Housebuilder Brands – Build the Values to Support Your Business

Posted by Antler Agency on 29th June 2021 -

As a housebuilder, how important is brand and what does your brand say about you? How does brand support your business? Does it help you to achieve off-plan sales through customer confidence or does it help you to quickly attract prospects on a new development?

We are exposed to hundreds of brands every single day of our lives. Food, technology, clothing, bikes – each product type offers a plethora of brands to pick between, each with its own unique brand promise and value. Housebuilders are no exception. When you think about housebuilder brands you associated that brand with a particular personality, be that about price, quality, location, target market segment or product. How your brand is considered isn’t down to chance – part of it is of course built through reputation but brand can instil values before the customer even engages with you.

Thinking about some long-established car brands, they have clear associations and reputations that reach into products and also markets. Mercedes Benz is known for high-quality performance, luxury vehicles. Fords are reliable, easy to maintain with traditionally lower market entry pricing. Land Rovers are traditionally workhorse vehicles known for being technical and more costly. Are your homes for families or couples? Are they luxury rural retreats or cool urban apartments? Perhaps you offer both but share common values in terms of quality and pricing.

Imagine if there were no brands, where would you start? Brands give customers a quick start in making a decision based on the values they carry.

A brand can also tick boxes for customers when considering which new home to buy. A well-presented brand that is consistently adhered to gives the customer confidence in how you will handle their purchase and delivers an expectation of quality in the house you will build. If supermarkets built houses, which one would you purchase from? Asda, Tesco or Waitrose? There’s no right or wrong answer either, they all have a place in the market and the demand to fulfil. A brand simply helps a customer to decide which provider is for them.

Brands are not limited to businesses either; we regularly develop brands for new developments. The same principles apply here too; the brand must encapsulate what the offering is including product and price and also ideally highlight the unique selling points of the development, often linked to location or build type. Development brands work well in isolation but also when designed as a sub-brand to sit confidently alongside the developer brand and inherit it’s overarching values giving it the best possible start.

We recently refreshed property brand, Galion. Antler initially engaged with Galion to deliver a strategic rebrand to bring their identity and ethos into alignment. An established brand, Antler reviewed the existing design style to consider application throughout the business. The fundamentals of the Galion brand were solid, so the Antler team strengthened the existing design principles such as logo and typeface whilst expanding the colour palette to promote a more self-assured image that complemented the style and finish of the homes Galion build. Practical applications of the brand such as email signature, letterhead, business cards and signage were all carefully considered to provide a joined-up approach within the customer journey. See their full brand case study here.

Customer confidence in a brand allows the business to take control of pricing, gain local support which can make planning consents easier to achieve and provides your team with an ethos and vision to follow and be proud of. This is the currency that a brand can deliver if done well!

How hard does your brand work for you? If you’re thinking about reviewing your brand or perhaps delving into an identity for the very first time, Antler can help.