Successful Partnerships in Marketing, Merchandising

by Suzanne Felber

BBeing a tiny fish in a vast pond can be daunting. You have to swim twice as fast as everyone else. The sharks are constantly circling, ready to absorb your smaller business into theirs at any moment. They have “people” and budgets for marketing that are larger than your profits for an entire year. When I created and trademarked the term Lifestylist over 20 years ago, it was after a brainstorming session with one of the heads of marketing for The Home

Depot. She said my services were unlike anyone else’s and needed to be reflected in my “title.” I was more than a decorator or stylist; I understood that we were selling building products, not artwork and home decor. That was how Lifestylist® was born.

I had volunteered to design and LifeStyle a show home for a builder, and Home Depot came in as a partner, along with Crate and Barrel. They liked what I did and how I highlighted their products so much they hired me to do other projects with them. The relationship continued, and in the early 2000s, »

Home Depot listened to what I shared with them about how huge the manufactured housing market was. We designed products that resonated with retail and manufactured housing customers alike, and Home Depot opened a distribution center just for the RV and Manufactured Housing industries.

That was a great learning experience, and I have used what worked and what didn’t to design partnerships with other local and national companies. When the furniture to stage my model homes became almost extinct, I started reaching out to everyone I knew, including my furniture reps, to find a better way to buy, deliver, and install for my clients. One knew of a 18-store locally owned company that had just opened up a 200,000 sq ft warehouse stocked to the ceiling with everything I needed. They knew their market and buyer better than probably anyone else in the area, but they had grown so quickly that they were looking for new ways to sell and utilize their stock. My partnership with Canales Furniture has been an enormous success. I now can deliver and install a model home the next day if needed, with everything professionally put together and moved into the houses. Part of my partnership with them has included teaching Canales U classes to their customers and employees that consist of educating potential customers about factory-built homes. They also are like me and believe in a healthier planet, and take all packing materials back to their warehouse and recycle them. It’s a great story you will hear more about in the future.

Beko is another great success story. It is a company you have probably never heard of, but you will soon. They are one of the largest appliance companies in Europe, and their entire focus is helping to create a healthier planet. Their innovations are practical and affordable. They also help to make the world a healthier place for all of us.

After knowing the new president of the U.S. division for years, he has heard numerous times about my love of factory-built housing. Beko offers appliances that are at the right price point for our industry, so he asked me to help him understand how Beko could be a good partner for MH and understand what the industry’s needs are. After letting them know about lower-level sponsorships at different industry events, I got a call asking, “How can we go in big and truly make a difference?” And that is what they are doing — get ready to see and learn about Beko at a trade show or conference near you!

All of this didn’t happen because I just won the lottery or I received a non-existent trust fund. I put myself out there and offered to work on projects I believed in. By doing that, I can meet the heads of international companies. I was asking how I could help them, not sell them. Social media is a great forum to share information about these partners, and they do the same for me. Only my followers are in the thousands, and theirs are in the millions. If I can do it, you can as well.

The following are five key ways to build a partnership marketing program. 1. Know your strengths and weaknesses — Under promise and overdeliver. Many times, I don’t have the knowledge or resources to accomplish what a potential partner needs. Instead of faking it, I always offer to see if I can help them find a suitable partner that is the best at that skill. When you

Quick Closings  All Cash Offers  Complicated Deal? No Problem  Communities & Portfolios of Any Size  Private Utilities Acceptable  Community-Owned Homes Welcomed 

do that, trust me, you will be at the top of their list when the right project for you comes along.

Major companies spend millions on advertising and photography each year. 2. It has to be a win for everyone… but the other side needs to think they are the biggest winner — With social media becoming a must, and posting daily to stay relevant is even more crucial than before, companies have gone from needing 100 shots a year to needing 100,000. Offer your model homes as a place where they can shoot their editorial or ads. It will save them thousands of dollars to create a set, and you have multiple homes in one location, saving them travel expenses and time. Make sure that all details are in writing - what they can and can’t change in the homes, who is responsible for any damage such as floors and walls, and who owns the right to photography. Typically, the photographer owns the rights to all photography and gives the client a limited use. It would help if you were sure that you also could use some of the photography in your marketing. The copyright laws favor the photographer, so you can get sued for using anyone else’s photography that you don’t have the aggress use in writing. Also, ask that you get a credit on any photo in which they use images of your homes, and say that you will do the same for them.

These can be priceless for you and your brand.

Something like this is a massive win for the other side but an even more significant success for you.

A kitchen I designed for LG/SKS appliances has been published in House Beautiful, Architectural

Digest, and on their social media. Because I asked about credits, I have received a styling credit everywhere it was published. 3. Give back to the community — it should be about using the partnership to build awareness and relationships - the financial rewards will naturally follow. By knowing what causes are essential to the potential partner and how they fit in with your values, you can avoid being on the wrong side of an issue you care deeply about. 4. Act like an influencer — You never know who is going to be looking for a skill set or knowledge that you have. My iPhone takes better photos

Home is by Deer Valley Homes at Clayton Homes of Mabank, Texas.

many times than my expensive camera does.

Stay consistent on social media, and share what you like about potential partners with your followers. Things have changed with Facebook and Instagram recently — companies are looking for people with more engagement on their posts than just random followers that never engage. I make a point of commenting on at least ten posts a day on people I know or people that do great work, and I respect them. It puts you on their radar and starts a conversation. If you don’t have a Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok account for your business, get one immediately! 5. Color outside the lines — just because it hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it can’t happen.

We smaller fish can swim upstream and maneuver much faster than those more giant sharks, so don’t be afraid to try something that you believe in and see what happens. You may have come up with the next great idea! MHV

Lifestylist Suzanne Felber has been active in the housing industry for more than 30 years. Felber realized that factory-built housing was the housing of the future, and has been actively working to promote the lifestyle ever since. She started American Housing Advocates as a way to share the great news about manufactured housing. To learn more about her work, visit www.lifestylist.com and www.americanhousingadvocates.com, or read her @lifestylist social media posts.

by Katryna Eastwood

IIt wouldn’t be surprising to hear a story about a cluster of homes selling out in less than a week’s time with bidding offers over asking price. In fact, that’s a story that practically feels overtold, like a popular song that you’ve heard on the radio way too many times. But what if these homes were within an average price range and most importantly, what if these were manufactured homes?

It’s no secret the housing market has become borderline out of control. Bidding wars are the norm and paying over asking prices remains about the only way to give a buyer a chance amongst the sea of overnight offers. The American dream was built upon the white picket fence and the accomplishment of owning your own home, but this dream has turned into a fantasy for many. Homeownership has decreased drastically due to the current market causing a rip-tide effect in the housing industry has a whole.

A manufactured home is still the most affordable housing option for homebuyers. Manufactured homes are about $150,000 - $200,000 cheaper than site-built homes, allowing a more affordable ticket price on a new home. Along with a more reasonable price range, the development of manufactured homes allows a pre-fab home to look and feel like a site-build. It seems to be the obvious solution to the housing market crisis, right?

Society has a developed, and apparently unbreakable, stigma against manufactured homes. For some buyers, even if the home is exactly what they are looking for and within their price range, will not have a manufactured home as a possibility when »

Homes at Meadow View are on one-acre lots.

purchasing. Buyers often have an image in their mind of a low quality home that can feel like a last resort option instead of a solution. With this stigma in mind, many homebuyers are uninterested in traditional manufactured home sales. The steps of securing a lot, buying a manufactured home, and then paying for installation is unattractive and time consuming. Homebuyers don’t trust the process just as much as they don’t trust the home itself.

While the manufactured home industry can devote itself to crafting and innovating new pre-fab homes for any customer to comfortably call home within their price range, there a brick wall of stigma that can feel impossible to break down. With two problems in hand; an overly competitive housing market and a stigma against manufactured homes, Southwest Homes was able to find a singular solution… micro-communities.

What is a Micro-Community?

A micro-community is a miniature subdivision with four to six manufactured homes. It is a large plot of land that is divided into individual lots to be sold as a land and home package, similar to purchasing a site-built home. These houses are pre-ordered and designed by the manufactured home dealer, rather than time being spent for every buyer to custom build each element of their home, which causes an even longer timeline for home completion. The Launch of Meadow View

Our first Southwest Homes micro-community, Meadow View, was released in February 2022 in Chino Valley, Ariz. Five homes were released with each home around 1,700 square feet, located on one-acre lots. These homes were listed for $335,000 - $375,000, based on individual home upgrades and square footage, considering one home was smaller than the others.

All five homes sold in three days.

Along with this community selling out quickly, an extensive waiting list was created for the other micro-communities in development.

The Success Factors within a Micro-Community

When facing a stigma that favors site-built homes, the strategy to combat it relies on making the MHbuying experience mimic the site-built process. To start, a micro-community is dependent on the creation of spec homes. These spec homes are ordered from the manufactured home dealer; colors, features, and upgrades are all chosen in-house with the ideal client in mind. While a manufactured home cannot be built at the speed of previous years, still, when the house is released for sale it is already further in process, reducing the schedule from buyer exposure to the move-in date.

Nobody is looking to wait over a year for a new home anymore, so by shortening this schedule, the buyer is attracted by the home’s availability.

Along with timeline considerations, the biggest appeal to a spec home is a buyer is able to actually see the innovation and features of a manufactured home. With a buyer market that does not want a manufactured home as an option, a spec house allows realtors and buyers to walk through the actual home prior to purchasing.

Exposing the buyers and their realtors to modern manufacturing allows them to picture themselves within the home, chipping away at the pre-established stigma.

Lastly, purchasing manufactured homes has felt like a complicated process. A spec home is simple because the house is already built, designed, and installed on a lot. All a buyer has to do is write an offer and purchase the home. There are no extra steps or considerations. With a market causing people to become desperate for any type of housing opportunity, eliminating the extra grunt work brings more buyers to the door.

Future of Micro-Communities

At Southwest Homes, we are projected to release a total of five micro-communities in 2022. Each micro-community has been designed and developed with a different customers in mind. For example, our Mitchell micro-community has lots on two acre parcels for those looking for space for livestock while our Riesling micro-community has larger homes located on a cul-de-sac which is perfect for families. We’re projected to sell these homes within the first two weeks of release, if not sooner. While the success of selling homes may seem like the ultimate prize, we find that the real value of these micro-communities is offering a true affordable housing solution and working toward eliminating the stigma of manufactured homes. MHV

Katryna Eastwood is founder and CEO of Lead Creative, and worked with Southwest Homes in communicating the attributes factory built homes provide in the development of micro communities as an affordable housing solution.

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