4 Mistakes to Avoid When Selling High-End Homes

Selling a home is no easy task. With every prospective homebuyer, marketers must fight for their attention and stand out among other competitors who build homes and communities with similar price points, design features, and amenities.

The stakes are only higher when working with luxury communities and homes. Properties are much more expensive and clients, who have the means to afford a wide variety of options, will have raised expectations. 

Despite the large challenge, communicating with the right buyers — in the right way — is essential for the success of your business and the presentation of your community. More than ever, consumers are seeking a space that feels private, secure, and restful — abandoning the city for well-planned communities and houses that can accompany work-from-home lifestyles and increasing luxury budgets. 

As a marketer, you're well-aware of the ways your community appeals to these modern-day high-end consumers. However, these amenities and top design elements mean nothing if you can't get them in front of the right audience. There are plenty of ways you can go about reaching these markets, but also plenty of ways you can go wrong. Here are Milesbrand's top four mistakes to avoid when selling high-end homes. 

Incomplete and Delayed Market Research

You'll have a hard time measuring the success of your marketing campaigns if you aren't sure whom you're trying to reach. Narrowing down your key target market may seem simple: you're looking for homebuyers with a budget to match the luxurious design and upscale features of your homes and community. However, an effective outreach strategy relies on more specific demographics and psychographics. 

For example, what feeling does your community convey? Is it secluded and private, or extravagant? Does it offer luxury through its modern design or its nostalgic homages to the classic motifs and designs of early manors? 

With the help of research firms, these narrower details will help determine your specific buyers and target audience. They'll inform your competitive price point and also help you identify your competitive advantages over other builders and communities in the market. 

It's understandable if you're eager to get started on your marketing, but don't let your enthusiasm trick you into targeting the wrong home buyers and missing out on competitive advantages.

Uninspiring Photography

Luxury real estate deserves quality photography. As buyers consider making such a considerable investment into a new property, they'll want to feel invited into this future stage of life and new community. A reliance on stock imagery and unimaginative design may leave luxury buyers questioning your credibility. 

We know — a picture's worth a thousand words, not a thousand dollars. Still, every aspect of your marketing strategy helps to justify the price point associated with your community. Displaying high-quality images of your properties helps to showcase the quality construction and high-end features beautifully while conveying your confidence in the product you're offering. It also helps to increase brand recognition and memorability in the minds of consumers who are likely facing a deluge of real estate content during their home-hunting journey. 

Single-Channel Marketing Tactics

When you've nailed down your target audience, you might easily identify a marketing avenue that you think will best reach them. While it's true that certain audiences typically respond best to certain marketing tactics, it's best practice to diversify your outreach channels. Too many marketing teams key in on one avenue, limiting their overall impact. 

After all, buyers respond well to sellers that they find trustworthy and feel familiar with. This means you'll need to use omnichannel marketing tactics — connecting with prospective clients in multiple locations, on multiple devices, all while delivering a consistent and compelling message. While you don't want to become annoying or intrusive, having a frequent digital presence in your clients' feeds and inboxes will strengthen relationships and establish credibility. 

The ultimate goal is to allow consumers to easily connect with you. If they're struggling to relocate information, or are wasting their time attempting to decipher unclear messaging, they may choose to take their business elsewhere. An omnichannel marketing presence can create conversions, increase brand recognition, and start relationships. 

Fortunately, a huge part of effectively using this tactic is making sure that your messaging is consistent and recognizable, meaning that language and graphics can often be repurposed. 

Disjointed and Off-Brand Language

The price of your homes will reflect your goal of reaching a sophisticated market. Luxury buyers have typically achieved a high level of education and will expect to be met with the same level of polish and professionalism that they're used to in the workplace and their social spaces. When your language and storytelling are weak and riddled with errors, they may naturally associate those same adjectives with the homes and community experience you're offering. 

It's a phenomenon that we all experience with online shopping. Perhaps you find a product that seems too good to be true. It's everything you want, for a price you're willing to pay. As you're checking out, however, you might notice unclear language, elementary typos, or broken links. You'll naturally become wary, and may no longer want to invest your money in a product that doesn't seem backed by a strong company. 

If unprofessional marketing has scared you off from a $20 shirt, imagine how it would make you feel about a $2 million home. If you're asking consumers to pay a premium price, they deserve a premium experience — from start to finish. 

Luxury Real Estate Marketing From Milesbrand

After reading this article, it may seem like there's a lot of ways to go wrong when advertising to luxury consumers. Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to go right — like partnering with Milesbrand! 

With years of experience under our belt, Milesbrand partners with brands to help them tell their one-of-a-kind stories to consumers. We know that you've poured lots of work and planning into bringing your community to life. We help you cross the finish line by ensuring that your target market is exposed to the amazing communities you've built. 

You're well aware that the "home is where the heart is" — but let's make sure that the eyes of your ideal home buyers are there too! Contact Milesbrand today.