The Power Of Copy In Pictures

Posted by Ryan on Sep 24, 2012 in Ryan's Thoughts | 3 comments

At one time my wife and I used to spend a lot of weekends looking at show homes. With all of the construction going on here in Regina, there are plenty to choose from and it was nice to look at them and get some ideas for our own home renovations. Eventually though, we just stopped going. It has probably been three or four years since we last set foot in a show home, and in that time entirely new neighbourhoods have been built. This weekend we loaded the kids into the car and decided to see what was new on the market.

All of the homes that we saw were beautiful, and all of them had interesting ideas. But one home had something that really made it standout and made me sit up and take notice. It was the Harmony Builders showhome located at 4818 Upson Road, here in Regina. Priced at a cool $1.2 million, this home was chock full of neat ideas such as a wallpapered ceiling in the master bedroom. But what really excited me was the marketing in the house.

You see, wherever they had put extra time into the home, they called attention to it with a little sign and some great copywriting. Every house that we went through had a great room in it that would be perfect for pulling out some board games and spending an evening with the family. But only Harmony Builders had this:

 

And then in the master bedroom they had this:

 

And the guest room:

 

And even the laundry room:

 

The take-away is that these signs force an image into the reader’s mind. I may not have thought of playing board games in the rec room, but as soon as I see this sign I’m immediately imagining the fireplace roaring on a cold winter night, Mom and Dad sipping a glass of red wine, the kids in pajamas, and a board game laying across the ottoman. Everybody is laughing and having a good time. Now I’ve personalized the house. Now it feels like mine.

I wrote an advertorial for Harmony Builders a few years ago when they were just starting out. I respected their apparent work ethic and the quality that they talked about putting into their homes. I don’t know who they are using right now for their marketing, but whoever it is has hit it out of the park with this subtle but effective touch. To be honest, I wish that I had thought of this. If you are in the business of selling homes, you should be doing this.