In 2008 Martell created the 99-Day Construction Countdown, a clever benchmarking tool that tells homeowners exactly where their build should be on any given day, with the implicit promise that the home will be finished on day 99. “It gives them a lot of peace of mind,” says Martell. “They look at day 43 of the countdown, and it tells them that everything is going according to plan.”

 

Martell turned to social media networks to make new friends and expand corporate partners; using these readily available tools helped him create an online presence. 

For example, he has produced YouTube testimonials from satisfied clients. A Facebook site broadcasts open-house locations and company information. And he uses Twitter to provide real-time updates of his activities and value-added information to his audience every few hours. “Marketing people say to me, ‘Why are you wasting your time on Twitter? You can’t measure your ROI.’ But that’s not an issue. I’ve already sold two houses to customers who found out about me on Twitter. It works, and takes 

me half the time it would normally to complete the sales pitch.”

 

A website called Themartellexperience.com acts as a focal point for the whole campaign. The site’s centrepiece is an informal video chat with Martell and several of his satisfied customers called Our Approach, a presentation carefully engineered to create client piece of mind.

 

The low-budget marketing plan, which cost almost nothing except time, works because Martell Homebuilders has a powerful competitive advantage, according to its owner, in that it can deliver on its promises. “We’ve built about 100 houses, and we’ve never been over budget or missed a closing date,” says Martell. “To get that fact across, we needed people to get to know us, to like us, and trust us. Social media has made that possible.”