether it’s Facebook or a pay per click campaign I am interested in the goal and results. If you’d like to discuss marketing strategies to reach area realty professionals please contact us.
Thane Tennison is the Advertising Manager for the BDX and manages hundreds of home builder brands across a network of over a dozen real estate websites.
Before the holidays I reached out to my builders to discuss their year-end performance as well as other reports that BDX provides. These conversations were so rewarding as I helped some builders take advantage of tools to improve the performance of their listings and generate more leads.
I love working with my builders because so many of them make me laugh. In the end, it’s really all about the people and helping them each day.
Getting new shoes is nice. Getting a new baseball glove is even more exciting. Cars are cool, too. But, to me and millions of other Americans, building a home is the dream of dreams.