The Silent Generation & Senior Real Estate Marketing

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The Silent Generation…they were born between 1925 and 1945 and represent our aging population. According to a study done by the National Association of REALTORS®, they make up about 10 percent—the smallest segment—of the nation’s homebuyers and 16 percent of home sellers. But don’t be fooled, they still have significant buying power.

With a median age of 73, the Silent Generation consists of mostly retirees or those approaching retirement. As a result, their median household income is lower than other market segments. However, more than 30 percent have a household income of $85,000 or greater.
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Newspaper Marketing in 2021 is Still Valid.. Here’s Why

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When thinking of a newspaper, you might think of a boy on a bicycle throwing rolled-up papers onto people’s yards. In other words, newspapers tend to conjure up images of the past. However, they are not a thing of the past, despite the fact that many people believe them to be. Not everybody has access to the Internet, which means the newspaper remains an important source of news for many people. As such, newspaper marketing remains an effective way to reach another target audience. If you’re not convinced that newspaper marketing is worth the cost, consider the following benefits:

Benefits of Newspaper Marketing:

  1. Reach A Bigger Audience – Did you know that despite the fact that newspaper readership is declining, the average newspaper reaches a larger audience than the average half-hour long prime time TV show? TV commercials are still considered an effective way to reach a big audience, which means newspapers should be considered as such as well.
  2. Reach A More Attentive Audience – You can reach a lot of people marketing on the Internet. More than you can through newspaper marketing — and by a large margin. However, the people you reach through a newspaper are much more likely to engage with your marketing materials, especially when compared to Internet users, whose average attention span is roughly eight seconds. The consumers who read the ad in a newspaper will be more engaged with the message involved.
  3. Newspaper Ads Live Longer – One of the challenges of marketing online is that you have to get your timing just right. If you post content to social media at the wrong time, your audience will miss it. When you advertise in a newspaper, your readers will get to it eventually. A newspaper audience will read through the newspaper when they have the time — which means they’ll see your ad eventually.newspaper marketing
  4. Fewer Competitors – A newspaper can only hold so many advertisements. Your competition (and direct competition) will not be nearly as strong as it is when you market your business online. This also means that your ads are less likely to be ignored because of ads and clickbait.
  5. Newspaper Advertising Is Affordable – It costs less to reach a thousand newspaper readers than it does to reach that many people through other means. On top of that, newspaper advertising tends to be very flexible, making it easier to customize your ads to meet your budget.

Why Should You Trust Newspaper Marketing?

  1. People Trust Newspapers – There’s a major trust issue in this day and age. People no longer trust what they see on TV or what they read online. And creating brand trust, as you know, is crucial. “Fake News” as it were, has caused significant doubt to be cast over the media landscape. However, people still trust newspapers — far more than any other type of media. This might be due to the transparency of the text with no puns involved. Because people trust newspapers, they’re more likely to take your advertising seriously.
  2. Newspaper Readers Look For Deals – Many people who subscribe to a newspaper actually go through the ads and coupons looking for deals. This means that the newspaper is a great way to advertise a special promotion or discount. Online platforms using this method are considered “spam”.
  3. Newspapers Provide A Tactile Experience – It may not seem like anything worthy of note, but the fact that your audience can touch the newspaper makes a big difference. Studies have shown that the ability to touch the ad increases the response rate. It’s obviously psychological, but it has an impact on the reader’s purchase intent and engagement. That tactile quality is missing from most other forms of marketing, whether it’s TV commercials, billboards, or any kind of digital marketing.

Newspaper advertising continues to be an important medium for marketing. Read more here.

Why Should You Consider Newspaper Marketing?

There are plenty of reasons why newspaper marketing remains an effective way to reach an audience, even in 2021. Although many businesses are focusing a significant amount of their resources on digital marketing, it’s vital that you consider all marketing channels, both online and offline. A balanced marketing strategy is the most successful strategy, after all. As such, be sure to consider newspaper marketing as part of your advertising strategy.

homebuilder marketing

Home Builder Marketing Tips To Drive Traffic And Sales

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Any ad agency executive doing homebuilder marketing has undoubtedly heard these words from her clients, “we need more traffic.” And while there’s no magic bullet for homebuilder marketing that’s going to drive a specific number of visitors to a sales center in a given week, don’t underestimate the power of partnerships and focused events.

Drive On-Site Traffic With An Event

Recently, we harnessed the weight of one of our media partners to pull off a successful grand re-opening for a homebuilder in Chicagoland. With a property that has been underway for more than 10 years, we were looking for a way to reinvigorate the community and attract new people to the site. The builder was opening new models and we used that as our launch pad.

Learn How To Tell Your Partner’s Story

Capitalize On A Strong Media Partnership

With a limited budget, we partnered with a multimedia company with a local focus to develop a comprehensive marketing plan. The media mix spanned digital, print, email, and even public relations. For two weeks leading up to the event, we dominated suburban news pages online that covered the geographic area we anticipated buyers would come from. This included high-impact interstials, overlays and page takeovers. Click-thru results were four times that of our standard buy.

Target The Right Audience

Layered on top of the digital program was an email campaign, both to past prospects and a new audience. We targeted based on geography, household income, age, gender, and even propensity to buy a home. And we didn’t forget brokers with our homebuilder marketing. We emailed them, as well, and the sales team did “boots on the ground” networking, too.

Build Credibility Through Public Relations

Publicity also played a role in the success of our grand re-opening. A few weeks prior to the event an article appeared in print and online highlighting all the benefits of the community and promoting the reasons to buy as told from a homeowner’s point of view. Then the weekend of the event, a front-page feature—complete with photos—graced the cover of the homes section of the newspaper. The message, of course, enticed people to stop by and visit the brand-new decorated model homes.

Reap The Rewards

Results were amazing. Traffic during the grand re-opening weekend was nearly 10 times that of the community’s weekly average. And, even more importantly, the builder sold more homes in those two weeks than it had the five months prior.

Of course we can’t guarantee an on-site event supported by a strong media partnership will always garner these results. But in this case, it definitely was the right combination for a successful homebuilder marketing plan.

To learn more about how a strategic marketing program can increase traffic and sales at your communities, call Stevens & Tate Marketing at (630) 627-5200 or visit our website at stevens-tate.com.

b2b marketing strategy

Integrating Story Branding With Your B2B Marketing Strategy

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Marketers have realized that their audiences’ attention spans are getting shorter by the day. In an effort to get it back, they resort to anything to engage them: humor, sex, etc. However, it is one thing to get involved in a commercial and another to get involved in a brand. Successful brands market by forging a deeper emotional connection using story branding which is a part of attraction marketing.

In a technique called The Hero’s Quest, they create a story with a hero, a conflict, and a resolution. The hero has a certain drive like love that leads him to action past certain barriers and eventual conquest. Generating emotional connection with the story is what sells. To be successful in B2B marketing strategy, make your brand the hero of your own story.

Where story branding and marketing integrate:

Distinction

Consumers have vast amounts of choice today but are drawn to the one they can relate to. Distinction is vital in any marketing strategy. A good, realistic brand story enhances a brand’s overall presence regardless of its competitive position in the industry. The right perception hits the audiences’ emotional quotient, tipping it in your favor. Wrapping up your brand in a more meaningful story context further adds value to it. To fellow businesses, buying your product will mean getting higher utility compared to the others in the competition.

Humanizing your brand

A successful B2B marketing strategy is one that humanizes your brand. A brand story cannot be underestimated in doing the job. Individual experiences like those of Steve Jobs, when fed into a company message, go a long way in personalizing and even achieving celebrity like status for your brand. You can use employee or your founder experience for this. Although you cannot have complete control of your story, a little positive twist helps to strengthen it by making it more interesting. Your marketing strategy is even boosted further as a result. A story should be a corporate persuasion tool that leads your audience to you.

Read more on 4 Strategies For Improving Your B2B Customer Experience.

Emotion is more compelling than a straight fact

In spoken word, good oratory skills are regarded highly and can be more compelling when they involve more emotion than fact. Arousing an audiences’ emotion can create big turnaround in your brand path. The Royal navy for example, uses stories to boost confidence and productivity where it is expected of the military to have a tough, factual approach to communication. That B2B cannot use warm and emotive storytelling is not a true rationale. Make your story more willingly received and memorable to achieve greater marketing success.

Interplay

There is a two way exchange between telling a story and marketing success. Story branding strengthens your business whereas a good, stronger business performance reinforces your story. Similarly, poor performance becomes part of your brand story just as easily. A B2B marketing strategy can be shaped but success will always depended on perception. Story branding is one way of building this perception.

Crescent Cardboard

Crescent Cardboard retains Stevens and Tate to Revamp Marketing Efforts

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Crescent Cardboard, the recognized leader in manufacturing and marketing of paper and mat board products for the custom framing and art materials markets, has retained Stevens & Tate Marketing to revamp its marketing efforts to frame shops. The agency was brought on board to define Crescent’s unique selling proposition, create specific messaging for this select audience, and push that message out to frame shop owners and employees across North America. Through its Competitive Advantages Workshop, Stevens & Tate is narrowing down Crescent’s reasons to buy and making them easily understandable and memorable. The agency is developing a comprehensive outreach strategy that includes public relations along with partnering with trade media outlets to advertise to their captive audience both digitally and in print. To strengthen Crescent’s relationship with current customers and keep the company top of mind with prospects, Stevens & Tate is creating and implementing a lead nurturing program, as well. An ongoing inbound marketing program is being established that positions Crescent as a thought leader through blog posts, social media, and web content. In addition to adding resources to the website, Stevens & Tate is making the site more searchable through search engine optimization.

An industry leader for more than 100 years, Crescent offers a vast selection of museum-quality, conservation, and decorative matboards along with a variety of framing products and art supplies. The private and family-owned company maintains a global market presence responding to the needs of its customers wherever they may be.

targeted marketing

3 Ways To Use Targeted Marketing To Reach Qualified Prospects

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Imagine, if you will, walking out of a model home and before you know it…you see an ad for a builder just down the street appear on your cell phone. You think to yourself, “Hmmm…coincidence?” It’s not. With targeted marketing, you can pinpoint potential customers down to an address where they have visited.

Targeted marketing is nothing new. Agencies and companies have been doing it for years. First through direct mail, then via email, using data points such as zip code, gender, household income, marital status, and age. But now, we have the ability to narrow our scope even more to truly reach those most qualified to purchase.

Niche Marketing Through Social Media

Recently, a new client came to Stevens & Tate needing to attract more students to its private school. We discovered several factors that determined whether parents chose to send their children to this school. They could afford it. It was close to their home or work. And it provided the type of education they wanted for their child. To reach this very specific audience, we advertised on social media. Social media sites such as Facebook gather a great deal of information about their users from information the users provide themselves. These sites also monitor behavior patterns. As a result, we were able to do niche marketing, advertising to select neighborhoods around the school and in local employment corridors. And we focused our message on the benefits this private education offered. After the first month, the school recorded an increase in attendees to the parent information sessions.

Learn more about Effective Marketing Strategies For A Changing Economy.

Targeted Marketing On Radio? Yes.

One of Stevens & Tate’s clients needed to build ticket sales for its classical music concerts. After researching the prior season’s data, we discovered that the majority of concertgoers came from a 20-minute or less drive of the venue. So we incorporated online radio into the media mix to aim our message at those who would have an affinity for the brand. The beauty of this targeted marketing plan was that we could reach listeners with a preference for classical music. We were able to narrow down our audience not only to those who lived in a specified geographic area but also to those who exhibited classical music listening habits. The result was a 25 percent increase in year-over-year show attendance.

Hyperlocal Marketing Pinpoints Your Audience

For a Chicagoland homebuilder with a new property in the city, we wanted to reach home shoppers living near the neighborhood as well as those holding certain job titles. Rather than choose a medium to advertise on, we chose a very small group of people to reach out to. Using a digital hyperlocal marketing campaign, we were able to serve ads to a very niche market segment—including those who had recently used a home finder app. We served ads to these individuals multiple times via multiple vehicles including desktop, mobile and in-app ads; emails; social media newsfeeds; and native content based on online search history. Since launching the program, sales at the community have increased 50 percent.

These are just a few examples of the power of a targeted marketing campaign. And new digital technologies are being unveiled all the time. At Stevens & Tate, we partner with multiple media sources to devise just the right targeted marketing campaign for each of our clients. If you are looking for an agency that can help you move from a shotgun to a rifle approach to marketing, contact Stevens & Tate and see if we are a fit.

tiktok engagement group

How to Use TikTok to Reach Your Engagement Group: An Insight Into the Algorithm

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Arguably the primary goal of social media marketing is to reach as many people in your engagement group as possible and to interact with them. As such, it’s important that you establish a presence on social channels on which this is possible. While almost all businesses use social platforms like Facebook and Twitter, there are a few others to consider as well; for example, TikTok.

What Is TikTok?

TikTok is a video-based social platform that has exploded in popularity over the last couple of years. What makes the platform so unique is that users can only upload videos that are 15 seconds long. There is, however, an option to edit together multiple 15-second clips into a minute long video. It gained traction among teens because they could upload videos of themselves lip-syncing, doing comedy bits, and dancing. At first, the marketing opportunities on the platform seemed limited. However, the size of the audience simply cannot be ignored:

  • There are over one billion monthly active users worldwide.
  • There have been over 2.6 billion downloads of TikTok since its creation.
  • In January 2021, there were 62 million downloads of TikTok alone.
  • Users spend an average of 52 minutes on TikTok every day.
  • 83 percent of users have posted videos to TikTok.

TikTok’s advertising strategies are becoming more common. Read more here.

Why Should You Market On TikTok?

Advertising on social media platforms can cause numerous issues for users. The user experience can often be disrupted for the sake of the ad. Users on those platforms are often less likely to engage when annoyed by a barrage of advertising. TikTok is different in that ads are almost no different than the regular content posted on the platform. They can’t be longer than 15 seconds and they’ll appear on user feeds just like regular videos do. The user experience is not hurt because of this, as they appear just like other videos.

Why Should You Consider Using TikTok for Your Engagement Group?

Many people do not even realize they’re watching ads (especially if the content created by the brand is of particularly high quality). With this in mind, the following are just a few other reasons to consider using TikTok:

  • Reach younger generations – Younger generations rarely want to follow in the footsteps of their parents, which is why you won’t find a lot of Generation Z users on Facebook or Twitter. Instead, you’ll find them on TikTok, which is where a lot of Millennials are fleeing to as well. If you’re looking for a younger audience, TikTok is where you’ll find them.
  • Multiple marketing options – Despite the platform’s limitations (which were by design), there are still a few ad types that you can choose from, including in-feed videos, branded augmented reality (such as custom filters, stickers, and more), TopView ads (which appear at the top of user feeds), branded hashtag challenges, and sponsored content.
  • Flexible CPM – The cost-per-thousand impressions becomes cheaper the broader your audience is. The more you target your audience, the more it will cost; however, the ads will be more effective at engaging users as a result.
  • A level playing field – TikTok’s algorithm is based on identifying content that’s based on each user’s location, preferences, and viewing patterns. That is why user-created content goes viral so often on TikTok and it is why marketing businesses have a better chance of going viral as well.
  • Better chances of engagement – Outside of the algorithm, TikTok also allows you to go live once you reach a thousand followers. What makes this option particularly effective is that you can see how many followers are currently active so that you can determine when the best time to go live is.

use tiktok to reach engagement group

Tips For Using TikTok To Reach Your Engagement Group

There are some serious benefits to using TikTok; however, your success depends on your ability to leverage the platform effectively. The following are a few basic tips for using TikTok:

  • Know your audience – Develop your buyer personas so that you can more effectively target users that will be more likely to engage.
  • Identify influencers – TikTok influencers often have millions of followers. You can get them to post sponsored content that their users will see.
  • Create challenges – TikTok users love challenges. Branded hashtag challenges are a great way to get people to engage with your brand without being overly promotional. It’s also a great way to generate user-made content.
  • Go live – Going live on TikTok at the right time can make it easier to engage with followers who will drop everything to view to ensure that they don’t miss out.

Leverage TikTok To Reach Your Engagement Group Today

TikTok has a massive audience and is growing significantly year-by-year. Due to the algorithm’s design, companies have a level playing field against other businesses that already leverage TikTok. Just keep in mind that if you focus on creating high-quality content that engages your target audience, the chances of success on TikTok will be much greater.

 

direct vs indirect marketing 2

How to Use Hubspot to Connect Social Media Accounts and Flourish Relationships

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HubSpot is one of the many CRM (customer relationship management) solutions that is available on the market; however, it is also considered one of the best. There are many reasons why you should consider implementing HubSpot, from the many features available to the customization options. It can even make managing your social media presence easier and more efficient than ever before. This is because HubSpot lets you connect social media accounts, thereby allowing you to access your social media pages from one centralized location.

How HubSpot Increases the Efficiency of Your Social Media Management

When it comes to social media marketing, there is a lot to do. Maintaining your social presence typically requires daily activity. Not only do you need to regularly post content to each platform, but you also have to engage with users. Whether it’s by addressing comments, answering questions, or contributing to other posts and conversations, the engagement is important. Not to mention that you’ll want to use each social media platform’s analytics to monitor your brand’s performance over time.

All of this requires that you log in to separate accounts multiple times throughout the day. By connecting your accounts to HubSpot, you can do everything you need to do while remaining on the HubSpot platform. As a result, managing your social media presence will be much more convenient. You’ll also be able to stay on top of what’s going on with your social media pages, thereby allowing you to make changes andhubspot social media engage with followers in a timely fashion. Instead of bouncing around from one social media account to the other, you can optimize your time better.

What Can Be Done With Social Media?

The following are just some of the things you can do when connecting your social media accounts to HubSpot:

  • Publish new content – You can easily publish or share new content on any of your accounts from HubSpot with just a click of a button. In fact, you can even schedule when you want new content to be published. This means you can set up a publishing schedule for all your social media pages for the upcoming month and not worry about it.
  • Monitor your social mentions – Using HubSpot, you can track engagements with your brand automatically. Simply choose what keywords you want to track so that you can monitor social mentions. Not only does this allow you to have a finger on the pulse of your brand reputation and awareness, but it gives you a chance to respond quickly if there are ever any negative mentions.
  • Track relevant metrics – Monitoring the performance of your social media pages and of the content you’re posting is crucial to determining how effective your marketing efforts are. You can use HubSpot’s metrics to monitor your performance on various social media platforms.

Here are five additional reasons to use HubSpot for your business.

How to Connect Social Media Accounts

The benefits of being able to manage your social media accounts from one location are obvious. But actually setting up your HubSpot solution to be able to do so is a different matter. Fortunately, it’s not that difficult. The following are the steps you should take to connect your social media accounts to your HubSpot account:

  • Go to the main settings page on HubSpot.
  • Navigating through the menu, select Marketing and then Social.
  • Click on Connect account on the top right of the page.
  • Choose which accounts you want to connect.

Depending on the social media account you choose, you may have to take additional steps. For Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn, the process is pretty self-explanatory. For Twitter, you’ll need to authorize the app and then select whether you want all publishing data to be reported or just the data collected from posts published on Twitter through HubSpot.

Finally, if you’re connecting your YouTube account to your HubSpot account, you’ll need to make sure your account is a brand channel not set on private, and that you have at least one video uploaded.

Managing Your Social Media Accounts

Managing all of your different social media pages can be a challenge, especially if you have more than one social media account (which you should). However, maintaining your social presence is critical to your ability to keep followers engaged and to broaden your audience online. Fortunately, HubSpot makes it much easier, and therefore less time-consuming, to manage all of your social profiles from one centralized location.

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How to Increase your Social Media Presence in 2021

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Social media usage has increased exponentially over the years, to the point where there were over 3.6 billion people using social media in 2020. This number is expected to grow by almost a billion more within the next five years. Social media has become a part of everyday life for most people, especially during the pandemic. As such, maintaining a strong social media presence has become even more essential to the success of your business than ever before. Keeping this in mind, the following are a few tips on how you can increase your social media presence in 2021:

1. Interact with your followers

The easiest way to build your audience on social is to engage with your existing followers. The more engaged they are, the more likely they are to share your content with others, thereby driving growth organically. As such, you need to interact with your followers on a daily basis, whether it’s posting new content, asking questions, responding to questions, or engaging in discussions with your followers. The moment you stop being active is the moment your followers will forget about you.

2. Host contests

Encouraging people to engage with your brand isn’t always easy. Not everyone will take the time to post replies to your questions or comments. The most you might get out some people is a like or two. However, one of the most effective ways to get people to engage is by hosting a contest on your social media platforms. For instance, a caption contest or a photo contest. You could also allow your audience to vote for the winners themselves. If there’s a prize at stake, more people will be willing to engage. You could even require them to follow you in order to participate.

3. Create video contentSocial Media Video

Humans are visual creatures, which means that their attention is easier to capture and hold using visual content, especially in the form of video content. Both long-form and short-form videos are popular, as evidenced by the success of video-based social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok. Even platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and even Twitter, have embraced video content creation. Video content also makes it easier to deliver information as well as show off the personality of your brand, making it easier for audiences to relate on a personal level

 

Using Storytelling In Social Media

4. Avoid sales pitches

Social media is not the place to advertise new products and services. If you’re constantly trying to pressure followers into buying something, they will eventually unfollow you. They’re already bombarded by ads everywhere else they go (both online and offline), the last thing they want is to voluntarily subject themselves to even more of them. Use your social media presence to build relationships, not sales.

5. Build relationships with influencers

Influencers are people with massive audiences on social media. By building a relationship with a social media influencer that’s relevant to your industry, you can gain access to their audience. For example, they can post a product review or even a link to your content on their page, thereby increasing brand awareness substantially.

6. Use your analytics

The last thing you want to do is to pour time and effort into your social media presence only to see it have little impact. Understanding where to focus that time and effort is incredibly important. Use your analytics tools (most social platforms offer their own tools that you can use) to monitor various performance metrics. Doing so will allow you to identify what types of content appeals to your audience, which social channels your audience uses most, what time of day you should post to reach the biggest audience and more.

7. Live stream events

People love live stream content because it allows them to interact with an actual person on video in real-time. Not to mention that live content attracts more viewers due to the fear of missing out. You can also use live stream events to capture new leads (by requiring viewers to RSVP). Some events you can live stream include new product launches, interviews, Q&As, behind-the-scene tours, panels, and more.

8. Promote your social pages

Don’t just assume that customers and leads will find you on social media. Direct them to your pages wherever you can. You can do this by adding social buttons and links to your website, to your emails, and to local online directories. You can even advertise your social presence on your business cards, newsletters, physical media ad copy, TV commercials, and more.

 

These are a few tips to help you increase your social media presence this year. When it comes to maintaining an engaging presence, remember that you must stay active and consistent. Understand that when it comes to social media, the goal is to engage your audience, not to close sales. Only then will your social media presence grow.

Village Green

Village Green Real Estate and Development hires Stevens and Tate Marketing to Help Meet Expansion Goals

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Village Green Real Estate and Development has added Stevens & Tate Marketing to its team, handing over the advertising reigns for its senior living properties. The agency is tasked with developing a strong marketing program to meet expansion goals for The Carolina Highlands and The Carolina Inn. Marketing both together, Stevens & Tate is repositioning them as one all-inclusive senior living environment in the Village Green neighborhood of Fayetteville, North Carolina. During its Competitive Advantages Discovery process, Stevens & Tate found each property has a unique selling proposition yet both share several reasons to buy. New messaging combines both to create an overarching brand with the ability to promote properties individually. Stevens & Tate is mixing traditional media such as newspapers, direct mail, and directories with digital and social media campaigns plus outreach emails to communicate with seniors as well as their adult children. Google Ads are a key component to reaching all audiences who are actively seeking more information on independent and assisted living. Complementary designs visually tell the all-inclusive story in new brochures and on all-new websites.

The Carolina Highlands and The Carolina Inn are operated by Village Green Real Estate and Development. As part of the Village Green neighborhood—Fayetteville’s senior living destination—they offer access to a continuum of care with independent living in The Carolina Highlands, assisted living at The Carolina Inn, and skilled nursing and rehab.