The Challenge
Biloxi Mississippi was once a booming city, filled with luxury estates. Its beautiful coast was lined with luxury resorts, restaurants, shows, and casinos. All that was wiped away though in 2005. Hurricane Katrina came ashore in Biloxi and devastated the cities infrastructure in way that residents simply could not believe. N5R's challenge was to sell a luxury condo project in place that according to Mississippi’s Governor, “looked like an America Hiroshima”
The Strategy
We knew that this would be a difficult project. The target for this type of luxury condominium would normally have been a vacation homebuyer, but the environment in Biloxi was simply too depressing for them. If buyers had any past memories of being in Biloxi it would be emotionally devastating to come back and see what this Hurricane had down. It wasn’t all bad new though. There were some advantages for buyers of this condo project.
1. Biloxi Was Being Rebuilt
This devastation was not going to last forever. There were already multiple redevelopment plans in place and in time this city would regain some of what it had lost. In many ways, buying this condo was an opportunity.
2. Tax Benefits
Because of the efforts by the government to rebuild Biloxi’s infrastructure, there were major tax benefits to buying a condo project like this one. Buyers would rarely find themselves with such favorable taxation.
It was with all this in mind that we moved our focus to target investors rather than homebuyers. Investors would more easily be able to look at this from purely a financial perspective and look past the overwhelming devastation of the city itself. They were more likely to see this as an opportunity to get in on the ground floor.
The Story
In order to market this condo to investors we did what all marketing campaigns must do in order to be a success. We told a story. We explained the terrible damage that Hurricane Katrina had done to Biloxi, but that wasn’t the stories focus. Instead we focused on the rebuild that was taking place—how involved and committed the community and government was in this undertaking. We didn’t spend our time explaining every building that was destroyed; instead we talked about the buildings that had made it and the ones that had already been rebuilt.
On top of telling this story with words the visuals we used in our marketing were very important. There were no images of the devastation that had occurred. Instead there were over the top photos of gorgeous models pampering themselves at the spa and sipping champagne by the infinity pool to illustrate how luxurious and beautiful the condo project could truly be.
By choosing the right target and telling them a great story we managed to sell out this project within months of signing on. We took this disastrous climate and turned it into one of our biggest success stories.
The Lessons
1. Know Your Target
Understanding your prospective buyers from every angle is the only way to target effectively. Use all the information at your disposal and target your marketing only to the qualified prospects that you know will be interested in your project. Marketing that is not targeted effectively will quickly become a waste of valuable resources.
2. Tell A Story
Use your marketing to tell a story to you prospective customers about your project. This will allow customers to feel like they are a part of something bigger and will help to build their trust.
If you want to learn more about how to sell your real estate project in ANY market, apply to our exclusive one-day Condo Mastery seminar.
Watch the video below to hear about Condo Mastery directly from world-renowned condo and sales and marketing expert, Roman Bodnarchuk, and click APPLY NOW to learn if you qualify.
