Picture yourself as a small production homebuilder, who builds, say, only about 200 or fewer homes per year. Even though you’re small in comparison to other builders, people flock to your grand openings. You also like to participate in sponsoring a few charitable events every year that help the local community, and your name has become a household word in the areas you build because of the legacy you have spent years to establish.

You’ve prided yourself in keeping your operation fairly small, seeking high quality in your homebuilding efforts and maintaining a loyal, satisfied group of employees, managers, and salespeople. For this reason, your budget for advertising and PR is fairly limited. The BIG BOYS, with nationally known names in homebuilding, have professional advertising firms at their beck and call, placing weekly press releases and news stories on their latest master-planned community, their community participation and their latest releases of home while you can run only one small display ad every other week in the local newspaper.

Now small and medium-sized homebuilders can level the playing field, with a concept introduced by Taylor Johnson Associates, dubbed an online store for homebuilders who wish to enhance their marketing efforts quickly, easily, and inexpensively, according to the company’s recent press release.

A visit to www.taylorjohnson.com reveals a new online press-release writing service, as well as a series of how-to marketing publications for homebuilders. Under the “Services” tab, the firm has introduced PR Online®, which provides homebuilders with professionally written press releases, custom-tailored to their new home communities. As many builders know, most newspapers will run press releases for free if a builder commits to regular advertising in their publication. The problem with press releases, however, is that no one within a building organization feels qualified enough to write them. This new service can help abolish the time factor in producing timely press releases, as well as the fear factor in producing less-than professional sounding copy. Topics include Grand Opening, Ground Breaking, Model Opening, Inventory/Spec Home Availability, and final Phase/Closeout. Taylor Johnson quotes a $199 fee per story, with a turnaround time of three working days to provide this service.

Builders are expected to complete a short Project Profile, which is an online form that specifies information on their homes and communities. Credit card payment over a secure server gets the ball rolling for time-sensitive tidbits of news to the public. After they receive their completed press release by e-mail, builders may then forward it or copy onto their own letterhead for distribution to their media sources.

“Reporters are looking for accurate, professionally-written, error-free information,” says Deborah Johnson, president of Taylor Johnson Associates. “After 23 years of writing news releases, we do this better than anyone.” Johnson, a member of the Institute of Residential Marketing (MIRM) is also a lecturer. She goes on to say, “A newspaper article has approximately ten times the impact of an ad – at a fraction of the price.”

In addition to the services offered in the site, the firm offers a series of how-to books and pamphlets through its publishing division, which are written by Johnson and her daughter, Emily, that assists builders in conducting their own PR.

For more information, go to www.taylorjohnson.com and click on Online Store.

Published: October 27, 2000

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