Master-Planned Marketing
New trends in marketing master-planned communities
Puget Sound Business Journal (Seattle) - by Laurie Ford
New rules are being written about the marketing of new homes, especially homes in master-planned communities. In the past few years we've seen the demise of mass marketing, more buyer sophistication, a desire for variety in lieu of uniformity, and pressing growth management concerns. All these things have spurred developers to design and market master-planned communities differently.
Here are some examples of the changing scenario:
• Micro-marketing versus mass marketing. Like a lot of other products, master-planned communities traditionally were marketed to everyone, all at once. A general ad campaign ran in the newspaper or a direct marketing campaign was mailed to an entire database.
Today, it is important to target not just one generic buyer, but people in as many as 15 different segments -- executive couples, move-downs, move-ups with kids, single women, single men, young couples, empty nesters, etc. A blanket approach to designing and marketing master-planned communities won't work for all demographic types.
The first step in planning a community is to research the population base -- who already lives nearby, who is moving into the area, what their lifestyles are, what they can afford. Land planners, architects and engineers must integrate this knowledge into the land plan for what goes where in the community's design.
Make sure potential customers know the benefits of living in a master-planned community -- value, diversity and selection, risk reduction, investment appreciation potential, and in some cases, a reduced commute.
Especially in this region, buyers place a high emphasis on environmental sensitivity. To respond to such concerns, for example, about 600 acres of the 3,000-acre plan at Northwest Landing in Pierce County is reserved for protected wetlands, walking trails, neighborhood parks and open space. In the '80s, a typical home buyer wouldn't have asked about wetlands or salmon preservation, but today a developer's thoughtfulness on these matters can be a selling point.
Discriminating buyers are embracing new home and neighborhood styles. Northwest Landing has become one of the West Coast's best-known "new urban" communities, which means it follows principles of leading-edge urban design in the way it's laid out.
These communities feature walkable neighborhoods that mix homes, workplaces, stores and services. They are transit-friendly, energy-conscious and land-conserving. Conviviality is incorporated into the home designs -- front porches grace many homes and often, garages are on alleys hidden behind homes. The idea is to foster a sense of community by creating a friendlier streetscape.
• Selection, choice and diversity. Developers have become much more purposeful in planning for diversity in lifestyles, income levels, home styles, residents' ages, etc.
A lot of residents like having neighbors of different ages and with varied lifestyles. A few years ago, that wasn't necessarily the case. For example, at Klahanie, the master-planned community on the Issaquah Plateau developed in the '80s, your neighbor and spouse both worked, made approximately $70,000 a year, and had two young children, just like you. Their home and your home shared similar floor plans, but were painted slightly different colors.
An older example is West Campus in Federal Way, started in the 1960s. Diversity wasn't a primary objective there; it was created by the need to foster smooth relations among home builders. To limit "intramural" competition, land was sold to builders whose house plans were distinctive from one another.
Thus, West Campus became host to a mix of home choices and residents of various income levels. A more vibrant community was created because of it.
Planning for diversity takes sensitivity and consideration. Developers need to make sure the range of home choices are compatible with each other and that the value of more lavish homes isn't compromised by insensitive siting. A developer of a large community must carefully integrate multifamily with custom homes and everything in between.
• Progress and growth management. Local governments are overburdened trying to meet the needs of a booming population. Developers are able to help, especially when they work on a large scale, as in a master-planned community, shouldering infrastructure costs for roads and utilities, protecting open space and building parks and other amenities.
Significant infrastructure investments benefit not only master-planned communities, but the surrounding areas as well. That's in contrast to piecemeal development -- a few dozen homes here, another small plat there -- which adds up to big impact on public facilities but never really provides a lever for municipalities to collect the money to catch up with service needs.
With growth management regulations and even rumblings about development moratoriums, the regional housing crunch will most probably continue, and most likely intensify, over the next few years. Developers and municipalities will need to strengthen their partnerships and get even more creative to supply homes and services concurrently with new demand.
LAURIE FORD is vice president of master-planned community marketing and sales at Weyerhaeuser Real Estate Co.
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