This is something that your potential buyers or investors can't do without your help – they can't see what it is that you're intending to build, and they can't visualise what it will be like. 2-dimensional CAD plans are hard to interpret, and badly-done artists impressions can provide an equally uninspiring vision of the future. 

Why not take advantage of the amazing twenty-first-century 3D visualisation technologies that are now available to you, and bring your vision to life in photorealistic pictures and animation. Take potential buyers on a 'virtual viewing' around a fully furnished virtual show home, or a journey of discovery around the site.

Once people can visualise the future it seems credible, real and achievable, and there's suddenly something to get excited about – for your backers, your buyers and your team!

2) DIFFERENTIATE.

Technology has presented us with a multitude of new ways to engage with our audiences – “viewers” of marketing materials have now become “users” of digital content. Interactive experiences and virtual simulations are known to provide deeper understanding and higher retention of information than passive alternatives. And by providing a higher level of involvement and excitement, you can bridge the gap between theory and action in a fun, innovative and highly effective way.

At iCreate, we help our clients find new ways of engaging with their audiences, whether through intelligent use of email marketing and social networking, or through our new iViewer application – using computer game technology to let users to explore and interact with 3D models of new developments.

By tapping into people's desire to interact with digital content, there's an opportunity for you, as a housebuilder, to capture the imagination of potential buyers, strike up a two-way conversation, and even 'go viral' with your visual marketing materials.

4) START MARKETING EARLY.

With banks and other lenders more insistent than ever on the need for pre-sales to fund the latter stages of development, you really need to be thinking about how you can win the confidence of potential buyers and investors as early as possible in the construction process.

3D pre-visualisation technologies make it possible to bring new developments to life in virtual reality, long before the first stone has been laid, which means you can start marketing much earlier than traditional methods allow. It's no longer necessary to wait for the show home to be finished, or even to wait for construction to commence.

As soon as your drawings are finalised, you can get on with visualising the development and producing richly illustrated marketing materials, to inspire confidence and aspiration in potential buyers, even before work starts on site.

5) MAKE A GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION.

With the above point in mind, a common mistake that housebuilders make is to unofficially launch a new development – by putting up signage, announcing it in the local press or letting the agents start listing it – before they're really ready to respond to enquiries properly.

It's really tempting to start spreading the word about you upcoming development as quickly as you can, but remember, you only get once chance to make a first impression, and our advice is to make it count. If you rush things, there's a risk of coming across a bit haphazard and disorganised, which is clearly not a good look.

By taking some time to put together a proper sales kit – brochure, website, DVD, mailers, adverts, signage and so on - tied together with a coherent brand identity and including all the information that your buyers will want, you'll be in a much stronger position to respond professionally to any leads that are generated – and start closing those 'off plan' sales that you really need!

Visit the iCreate website now to view recent projects and find out more about our Innovative Property Marketing Solutions, designed to help you sell your new homes off plan!