Braun/Allison Inc. is CHBA BC and BC Homes Magazine’s Marketer of the Year!

We’re thrilled, ecstatic, delighted, downright tickled pink to share that Braun/Allison Inc. has been awarded the Marketer of Year Award for new residential construction in British Columbia from BC Homes Magazine and the Canadian Home Builders’ Association of BC (CHBA BC).

A rather large image of David Allison graces the cover of the magazine’s August/September issue, while a pieced together, life-sized version of the cover that the team had a little fun with – think eye patch and pirate goatee – is plastered on the boardroom wall.

BC Homes Magazine is the only province-wide magazine that keeps readers informed about B.C.’s residential construction industry, and we’re honoured to have been recognized for our work.

David will be the guest speaker at the upcoming award luncheon to be held September 24, 2010 at the Coast Coal Harbour Hotel (1180 West Hastings St.). Registration will begin at 11:30 followed by lunch at 12 p.m. and David’s keynote address at 1p.m.

Tickets are $75 and can be purchased here, or by calling the CHBA BC office at 604.432.7112

E-mail Rocks

Is e-mail marketing dead? Simply put, nope.

Here at Braun/Allison Inc. we truly believe that even in this fast-paced-always-bleeping-digital-age, traditional forms of media can still be very powerful. Combined with mobile campaigns, Facebook ads, blogs and the next newfangled marketing gizmo, traditional advertising, signage, brochures, etc., etc. are an important marketing tool.

The funny thing is, the realm of what constitutes traditional media keeps expanding as new stuff rolls in, so we’re constantly questioning what works. Today, marketing professionals largely agree that talking about e-mail as a traditional media makes sense.

That said, we’re big e-mail believers. It’s a direct message to a prospective buyer on a personal level. We’re seeing great results from this old-fashioned traditional tool on behalf of several clients. Here’s someone else who agrees: great post.

Honesty is the Best Policy

More and more the market is demanding transparency, so how real estate developers promote the homes they have for sale needs to be done differently.

Developers need to be innovative, informative and truthful.

Our client, real estate developer Intracorp, agrees. So we set out to create a product together that provides potential buyers with the facts and the appropriate knowledge to make an informed decision about their purchase.

We worked closely with the Intracorp team to write a book. After 30 years in the industry of building and selling homes, the folks at Intracorp knew they had picked up a few secrets and insider tips, and knew a bunch of other professionals who had insider dope to share too. The resulting book, Show and Tell, gives everyone access to the experts’ secrets of new home buying; from architects and interior designers, to mortgage specialists and realtors, this is the first time the entire real estate development industry has come together to dish the dirt.

It’s important for developers to establish themselves in the purchaser’s mind as a reliable and trustworthy company, but how they go about doing that is what we’re interested in. We think this honest and straightforward approach is pretty appealing.

Anybody can pick up a copy of Show and Tell, and whether they choose to purchase a home from Intracorp or another developer is entirely up to them. Regardless, by choosing to be bigger than itself and share its expertise in this manner, Intracorp is extending its brand in a way that is memorable and engaging but non-invasive. Further, the outreach doesn’t stop with a free book. YouTube videos, blog posts, Twitter feeds and more all help educate new home buyers, and help Intracorp build a brand that continues to offer helpful advice from non-partisan sources.

We need to see more of this kind of innovative thinking and marketing strategy from all developers. After all, a home is the biggest purchase most people will ever make. We’re ready to help do our part.

You can get a copy of “Show and Tell,” the free guidebook with new-home buying secrets, by visiting www.intracorp.ca.

Convincing the Old Boys that New Media makes sense

This is a duplicate post from David Allison’s column on RENX.ca, a Canadian Real Estate news website.

I’m in Toronto this week, and noticing some distinct differences between how real estate developers promote the homes they have for sale, compared to how things are done in Vancouver. But regardless of how you choose to promote your project, one thing is consistent. The buyers you are looking for are online. Are you?

“Research studies show that 9 out of 10 home buyers start their search online, even before contacting an agent,” says Matthew Slutsky, the man behind the popular Toronto/Vancouver/Calgary real estate development listing and map service called BuzzBuzzHome . “I first conceived of the idea for BuzzBuzzHome while working as VP Development for a Toronto land-developer/builder, and became frustrated with the lack of a publicly accessible online listing of all new residential developments,” he said to me over a cup of coffee last week. “So I quit my job and took a chance, and, well, it paid off. We have 35,000 visits a month now. And developers here are realizing the power of online to help sell homes.”

This mirrors our own experience at Braun/Allison Inc. for the real estate developers that we work with. Projects that combine traditional media channels along with online channels are finding a bigger audience, faster. And some of the results are startling. I’ve mentioned in this space before that we’ve had as much as 70% of our registrations for real estate projects come from Facebook advertising. And when we back up newspaper and outdoor with social media, blogs and online ads, we are able to find this sweet spot that makes the whole greater than the sum of the parts.

So what’s stopping the real estate development industry from embracing online channels wholeheartedly? Based on the conversations I’ve had here in Toronto this week, and my own experience in Vancouver and with projects all over the world, the answer is obvious. Age. The people running development companies are mostly older, and, while I am generalizing, they are scared of social media and most other online opportunities. Oh sure, they all realize they need a website. But start talking to them about web 2.0 or SEO or SEM or Social Media or any of the other tools we now have at our disposal, and they retreat back to the safety of what they know and understand. Print.

What’s an eager (younger) marketing director to do? How do you convince the old guard to take a chance and try something new? I have a couple of suggestions.

First, break it down into dollars and cents. Explain that for the cost of one full-page print ad you can launch an entire online program.

Next, spend your money wisely. While the most intriguing benefits of online advertising and social media are long-term, focus first on the immediate gratification angle. Use fast-result options like a gateway drug to get buy-in from the senior team. Facebook ads are an impressive and affordable option. So is BuzzBuzzHome. Start small with outlets like these, and gradually you’ll win them over.