Welcome to 2014!
We typically use the Holiday Season to re-educate ourselves and get up-to-speed on trends and ideas for the New Year.
This helps us create winning strategies for our clients which, in turn, helps them grow more.
We came across some articles that we thought you might find interesting, too.
If you’d like to discuss any of these article in more depth, just let us know and we’d be happy to have some conversation with you.
Happy reading!
Homebuilders appear ready to hammer in 2014
– Columbus Dispatch
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. homebuilders’ confidence bounced back strongly this month, suggesting that many will ramp up construction and hiring in coming months. The National Association of Home Builders/Wells Fargo builder-sentiment index climbed to …
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/business/2013/12/18/homebuilders-appear-ready-to-hammer-in-2014.html
Rent-Buy Ratio Turns Against US Homebuilders: Chart of the Day
– Bloomberg
Among publicly traded homebuilders, KB Home and MDC Holdings Inc. have the least favorable buying conditions in their local markets, the analysts wrote. Beazer Homes USA Inc. and Ryland Group Inc. are in the best position, based on local rent-buy ratios.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-20/rent-buy-ratio-turns-against-u-s-homebuilders-chart-of-the-day.html
How To Use Brand Ambassadors To Drive Social Media Success
– Marketing Land
Whether you’re the CMO of a Fortune 500 company or the webmaster of your burgeoning startup’s website, social media efforts will be critical to your business in 2014. Increasingly, marketers are tasked with launching ever more interactive (and …
http://marketingland.com/how-to-use-brand-ambassadors-to-drive-social-media-success-66669
MasterCard Wants All of Their Employees to Be Social Media Brand Advocates
– Marketing Pilgrim (blog)
mastercard Large companies spent millions of dollars a year aligning themselves with social media brand advocates. They figure the average person will be more interested and open to a referral from a non-related third party, then a social media mention …
http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2013/12/mastercard-wants-all-of-their-employees-to-be-social-media-brand-advocates.html
How to Become a Social Media Brand in Demand
– Huffington Post
If you are still on the fence about how to use social media to grow your small business, now is a great time to get started. Keep in mind that it takes a long-term commitment to become a social media superstar, but it can be done – even with all the …
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/melinda-emerson/how-to-become-a-social-me_b_4371726.html
Competing with the big boys: How a local homebuilder beat the recession
– VEGAS INC
The valley’s home construction market is dominated by out-of-state, publicly traded builders that are worth billions of dollars, employ thousands of people and sell tens of thousands of homes nationwide each year. They include Miami’s Lennar Corp …
http://www.vegasinc.com/business/real-estate/2013/nov/27/competing-big-boys-how-local-homebuilder-beat-rece/
Home Builders Immunize 2014-15 Growth Prospects Through Select Metro …
– Seeking Alpha
Investors bearishly selling these stocks in November fail to understand the post-crisis model the home builders are following. They are carefully cherry-picking locations, metering-out their home construction and sales, and catering to more-affluent …
http://seekingalpha.com/article/1845132-home-builders-immunize-2014-15-growth-prospects-through-select-metro-markets
Fewer homebuilders offering incentives
– Colorado Springs Gazette (blog)
As the economy has improved, fewer homebuilders are offering incentives, according to the National Association of Home Builders, the Washington, D.C.-based trade group for the homebuildng industry. According to a new NAHB survey of its …
http://blogs.gazette.com/realestate/2013/11/11/fewer-homebuilders-offering-incentives/
Google’s Perfect, Future-Proof Marketing Strategy For Google Glass
– Chicago Tribune
Sometimes it looks as though the whole of the Google Glass project is one big experiment. It’s hardly experimental technology. It’s an experiment in how to use a consumer-grade heads up display. But the experiment goes much deeper than hardware and …
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/technology/chi-nsc-googles-perfect-future-proof-marketing-strategy-20131029,0,6022631.story
In-Depth Research On What Matters In Digital
-BI Intelligence
MobileInsights is a daily newsletter from BI Intelligence that collects and delivers the top mobile industry news. It is delivered first thing every morning exclusively to BI Intelligence subscribers. Cross-Screen Is The New Standard For Digital Ad Campaigns (Mobile Marketer)Marketers are no longer treating mobile devices as add-ons to a desktop-centric advertising campaign. In fact, mobile has now become a more integral part of the entire digital marketing process, according to a new study from Mobile Marketer. So far, marketers are still very much experimenting with the use of cross-screen campaigns…
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/~3/UPpAXIcCtS0/cross-screen-marketing-is-the-new-standard-in-digital-advertising-2013-10
MAP: When Were Most of the Homes in Your Area Built?
– Slate Magazine (blog)
So for example, in the bright, off yellow counties, more homes were built pre-1930s than in any other period. As you can see, in the West and in the Southeast, you actually have many counties where more homes were built post 1990s than in any other period.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/business_insider/2013/10/27/u_s_housing_map_when_most_homes_were_built_by_county.html
Social media can help turn your customers into brand ambassadors: here’s how
– Memeburn
Even though creating and curating relevant magnetic content is at the heart of social media marketing, it can be quite time-consuming and expensive. In my experience, three of the biggest challenges with creating magnetic content for your marketing …
http://memeburn.com/2013/10/social-media-can-help-turn-your-customers-into-brand-ambassadors-heres-how/
BIG BUILDER
Who’s searching for you?
5 Social Media Advertising Trends to Watch for in 2014
– Search Engine Watch
Social media advertising is what traditional search engine marketing was 5 years ago: constantly in development with major changes coming every other week. That’s not to say that SEM has stagnated and development has stopped – it hasn’t (enhanced …
http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2320367/5-Social-Media-Advertising-Trends-to-Watch-for-in-2014
Top 2014 trends: Smart homes, automation
– Allentown Morning Call
From smartphones to smart cars, technology is transforming virtually every aspect of our busy lives. Technologies not only make life easier while on the go, but new options are quickly simplifying life at home as well. Home automation is proving to be …
http://www.mcall.com/features/home/mc-hometrends-sunday-real-estate–0105-20140103,0,3499603.story
