Advertising, Branding, Design, Marketing Strategy

How a Home Page tells a Brand Story.

By
June 14, 2014

Many in the Building Industry have candidly asked us…

What’s up the the Roxburgh.com home page?

Why do you change your home page so often and why those images? They are…well – different.

Yes they are. And here is why…

Sharing a  brand story.

The most powerful opportunity to share a brand story is a brand’s website. This is a peice of real estate that should not get stuck in a time-warp. Digital is evolving and a brand that is current evolves with it.  Add to this that images that stir your imagination establish an unconscious connection faster than any block of copy ever could. Where better to demonstrate these marketing concepts than on the home page of our own branded website?Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015)?

The brand story of Roxburgh is always a story of being captivating, evocative, and soulful for our clients’ success.

Our home page changes with unexpected imagery that tells life stories that pique curiousity and emotion. As a marketing firm, we are known for great design that connects to customers. No matter the medium, relationships start when a product becomes noticably relevant to a person.

KEY POINT: Marketing at its core is about sharing our clients’ offerings in ways that:Watch movie online The Transporter Refueled (2015)

1. Get Noticed

2. Get Liked

3. Get Remembered

4. Get Acted Upon

And while the customer journey may start in Social, Outdoor, or Search…it will lead to your website.

Stories roll out over time and flow in the digital space.

The Roxburgh home page is telling our story and thanks to technology it changes as easily as we change. Still, there is a constant in each image that ties back to what our brand is all about. The pursuit of connection and emotion through stories.

KEY POINT: Today being nimble is being strong. Always stay consistent in messaging and ‘on brand’ to gain momentum.

The story so far for your enjoyment

Here are our home pages so far. Click the title below each home page  to learn more about the thinking behind each design. It’s the careful intention that we put into all our work that makes it get noticed – which is the first step. [slider id=”0206″]

Content / Social Media / Email Marketing, Marketing Strategy

Social Media Update (Facebook)

By
January 10, 2014

One of our favorite research sites, Pew Internet, has just released their 2013 Social Media Update. And amid the flurry of articles about how Facebook is “so uncool” and “dead and buried.” Pew Internet opens strongly with:

“42% of online adults use multiple social networking sites, but Facebook remains the platform of choice.”

 

Facebook may be “uncool.” But with 79% of 30-49 year-olds and 60% of 50-64 year-olds using Facebook, it’s feeling very cool for our clients in real estate.

Yes – Social is constantly changing, but for 2014 this is something that can’t be ignored.

 

Facebook is becoming even more like a ‘traditional’ media channel.

 

Looking at Facebook Insights data for our clients over the past few months, we’ve seen

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Marketing Strategy

Warning: You’re Losing Money by Not Following a Marketing Plan.

By
December 3, 2013

Our industry is beginning to rock again. You’ve made it through the down time; lots of things are in-play and now …let’s kick it up a few notches in the new year.

Slow Down to Speed Up

For 2014, how about starting with a marketing plan that really works?  We’re not talking about a project report that let’s someone tick off a checkbox and hustle onto the next “to-do”.

Instead, let’s create a living document that captures your best-thinking; guides marketing throughout the year; and raises effectiveness each quarter.streaming Swiss Army Man 2016 film

TAKEAWAY: Taking the time to slow down and really plan 2014, will get you to the end goal faster and with much less frustration/waste along the way.

In a File – doesn’t work

An Integrated Marketing Plan should be used throughout the year:

• Monthly -Review for nuances to increase results.
• Quarterly- Update the plan with performance metrics achieved and make adjustments to increase performance.
• Annually – Review progress and plan the coming year.

Marketing Plan Outline

What the plan looks like for each neighborhood, planned community, or builder will vary in scale and objectives, but there are a few constants.

1. Big Picture Strategic Objective. (Where do we want to go?)

2. Review. (Lessons learned and progress to date)

3. Set 2014 Goals & Objectives.

a. Drive Revenue.  Sales goals fundamentally drive most plans in the building industry

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Marketing Strategy

Random Act of Marketing Defined.

By
December 2, 2013

Random Act of Marketing (‘RAM’): an attempt to drive revenue, grow market share, increase brand awareness, grow community, or other business benefit that:

-does not integrate with other marketing and business tactics.
-can not be easily measured or justified.
-is not in the marketing plan.

We’ve been reading a lot lately about Random Acts of Marketing from Pam Moore of Marketing Nuts and other marketing experts. And while we’ve recognized RAMs over the years, we never gave them a formal name. We do know that they tend to muck things up.

Content / Social Media / Email Marketing, Marketing Strategy

6 ways to be ‘Social’ in Social Media.

By
November 14, 2013

Effective social media is rooted in being thankful and kind.

Social media is by definition ‘social’. Manners matter. To be successful in the social space, start by having a perspective of being thankful and kind. This is at the soul of social engagement whether it is virtual on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, etc. or in real life. (For reference here is our Google+ page to show what engagement can look like.)

google_plus

 Watch Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download

Here are 6 foundational guidelines that apply across social channels.

 Watch Full Movie Online Streaming Online and Download

3 Ways to be Kind

1. Speak when spoken to.

If someone asks you a question on Twitter or comments on your Facebook page – respond. They were kind enough to spend time on your content– be kind enough to notice. [TIP: Hootesuite is great for listening.]

2. If you can’t say something nice – don’t say anything at all.

Being negative on anything is a turn off. It’s fine to have an evocative point of view or respectfully disagree, just don’t be negative.

3. Be helpful.

Social media is about

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Branding, Building Industry Friends, Marketing Strategy

4 Steps to Launching a Brand (New Place)

By
November 1, 2013

Today brands communicate and interact like never before.  The voice, style and character of a strong brand are rooted in what is real and true. This is key to being authentically relevant and interesting to target customers.

At Roxburgh, we’ve successfully positioned hundreds of new home neighborhoods, master plan communities, building industry- related companies and more over the years.  What we’ve discovered is that there are four critical steps in launching a brand.

We call our process F.A.C.E., and it is designed for Places. That said, this marketing approach applies to any product.

Step 1: Find Out the Facts

Start by understanding the research and the land plan. Then – take a close personal look at what the property (or product) is, its context and its competition. The entire creative team being involved in the analysis leads to a variety of perspectives based on what is real.

(TIP: We’ve found that an intense and fast immersion process leads to the most creative solutions.)

In Step 1, we build the beginning of project Buyer Profiles, Vocabulary and USPs (unique selling propositions). Your goals may vary, but make sure you have concrete goals a for this Step.

Rick Fletcher MBK quote

Step 2: Assemble the Team in a Shared Vision

The objective of this Step is

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Branding, Content / Social Media / Email Marketing, Marketing Strategy

Google’s Hummingbird: What It Is & How It Impacts Marketing.

By
October 23, 2013

The Short Answer.

In September 2013, Google announced it had launched it’s new search algorithm called Hummingbird.

Currently, Google accounts for 67% of total US online searches1 .  Considering that 90% of home buyers searched online during their home buying process, how search engines select the information people receive is important to new home marketers.

When Hummingbird flew onto our radar, we headed over to one of our favorite blogs, Search Engine Land to get the low-down. They didn’t disappoint with two excellent posts. Our favorite highlights are below starting with first things first.

What is a Search Algorithm?

A search algorithm is ‘tech-speak’ for the recipe that a search engine, like  Google, uses to sort through billions of web pages and return what it thinks are the most helpful answers to users.

Google has tweaked its recipe over the years calling the changes by cute, non-threatening names such as Penguin and Panda. This time the name is still cute, but Hummingbird represents more than a “tweak” to a recipe. It’s a completely rebuilt engine that

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Content / Social Media / Email Marketing, Marketing Strategy

A Social State of Mind

By
June 17, 2013

A new study released by the Pew Research Center focuses on the demographics of social media users. Many of the results were as expected, however there were some surprising nuggets of information:

People from household incomes of $30,000 or less use social networking sites the most – 72%
Hispanics represent the largest ethnic group using social sites – 72%
Only 15% and 13% of respondents say they use Pinterest and Instagram, respectively (I expected the numbers to be a little higher)

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Building Industry Friends, Marketing Strategy, Real Estate

Campers In Line For Brightwater Release

By
February 28, 2013

With 2012 and January 2013 real estate data coming in, we have been cautiously optimistic about what has been going on in the Southern California market. Foreclosures are down, prices are going up and inventory is low. This trifecta in our post Great Recession world should create demand, however even we weren’t prepared for what has been happening at Woodbridge Pacific Group’s Brightwater Huntington Beach this week.

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Branding, Marketing Strategy

Is Grammar Still Sexy?

By
October 10, 2012

A couple of weeks ago, I saw this on one of my favorite blogs, and it made me laugh and got me thinking about the proper use of grammar in our frenetic-paced lifestyles. In the age of sound bytes, texting and communicating in 140 characters or less, does good grammar matter anymore? Does anyone still care?

As a literature major, marketing professional and someone who enjoys finding typos in restaurant menus, I care, but of course I am more than a little biased. If you want to be perceived as educated, thoughtful and as someone who can intelligently command the English language, then yes, pay attention to grammar and usage.
Under some circumstances, however, bad grammar can be more efficient and even advantageous. Brevity is king throughout many social media channels, and it has become universally understood and accepted that syntax and spelling fall by the wayside.

Where it really gets interesting is when copywriters create good campaigns based on bad grammar. When it’s done well, the copy does as was intended: it gets your attention and makes you pause on the message and creative a little longer than normal.

In some cases, as with the Got Milk? slogan, it takes on a life of its own and is copied ad nauseum (but that’s why it was so brilliant!)
The challenge today is that, since most of us consistently use bad grammar in our daily communications, will this type of disruptive advertising still be effective? To the point, would we even recognize bad grammar if we saw it?

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