Especially for you

The affordable housing sector has seen unprecedented changes over the past 12 months: a banking collapse, the withdrawal of affordable mortgages and falling house prices.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, the sector is also facing up to the reality of falling home sales just as both government and opposition parties are talking about making large cuts in public expenditure.

All housing associations, large and small, have to adapt to this new landscape. The pressure on developing landlords to generate income from the sale of properties is greater than ever.

Some of the big players - Genesis, Family Mosaic, Notting Hill Housing, London & Quadrant and Places for People, as well as private sector players such as Assettrust Housing - have responded by radically overhauling the way they market their homes so they can make the necessary sales and become less dependent on central government grant - for example, using dedicated websites and targeted marketing.

Unfortunately, most social landlords either do not have the skills base or the correct mindset to compete. Many still use the same sales pitch they used before the market - especially for shared ownership - shifted so dramatically. For example, relaxed eligibility criteria mean the middle and professional classes are now increasingly a target market, a fact few social landlords appear to have picked up on.

Marketing strategies - for shared ownership properties and those being sold outright - must now encompass a wide range of different techniques to achieve the level of sales required.

Starting off with well-designed, easily accessible and regularly updated websites, communications teams need to focus strictly on their target markets and tailor their campaigns accordingly.

For example, if you are selling a mix of outright and shared ownership at a development in an affluent area of London, you must have a marketing campaign to match. At the very least this would mean having a dedicated microsite for that development, a planned media schedule, long-term PR strategy and high-quality images.

You may also want to think about setting up a Facebook page, a blog on the development’s website and even a Twitter site - if not for the scheme, then for your organisation.

One-stop-shop websites

Alternatively, if you are a small housing association with some homes available through intermediate rent, along with a small number of properties for sale through shared ownership in a rural area of the country, you may wish to concentrate on making your own website a one-stop-shop for prospective customers and initiating a targeted leaflet drop with brief details of the scheme, a good image and links to the website.

The days of spending vast sums producing expensive brochures and placing generic ads in local papers are not over but they are being superseded by more targeted campaigns with a strong focus on maximising a return on your investment. Very often, it is possible to spend less on your overall marketing budget but, through more careful planning, increase your sales. This is very much the case for those housing associations that have focused on this aspect of their business.

After adopting modern marketing techniques and allying them with sales strategies from the private sector, the majority of these organisations are hitting all their sales targets and are only now being checked by lenders’ unwillingness to offer mortgages to those buying through shared ownership.

The message is clear. If you want to be insulated from a potential cut in government grant by increasing your property sales, get your marketing in order.

David Taylor is associate director at marketing company Adventis Group

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