Marketing Home Products

There is a huge demand for clients wanting to re-evaluate their company branding efforts by starting with their websites. As we mentioned in Time Brings Diamonds and Rust, the internet stands still for no one and that usually means built-in obsolescence. Here is an evaluation process you can use to get started in the right direction.

1. WHO is your target market? Stay focused on this because it is too easy to get caught up with design issues and content generation including number of “hits” and “unique visits”, which may throw you off target. Make sure your content materials zero in on your chosen audience with laser-like precision. If your intended audience is only 1000 people, you can be realistically happy with 5-12 website visits per day, provided of course you include your other marketing activities in the mix to achieve positive results. Just remember that even though you may not be interested in general visitors, the ease with which the search engines find your well crafted content is what puts your information at the top of the search lists – never a bad thing in the eyes of a prospect!

2. WHAT website design factors or interactive elements should you include or trash given the technology changes or previous missteps in design? This relates to the target audience website experience – something that thrills them or just makes getting around the site a little easier. Think about visitor usability. This includes the size and class of the font you use, the background color and the placement and labeling of your navigation links. In spite of home pages with flash animations, Google’s homepage is still the ultimate model for speed, simplicity and usability.

3. WHERE should you position your company’s message? Should you participate in blogging, Podcasting or social bookmarking for more interactivity?  Follow up those answers with Dragnet-like clarity (“just the facts, m’am”), just to keep you grounded so you aren’t diluting your message or opening a Pandora’s Box of compliments and criticism. Internet transparency is a double-edged sword.

4. WHEN are you going to update your content and does your message convey a sense of timely and contemporary relevance to your target audience?
5. WHY do you have a company web presence? While the marketing benefits of having a presence someplace in the world 24/7 are obvious, the answer to this question will help you get focused on your company message and how you want your prospects to see you.
 

“If she has to ask, it’s too late . . .”

We are referring of course to one of the credos of marketing to women. Single women to be exact and for the first time in America’s history, they are becoming a more important segment in the home-buying market. While married couples still make up 60 percent of homebuyers, this group lost 10 percentage points in the past 12 years. America’s homebuilders and realtors should pay attention.

According to a New York Times article earlier this year, 51 percent of American women were living without a spouse in 2005, up from 35 percent in 1950 and 49 percent in 2000. Married couples have now become the minority. To respond to this cultural shift, builders have got to design and construct homes specifically for this market and the marketing strategy had better be smart, sophisticated, and segmented. It will pay to understand not only the gender, but also the numbers and the variability among groups within the female gender.

According to the Times article, the trend is occurring because women are marrying later, living unmarried with partners, widows are living longer, and divorced women are waiting longer to remarry. Post 1960’s, cultural trends of flexible lifestyles and independence have also been attributed to the emergence of the single women home buyer.

Some home building and marketing factors to consider: There is one major difference between the genders when it comes to making a large purchase like a home. Men see the home buying transaction as a matter-of-fact business deal, while women view the process as “wanting to connect” and want to treat the transaction within “a relationship.” The point is that home building is not just a widget game anymore. Builders must understand the concept of relating to women’s needs and creating a relationship with them first.

A Harvard University study, “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2006,” found that single women prefer homes in the city when compared to the more family oriented suburbs and they tended to shy away from new construction (which begs for answers!). They also buy smaller homes or less expensive condominiums for low maintenance, which offers them a greater sense of security. Builders are starting to catch on by offering lighter color schemes and focusing on kitchen upgrades, but this only scratches the surface and negates the current research.

Home builders and realtors will also need to remember that while marketing programs can be shaped around the female gender commonalities and targeted towards single women home buyers, they need to be refined within the different age groups based on their particular time in life. As futurist Faith Popcorn put it back in 2000, “if you’re marketing to one of their lives, you’re missing all the other ones.” Don’t think pink–just be smart, sophisticated and segmented.

Americans love relaxing outdoors and it’s a growing opportunity according to a new white paper, “Outdoor Living: A New Landscape for Consumers,” recently released by Kleber & Associates along with research partner, Standpoint Marketing Research. With spring well underway here in Atlanta, we notice retailers wanting to cash in on the outdoor living trend, but it’s clear they don’t all understand the market and its potential.

To seize the growing market demand, some outdoor products players are expanding inventories and forming interesting alliances. These include well-known direct mail cataloger Smith and Hawken and the company’s recent collaboration with Target stores. California-based retailer Restoration Hardware is also debuting a first ever direct mail catalog devoted only to patio furniture. And many more are following these leads..

What’s driving this multi-billion dollar market? One recent study completed by the NAHB shows that aging boomers plan to stay in their current homes. This means more disposable financial resources are being dedicated to upgrades to their current property. Many of these upgrades and remodels are focused on expanding outdoor living spaces. As noted in our recent research, the outdoor living marketplace comprises a huge product selection that appeals to a wide geographic and socioeconomic audience and taps into several major lifestyle trends including nesting and the emergence of the “Outdoor Room”.

Where are the opportunities within this booming market?

Industry Professionals: According to the K&A Outdoor Living Survey, 25 percent of homeowners (over 6 million households) with an income of $75,000 or more, are likely to consider hiring a design team to help create an outdoor living space. The majority of these homeowners would hire a landscape architect, but kitchen and bath designers were requested as well. Since the concept of “outdoor living spaces” is still vague in many homeowners’ minds, the opportunity exists for team collaborations between designers/architects to educate, design, and sell upscale outdoor living projects that appeal to homeowners such as outdoor kitchens.

Who doesn’t like to cook and entertain outdoors? Our white paper shows that many want to do this in style. There will be “an acceleration of activity in cabinetry/storage, cook tops/ranges, refrigerators, sinks and countertops/islands over the next five years. . . we are in the beginning phases of the outdoor kitchen cycle,” as noted in the report.

Retailers: Most retailers offer a fragmented selection of outdoor products. The research shows that there is an opportunity for retailers to specialize exclusively in the outdoor lifestyle. Pursuing a showroom model combining the elements of outdoor living with that of a traditional garden retail center and including outdoor kitchens, outdoor furniture, and décor with show-and-tell landscaping ideas is the key. We envision something along the lines of what Bass Pro Shop or Cabela’s has done for sportsmen. Year-round outdoor lifestyle shopping for a large variety of quality items with help from designers will be important to meet shoppers’ needs.