The Cutting Edge of Online Marketing

When I first got into the Manufactured Housing industry, I really knew nothing about it. So, the first thing I did was went and visited a retailer near me. He had 3 or 4 homes on display and I asked the sales associate to show me around. As we walked in the first home, I attempted to shut the door, but it did not close properly. The salesmen remarked, "that's a manufacturer's defect." Things did not get any better after that point. Inside the home sat some cheap, white plastic patio furniture. The marriage lines were clearly visible and the carpet was unseamed, wrinkled and buckling. Furthermore, the salesperson was unable to answer several of my questions.

I heard someone the other day say,”In business today, you can no longer be average, you have to be remarkable.”

Access No Money Down Finance,

Free Sales Training, Business Building Seminars & More

Yes, You Can! Grow your Sales, Profits and Business in 2012 with free Louisville Manufactured Home Seminars!

The Louisville Show offers an unparalleled opportunity to start the new year with a positive bang. Who says? Here is one of many sample comments:

“It was great to have the Louisville Show back in 2011! It has always signaled the start of the new selling season. The spirits were high from those in attendance in 2011. I think the 2012 show will be more exciting and rewarding.” -

Knute Chauncey, Tie Down Engineering

At the Louisville Show you can compare products and services from some 80 plus vendors and suppliers, PLUS see dozens of new homes, all indoors!

With the business building seminars, you can “Learn more to Earn more!” See this incredible line up of topics that manufactured home retailers, community owner/operators and builder/developers can attend FREE during the 2012 Manufactured Home Show at the Kentucky Exhibition Center (KEC) in Louisville KY.

1) What's working for MH Retailers and MH Community Operators in Sales Today. Get the “Best of the Best!” in retail sales and profit making practices  learned from Top selling U.S. Manufactured Housing Retailers. Chad Carr from Rainmaker Software will be doing a recap of the best ideas presented by top manufactured housing street retailers and community based sales operators from across the country from their November 13-15^th 2011 summit meeting.

3) The Best Third Party Manufactured Home Financing Available Today! All of the top manufactured home retail lenders will present their best programs in this workshop.  In alphabetical order, 21^st Mortgage, CU Factory Built Lending, Triad Financial and US Bank will present their best finance programs as part of panel discussion on industry financing available right now! FHA Title II lenders also plan to attend. Learn what's available Today to sell more homes at your retail center, community or development!

2) "If you want to sell more homes, stop selling!" Creating Your Successful 'New Economy.'  Mike Moore, of MHSpeaker's Trainers and Making Customers.  Moore will explain how an adjustment in how one approaches customers will positively impact the otherwise bruised and broken customer/sales relationship.

4) The Best Community Financing and Refi Options Available Today! Big name lenders and community specialty mortgage brokers are planning to share their best programs available to finance or refinance your manufactured home community!

5) Federal Program offers No Down Financing on Fee Simple Sales! Can you really get rate competitive, no down payment, low closing cost loans legally on manufactured homes sold in fee simple sales? Thousands of Industry pros will be surprised to know that the answer is 'yes.' This may sound like a dream come true to some, but this is a real federal loan program that federal officials have tentatively committed to presenting to 2012 Louisville Manufactured Home Show attendees!

These seminars will be held on January 11^th and 12^th, 2012. Other presentations and speakers may also become available, and as plans evolve, we will update you as the information becomes available.

Louisville is where CEOs and executives from major companies, association leaders, and literally hundreds of the 'mom and pop' businesses all come together. Here is your chance to see dozens of new homes under one roof, talk to manufacturers about your needs and compare. Some 80 service and supply firms will be there!  The Midwest Manufactured Housing Federation, Dennis Hill at Showways Unlimited and hundreds of others work hard to make this the event to start the New Year. 

You should be there.

Members of our MHProNews.com team and I will be there too, so I hope to see you at Louisville 2012. For more info, click here. # #

post by

L. A. 'Tony' Kovach
Publishers and Marketing Director
MHProNews.com & MHMSM.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach

Manufactured homes.  We are affordable quality housing.  This doesn’t have to be rocket science. Yet way too many in our great industry are in search of simple and effective marketing messages.

Let’s look at the cold, hard – yet amazing – facts.

Let’s stop and think.

Every month, there are over 4 million searches done for keywords such as:

• mobile homes,
• manufactured housing and
• modular homes.

So why are current HUD Code shipments (read sales) at only about 4000 homes a month average?  Modular home sales are lower still.

That’s only .15 of 1% of all those searches being sold on a new home an average month. Do you see a huge disconnect between people searching for our product and the results our industry gets?

Do you see the amazing opportunity?

We do.

We can also show you how to attract and get more ‘upscale’ customers that may not be thinking about a manufactured home.  You know, the ones with good credit scores or who can pay cash for your homes, products or services.

Magnetic Attraction. Attract the right crowd, and your sales will go up.

MHMSM.com and our associates can help you, companies and organizations like yours tap into that large potential market of MILLIONS who are already looking for factory-built homes.

We are and will be making changes and improvements in the weeks and months ahead to serve you better at MHMSM.com.  You are looking at one of those changes.

From the Cutting Edge of Online Marketing Blog, we will focus on business development topics as well as our MHMarketingSalesManagement.com business development services to companies and organizations such as yours.

When you want an insights on Industry issues, you can check in to The Masthead blog. For those of you who do not know what “a masthead” is, it has a double meaning.  One relates to publishing, the other is the ‘crows nest’ or lookout point on the tallest mast of a sailing ship.  From The Masthead blog, we will be looking at factory built housing Industry topics, from a news and commentary perspective.

So in the future, The Cutting Edge blog topics may be written by me, Tony Kovach, or by others, who will be identified on the blog post itself.  The Cutting Edge will be a marketing and sales focused blog that is here to serve professionals like you.

Are you sick and tired of poor marketing and sales results?

Are you ready to increase those results?

Then stay tuned.  Follow this blog for 90 days, and it will provide you with the tools to change your marketing, sales and bottom line results.

Get ready for the new Cutting Edge in Online Marketing Blog.

Only those interested in growing their bottom line performance and profits should check in. # #

L. A. “Tony” Kovach
To learn more about award winning, record breaking results go to:
http://www.linkedin.com/in/latonykovach

In his article A National Industry Image Campaign Discussion Starter, Editor and Publisher L.A. ‘Tony’ Kovach initiated a discussion on a nationwide campaign. That post has drawn numerous comments, all with valid points, issues and opinions. All-in-all, a great start to a conversation that hopefully will bear fruit in the form of a real campaign.

There seems to be a real tidal wave of opinion in the industry that the way out of the current sales depression is to draw new customers to the product by elevating the public perception of the lifestyle associated with manufactured housing and the quality of the homes themselves. There are other factors, but I believe that the industry’s product image is a key element.

In an earlier post in this blog, What if people thought Manufactured Housing was the greatest thing since sliced bread?, I threw out a couple of ideas to get this campaign going on a local basis RIGHT NOW!

Using the outlets provided by modern technology, a grassroots industry image campaign could be started in your local market today. Who would do it? YOU! And I submit that if you aren’t willing to start in your own backyard, don’t expect others to pick up the slack for you.

“We want to go where the customers are.
Since some 80% of home purchases begin with
research done online, that is the perfect place to start.”

A national campaign may or may not ever get off the ground. But a hundred local campaigns could begin changing the public’s perception of the manufactured housing industry whether or not the national campaign ever sees the light of day.

What are the tools for this local campaign?

• Your blog
• Your Facebook Fan page
• Your Twitter account
• YouTube
• Your email subscriber list

This doesn’t mean you should abandon traditional marketing methods that are working for you. But if you have traditional methods that are bombing, put them out of their misery and spend the energy on things that do work.

Oh, that national campaign – even if it gets going, it will be a while before the organizational elements are put into place and materials are produced. Do you really have the time to wait?

Newspaper and Yellow Page ads will not change how the public perceives manufactured housing. At least, they haven’t so far. But the interactive media mentioned above can, especially if you can get your satisfied customers involved.

Head on over to What if people thought Manufactured Housing was the greatest thing since sliced bread? and re-read the Blog It! list.

Start getting lifestyle images and videos of your best homes, residents and community activities, whether you are a community, retailer or installer. We’re all in this together. Get the subjects permission to use the material. Then, USE IT!

Nothing sells a lifestyle better than those living and enjoying it.