Emerald Homes

Challenge: The Great Recession was a difficult time for home builders. Sales of new homes plummeted to historic lows. Emerald Homes, a regional home builder in business for over 35 years, had a presence in Powhatan County, New Kent County, Prince George County, and Chesterfield County but sales had completely dried up in 2008. Emerald wanted to create a comprehensive marketing strategy designed to leverage its unique selling propositions and communicate value for prospective home buyers. 

Solution: Gray Ryan Communications designed a holistic marketing and sales strategy which emphasized how Emerald Homes provided quality homes at a competitive price. The strategy included the complete re-design of their website so that there were direct calls to action and driving directions to each of their communities. The campaign also included a robust mix of organic and paid social media advertising which, in 2010, was not utilized by most home builders.  

Bottom Line: Gray Ryan’s work created immediate results. The number of leads visiting Emerald Homes communities increased by 600% and home sales began taking off. Emerald quickly became one of the top home builders in the Greater Richmond region, earning a coveted spot on the annual Richmond BizSense ranking of builders even above larger competitors. The increase in sales helped to boost its position in the market resulting in a Metro Business cover story in The Richmond Times-Dispatch and selling out of several communities which it had developed before the recession started.