Case StudY

Lennar Homes

Lennar Homes, one of the largest homebuilders in the U.S., was facing stagnant results with their marketing approach, missing key opportunities in Orlando and Tampa’s multicultural markets. Chatter Buzz stepped in to redefine their strategy, reallocating media spend and sharpening their audience focus, resulting in impressive growth across digital channels.

SERVICES WE PROVIDED

Strategic Planning. Marketing Communication. Campaign Briefs & Development. Creative Designs. Copywriting, Photography, Video Development and Editing, Custom Website Development. Email Marketing. Social Media Management. Event Marketing. Search Engine Optimization. Media Plan Development. Media Buying (Traditional and Digital) from Search and Display Advertising. Print Advertising. Out of Home Advertising. Staff Training. Reporting and Analytics.

The Challenge

Promote their latest communities in Central Florida to get their home in front of the perfect buyers

Lennar Homes approached Chatter Buzz to help them use digital marketing market and promote all of their Central Florida communities (Orlando and Tampa region) and develop an integrated campaign to increase their sales qualified leads (SQLs).

As a home builder, Lennar’s target market was not just home buyers, but individuals, families and retirees, different generations and income levels, and different lifestyle interests.

Approach & Execution

Revitalizing Lennar’s Marketing Strategy: Targeting Multicultural Audiences with a Digital-First Approach

When Chatter Buzz stepped in, we quickly identified that a significant portion of Lennar’s marketing budget was being spent on traditional advertising, with no proper market segmentation in place. Additionally, the previous agencies Lennar worked with had developed campaigns that failed to effectively target the multicultural audiences prevalent in both the Orlando and Tampa areas. Their messaging was lacking specificity and felt generic, which didn’t resonate with the diverse local market.

Our senior strategy team conducted thorough market research to define the real target audience for each of Lennar’s communities, using detailed demographic, psychographic, and behavioral data. This ensured the campaigns would speak directly to the multicultural residents of these regions.

From there, we reallocated the majority of Lennar’s media budget towards digital campaigns, which we determined would offer a better return on investment. At the time, Lennar was even spending over $300K annually on newspaper advertising, which was not delivering significant ROAS. Ultimately, we shifted the balance of their advertising strategy to 80% digital and 20% traditional, resulting in far more effective, culturally relevant, and targeted marketing efforts.

Developed an SEO website that was interactive and easy to use

A fully responsive, mobile-first site was developed using SiteCore CMS and combined with stellar website content to create a succinct and consistent story on the new website. We worked to create a simple-to-use design with an easy-to-follow informational flow. Furthermore, our team infused interactive elements such as company milestones and a calendar into the website to increase user engagement. Each page contained clear calls to action to inspire users to commit.

Additionally, a 12-month SEO strategy was developed to support the in-search traffic, which allowed consumers to find new homes by Lennar.

Developed their email marketing testing aspects to increase conversions

To increase Lennar’s traffic generation, we created email campaigns based on ongoing promotions, move-in inventories, and events. We used Lennar’s internal CRM list and email platform to send these messages along with a local consumer rental and realtor email list.

When it came to email marketing for Lennar Orlando, Chatter Buzz didn’t shy away from strong strategies that seek to improve click-thru rates and thus spearhead conversions. The division was initially very unhappy with the results of their email marketing campaigns, so the Chatter Buzz team came together and created templates and A/B testing campaigns, and closely monitored the results to adjust accordingly. This resulted in the division’s emails being recognized on the corporate “Top Emails of 2015” list, as well as exceeding their open rate and click-thru rate in the first year!

Marketed 75 events to show homes to a high volume of buyers

Lennar Orlando’s most effective marketing strategy is its events. For instance, hosted events within its communities have proven to be the best way to increase the volume of both Realtors and homebuyers that tour their homes. Having the opportunity to see the homes provided both parties with a chance to better familiarize themselves with Lennar’s offerings, thus increasing their likelihood of purchasing a Lennar home.

To date, Chatter Buzz has marketed more than 75 events for Lennar Orlando through various media platforms, including but not limited to email marketing, digital display, brochures, flyers, posters, and more.

Out-of-home advertising reached buyers who were not active online

As part of Lennar’s digital campaign, paid search and digital display advertising strategies were implemented to drive lead conversions at the lowest cost possible. We laser-focused our audience by targeting only the consumers that mattered the most from certain ages, demographics, behaviors, interests, and income levels. With the right message and design, our click-through rates exceeded industry benchmarks, which drove conversions at the lowest CPL.

Paid and digital display advertising targeted specific buyers who were the perfect fit

Print advertising targeted audience of moms, retirees, and local readers who were likely to buy

To extend our reach, we created traditional print advertisements in magazines and newspapers that targeted our audience of moms, retirees, and local readers. Although there’s some skepticism about the ROI potential of using print advertising, we selected publications that are proven to have a high conversion rate for our target market.

The Results

Lennar connected with more buyers and increased home sales

The diverse marketing campaign that Lennar underwent allowed the homebuilder to reach thousands of potential homebuyers across the country. After all, reaching consumers through multiple platforms expanded their initial reach ten-fold, and provided them with the opportunity to connect with homebuyers from all walks of life.

With the help of Chatter Buzz, Lennar was able to allocate their marketing spending on strategies that generated the most qualified leads for the division — which then decreased their overall cost per acquisition. Their digital marketing leads increased by 1,000% to where they had to hire additional internet sales consultants to address all inbound inquiries and were able to hire additional marketing team members in-house.

1,000%

Increased leads from digital marketing campaign

320%

Increase in organic leads

210%

Increase in SQL

Additional staff hired to follow up on digital leads

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