How SME housebuilder marketing can outsmart the national housebuilders
SME housebuilders will never outspend the nationals. But they can outsmart them. Marketing budgets for SMEs will never match a Barratt ad campaign. But budget isn’t the problem, creativity is. With sharper positioning, stronger branding, and smarter digital, SMEs can punch way above their weight. Just look at how brands like BrewDog or Gymshark took […]
Why off-plan sales fall down and how the right marketing overcomes this
Most off-plan sales fall down because buyers don’t trust what they can’t see. And yet… housebuilders still think a CGI and a brochure will do the heavy lifting. It won’t. A CGI doesn’t sell a home. It sells a drawing. What sells a home is desire. The lifestyle. The vision of what life will feel […]
We’re close to capacity. Not because we’ve said yes to everyone, but because we’ve said no.
We’re close to capacity. Not because we’ve said yes to everyone, but because we’ve said no. The temptation for agencies is to grab every project going. But that’s not how you build trust, or results. We turn down work all the time. Either because the budget won’t stretch to doing things properly, or because the […]
If your marketing begins and ends with a glossy brochure, you’re already behind
If your marketing begins and ends with a glossy brochure, you’re already behind. Most SMEs still think marketing = print (maybe a PDF at a push!). That’s the bare minimum. Buyers don’t find properties the way they used to. They scroll Instagram, binge Rightmove and stalk your reviews. Every touchpoint tells a story. Marketing today […]
Nobody chase the SME housebuilder, until ANTLER…
Big agencies chased the nationals. Generalists chased everyone. Nobody chased the SME housebuilder… until ANTLER That gap in the market was glaring when I was client-side. SMEs had the same need for premium marketing as the nationals, often more so, but were treated as an afterthought. I saw it. Lived it. Got frustrated enough to […]
£12m of property sold off plan in 45 minutes
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” That’s what my inner voice kept whispering (and what some of the senior management were asking!!). Because I was recommending something wild: No brochures. No price lists. No property details released at all. Just… hype. I was working client-side for an SME housebuilder, preparing to launch a […]
“Am I really supposed to be here?”
“Am I really supposed to be here?” That was the voice in my head as I stepped into a £25 million, 20,000 sq ft property in Notting Hill on Wednesday – probably the most jaw-dropping home I’ve ever seen in my life. I’d been invited by Edwin de Silva (thank you Sir!) of Stark Group […]
I might’ve thrown away the perfect career… to chase something that didn’t exist.
I might’ve thrown away the perfect career… to chase something that didn’t exist. In 2016, I walked away from becoming sales & marketing director for a leading housebuilder, the kind of role people work years for. Why? Because I was fed up. I’d been on the client side. And the agency support for SME housebuilders? […]
Why you want people to unsubscribe from your emails…
As a housebuilder, if people aren’t unsubscribing from your emails then you’re not emailing them often enough! And I will die on this hill!! A business I’m invested into has made 4 sales so far today each worth circa £400p/y as a direct result of an email to its database (and likely more to come, […]
The forgotten silver bullet of ‘social proof’ in new homes marketing
The forgotten silver bullet of ‘social proof’ in new homes marketing. Nothing sells better than a satisfied buyer. Housebuilders should regularly showcase testimonials, case studies, and buyer interviews to build trust and credibility with potential buyers. And, to lead by example, here’s a testimonial from longstanding ANTLER client, MD of Metis Homes, Adam O’Brien: “Working […]
