Thane Tennison

Privacy Policy For Home BuildersAs the BDX continues to expand its advertising solutions we’ve noticed many builders do not have a privacy policy clearly accessible on their website. This is an important if not often overlooked feature for a professional website.

The privacy policy serves as a disclosure, informing consumers of what data can be collected as they visit the website. If your website is designed to capture first party information such as a name, email, address, and/or any financial information it definitely needs a privacy policy that outlines how that data is captured and what is done with it.

Sites that use third party tracking data or vendors such as Google Analytics, Google AdSense, BDX BeBack or CRM solutions also need to have a privacy policy accessible on every page.

How California’s Privacy Laws Affect Your Business– No Matter What State You Are In

The state of California’s laws around privacy policies applies to any website that collects data about Californian residents. The act has a very broad scope, well beyond California’s border. Neither the web server nor the company that created the web site has to be in California to be under the scope of the law. The web site only has to be accessible by California residents. This means that if you build in Florida but have traffic from consumers in California your website needs to adhere to those laws regarding privacy and disclosure.

Fortunately there are several tools and templates available for companies to use to develop their own privacy policy. Your web developer should also be able to help with language and include a privacy policy as a standard part of their operation.

To review privacy policy templates click:  https://www.freeprivacypolicy.com/

By Thane Tennison, BDX Senior Advertising Manager

As a publisher, I work with hundreds of different builders and agencies all trying to gain a competitive edge in the online space. Sometimes that edge is obvious like adjusting creative to improve Click Through Rate (CTR) and drive lower Cost Per Clicks (CPCs).  Sometimes, it’s less revealing like understanding which channel yields better conversions and ultimately a lower $/lead regardless of the upfront spend.

Oftentimes agencies ask, “Why should I buy display advertising from you when I can get it from Google?”  It’s a legitimate question, Google and other Ad Exchanges provide a wealth of sites and a range of products from paid search and “contextually relevant” placement to keyword targeting and a seemingly attractive pricing model for Pay Per Click.

If I were a marketing team looking to drive traffic at the very top of the funnel display, an exchange like Google might make sense. However, for a more targeted media placement I often find that a direct buy has significant advantages.

PREMIUM PLACEMENT:

The main difference between a direct buy and a remnant network exchange is just that – it is remnant inventory. Publishers with direct clients are incentivized to provide the best placements for optimal performance and there are a number of tools at their disposal to help optimize the campaign. Publishers can optimize a buy by booking premium positions, managing ad priorities, frequency capping, day parting etc.

The exchange networks simply look at impressions available as well as the yield opportunity that your ad will get clicked vs. another ad in their network. This means if you’re not constantly managing your bid, keywords and testing new creative you could be at a significant disadvantage. At the BDX we have insights into creative that works and creative that doesn’t. A few times a month we help a builder achieve 4x lift in click thru just by making adjustments to the art.  With exchanges, the art would run as is and you might find that you’re having to pay more for that click since the exchange is going to need to serve more impressions to secure that revenue. A low CTR not only means you may pay more per click but you’re also competing against the yield they can make from every other advertiser competing for that customer.

TARGETING:

Networks have limitations in their targeting abilities by relying on keywords and the contextual relevancy of the website. However in real estate – especially new home construction – these networks alienate about 50% of the home shoppers who are relocating into a market.  If I’m a local builder in Austin advertising on Google targeting real estate websites I’ll reach consumers in Austin but I won’t reach consumers moving from Dallas, Houston, L.A., Chicago or D.C. into the Austin market.

We recently ran an analysis of traffic by market and the results are clear; traffic on a market level works in concentric circles. In Austin, about 50% of the traffic is within market (people moving from one side of town to the other) another 30% of the traffic is from neighboring cities (i.e. Dallas, San Antonio, Houston) and 20% from consumers outside of Texas.  In Texas, these markets are hundreds of miles apart and if I’m a local builder I have zero brand equity with a consumer from Dallas or Houston and much less from someone moving from Atlanta or LA.

What was even more interesting is when we looked at clicks by each of these groups. People living in Austin were the least likely to click the ad.  We saw the greatest click thru from consumers out of market looking for information and shopping home builders in Austin.

PERFORMANCE:

We’ve looked at the Google Analytics of several builders and have a predictable level of performance across each of our advertising channels. This allows us to keep pricing competitive and ensure we’re delivering meaningful value to our clients. With Ad Networks, a builder might receive a low CPC but we typically see much higher bounce rates and fewer meaningful actions. So while you might save on the front end it could cost you more on the backend where it really counts.  Obviously at some point the economics will work but it’s important to differentiate quantity vs. quality.

These factors are some of the reasons many exchanges have reverted to focusing on retargeting which shows significantly stronger conversion vs. blanketing a host of sites with ads.  The metrics simply didn’t warrant continuation and they’ve had to create solutions that provide better value. Even with the impact of Retargeting for the online exchanges we’ve identified a whole set of nuances specific to that medium.

Exchanges do have their place and may make sense for specific campaigns or clients that can afford continued active management. However, I think most builders who try to “save” by taking their advertising in house often lose out in reach and performance.

For information regarding online marketing and a review of your current digital marketing plan please contact us at info@thebdx.com.

Thane Tennison is the Senior Advertising Manager for the BDX and manages hundreds of home builder brands across a network of over a dozen real estate websites.

This fall, BDX is taking a special in-depth look into Online Advertising and best practices.  If you’ve never attended one of our webinars before- you’re in for a treat! Each webinar in this series is presented by our very own Sr. Advertising Manager, Thane Tennison. He works with hundreds of builders across the country to deliver successful display advertising solutions. Thane is also no stranger to the BDX blog- check out some of his insights here.

Have the opportunity to ask questions and learn more about BDX’s advertising solutions and what it can do for your business. Take a look at the upcoming topics below and be sure to sign up to reserve your spot now!

Advertising on Social Networks – Target, Promote, and Boost                             SEPTEMBER 24th

Register Here

The most successful social media users aren’t just posting content on Facebook and Twitter. Most are capturing mind share by using the various advertising opportunities that are available on these social networks. This session will discuss these paid placements. What are your options? What type of ROI are other builders seeing? And where should you start?

Tracking Online Advertising Performance – Measurement and ROI                   OCTOBER 22nd

Register Here

If you’re like most builders, online advertising plays a key role in your marketing strategy. If you are investing your time and marketing budget on display advertising, this is a session you can’t afford to miss (literally!). During this webinar we will be talking about best practices for measuring online advertising performance: What metrics matter? What is a good Click-Through-Rate (CTR) for your ads?

Hyper-Retargeting – Taking Your Re-Marketing Strategy to A New Level          NOVEMBER 20th

Register Here

If you aren’t currently using re-targeting as a marketing strategy then you’ve likely experienced it first-hand when you are online. But retargeting is more than just capturing visitors who came to your website? What if you could retarget based on a specific piece of content they read or a specific home plan they viewed? Or even specific pages on third part sites like NewHomeSource.com? Join us for this webinar to learn more.

 

Interested in working with BDX? We have a full suite of research resources and tools that are available for our clients and are happy to talk with you about how we can help shape your business. For more information, contact BDX at Info@thebdx.com.

By Thane Tennison, Advertising Manager, BDX

At BDX,  we strive to be pragmatic and let the data dictate the story. It’s exciting when you can double the ad performance of your clients and fundamentally change the way they think about online marketing.  That’s all we’ve ever tried to do – maximize performance.

Today the market is booming; builders are short on land and big on breaking ground. We launched new Grand Opening Packages earlier this year to help builders maximize their reach and create consideration for communities with little maturity and no brand equity. Many builders are seizing upon the boom, launching new online programs and really establishing an online presence in the marketplace.

Amazingly, others consider this increased activity as a hindrance to business. “We have too many leads!” “We have too much business! I don’t really need marketing anymore.” It’s an interesting dilemma. Advertising should drive sales, but if I’m hitting my sales goals do I need to advertise?

Does the lead car, set the cruise and enjoy the ride? No, work and forethought are required for market position. It’s easy to forget that while business is good everyone is doing just as good.  Now is the time to create consideration for search and give consumers a reason to shop your homes. Over 40% of consumers shopping any given market are relocating from outside areas. These consumers have little familiarity with local home builders and short sited savings can lead to long-term losses. Consider the buying cycle for new homes ranges from 9 – 12 months; many consumers shopping today will be buying after the market begins to cool.

We work with many builders who chose to create a strong online presence during the downturn and are now seeing the fruits of their labor. If you’d like more information about how builders are improving their web traffic through display advertising contact us at info@thebdx.com.

Recently, BDX/BHI has entered into a local contest to benefit the Austin Area Food Bank. BuildASign (a local Austin company) hosted CANville, a community-wide food drive to benefit the Food Bank’s “Summer Meals That Matter” program.  BuildASign invited Austin area companies to join them by constructing an Austin landmark entirely out of food items.

Each company had to create one structure of an Austin landmark using a minimum of 1,000 food items. BDX/BHI decided to recreate the famous “Greetings from Austin” mural that can be found downtown.  Our version of the giant “postcard” is composed of over 1,300 cans and stands about 7 feet tall! All items will be donated to the program campaign, along with a monetary donation from the company.  The structures are being judged based on creativity with the winner being announced at the Austin Area Food Bank on Thursday, July 25th.

While most of our time each day is spent supporting our builders to market and sell their new homes, it was fun for our employees to get in on some building action themselves! And of course, the fact that the fruits (and veggies) of our labor went to support a good cause was very motivating.

Leading the pack during the design and construction was our very own Advertising Manager, Thane Tennison, who in addition to lots of can shopping worked furiously with the rest of his team to complete the massive structure by the deadline.

Want to follow the action? “Like” CANville Austin’s facebook page to keep track of the competition and to see behind the scenes photos of what other Austin landmarks are being built.

***UPDATE*** While there were some worthy opponents, as of Thursday evening BHI/BDX has taken the golden can award! We swept first place and are delighted with the outcome of the contest. Watch out CANville 2014-we’ll be back!