With the most Wonderful Time of the Year is upon us, there are so many fun ways to incorporate the holidays and the seasons into your marketing strategy. Instead of backing off your efforts until the New Year, take advantage of seasonal sentiment by connecting with prospective buyers through companionship, appreciation and family! Here’s how:

Fall’s Bounty / Autumn Harvest. To celebrate Thanksgiving/The Harvest, hold a special event where visitors get $25 or $50 gift cards to local supermarket. Draw buyers to your locations by decorating your models or sales offices with hay bales, pumpkins, and bushels of apples. Serve seasonal foods and drinks like hot apple ciders and hot chocolate, pumpkin pie, pretzels, etc. And have face painters, balloons and pumpkin painting for kids. Top it off with the door prize being a chance to win a gift card for groceries for one year (maybe $5,000). E.g., Dinner’s On Us (For The Next Year!)

Taste of the Season. Play host to local restaurants/chefs as they prepare their favorite food and drinks or seasonal specialties in one of your state-of-the-art kitchens. They’ll give visitors a taste of the local dining and entertainment in the surrounding area, and get them excited for hosting the holidays in their own beautiful kitchen in one of your new homes!

Football/Basketball Seasons. Are you located near a college campus or in a city with a big professional team following? Is your local high school football team a major player? The holidays are prime time for getting together for the season’s biggest games, so have your sales associates wear team jerseys or team colors. Visitors during home game weekends can get entered to win football or basketball game tickets or other prizes. If the team is away, have the games playing on your sales center TV or offer fun incentives associated with big wins.

Holidays By the Water. Is your community located near an ocean or on the bay? Put a local spin on a holiday celebration or “Wave goodbye to 2017” with a Seafood Boil/Bake at one of your locations! An event like this will not only help you stand out from other new home communities, but show the type of lifestyle (and delicious foods!) that never go out of season when they live in your homes.

Christmas Village. For towns or areas boasting a unique culture, rich history or small business pride, hold a local art/crafts type festival at one of your communities. Invite local craftspeople to display their works for sale, and local boutiques or eateries to partake as well. It’s a great way to showcase the local area, while bringing everyone into your model homes and communities to enjoy it all. 

Holiday Food Drives. Turn your sales center or model home into a local drop-off for donations for an organization of your choice. i.e. Toys for Tots, the Salvation Army or local food drives for holiday meals. This helps show your involvement in the local community, and gets people through your door. The holidays present a time of heightened emotions, so tap into this side of your buyers by helping spread holiday cheer to those in need. 

Winter Wonderland of Sales/Santa’s in Town. Themes and events involving Santa can get the whole family involved – and make them more likely to come out and visit your communities. Host a “Meet Santa” event with cookies, hot chocolate and other treats at one of your festively decorated model homes. Create a campaign that offers incentives for the winter season to create some urgency for buying now, and push it throughout all your online and media marketing channels.

Holiday Cookie Exchange. What would the holidays be without delicious baked goods! Don’t just get your sales team involved, but give potential buyers the opportunity to bring cookies to exchange at one of your model homes. Then have people vote on everyone’s favorite. Offer prizes or gift cards for winners. Have a cookie decorating station for the kids to enjoy while their parents tour your homes. Don’t forget the milk!

New Year, New Home. The end of the year quickly follows all the holiday fun, so it’s easy to create a sense of urgency. Push the message of “Own a new home by the end of year” or “Start the new year in a new home!” You want to move that inventory, so now is the time to play on those New Year resolutions and end of year goals to push your move-in ready homes – even if you have to throw in a little incentive or two.

Don’t wait to start making the most of this season with these fun and exciting ways to celebrate life in your new homes! For more ideas or ways to incorporate seasonal themes into your strategy and other holiday event ideas for homebuilders, contact Group Two today!

By Nicolette Miller –
Online Content Strategist