This week on The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast, Barbara Wray of Wick Marketing joins Greg and Kevin to discuss how critical it is for home builders to build trust with homebuyers.
In a study on what homebuyers want builders to know, Wick Marketing found that homebuyers were not finding the trust they desired from home builders. Barbara explains,
“…although we learned that 77% of the buyers prioritized trust as something that they wanted to experience with their homebuilders, we only had 21% say that they highly trusted their homebuilders.”
When builders do not establish trust with homebuyers, it can negatively impact business in many ways. Barbara says,
“Among many issues, there is if you think about it for a minute and you’re operating a business where only 21% of your customers highly trust you, what else is that doing? One, it’s likely getting in the way of making sales. But if that’s how your brand is regarded over the long haul, it devalues the brand. Midterm, it is making life more difficult for your staff if they’re managing social media comments or PR, if they’re the construction superintendent trying to deal with the person as the home is being built, or customer experience or customer service teams that are managing things as they come up or through the walkthrough.”
As home builders work on creating trust with buyers, they need to keep the focus on the customer. Barbara says,
“…it’s just always about the customer, and the better we understand the customer, the better we can market to them, sell them, and end up having more happy customers. So, keep them first and foremost in our thinking and do what we can do to build trust with them and create a better experience.”
Listen to this week’s episode to learn more about how essential trust is during the homebuyer journey.
About the Guest:
Barbara’s 18 years of expertise in driving results for homebuilding and master plan development clients informs work across Wick Marketing, an Austin, Texas-based strategic marketing agency.
She currently serves on the ULI Austin Council for Master-Planned Communities, and the ULI Community Development Council (Silver Flight). Barbara has been invited to judge several industry awards competitions, including in 2022, the NAHB’s most prestigious awards program, The Nationals.
Barbara presented on effective social media marketing strategies for the 55+ consumer on a panel at IBS 2020 and will be moderating a consumer insights panel on the main stage at IBS 2024 in February as well as presenting relevant research insights in the 55+ Central. She shared Wick’s recent consumer research findings at PCBC in 2023, has hosted and contributed to numerous industry webinars, including the NAHB 55+ Council, as well as various podcasts and publications, and notably, The Builder’s Daily with the now iconic and fun caricatures.
Wick Marketing, established in 1995, develops and executes brand and marketing strategies. Noteworthy real estate work includes the Skyline and Citro master-planned communities by Tri Pointe Homes, Van Tuyl’s Wickenburg Ranch, Crown Communities’ Amblebrook at Gettysburg, several multifamily developments by Framework Group, GFO Home and others. Texas’ largest workers’ compensation provider, Texas Mutual Insurance Company, has been a client of the firm for 20 years.