Most homebuilders aren’t short on marketing options. They’re short on a clear order of operations.

SEO, paid search, social, video, Zillow, and email done in the wrong order; they create noise and waste budget. Done in the proper order, they build on each other and drive predictable sales.

Over the past 15 years at Rhoads Creative, we developed a framework called the Digital Marketing Ladder®: a strategic framework designed to help homebuilders prioritize their marketing efforts for maximum ROI. It’s designed to help homebuilders determine which marketing channels to focus on first and the order of priority for implementing tactics to achieve the greatest return on investment. It’s based on real-world experience that has actually worked for our clients.

Let’s compare it to building a house. You wouldn’t start with the roof before pouring the foundation. The same logic applies here.

The Digital Marketing Ladder® is organized into three main tiers:

1. Foundational (Steps 1–2): Laying the groundwork.
2. Primary Promotional Tactics (Steps 3–5): Capturing in-market demand.
3. Expanded Promotional Tactics (Steps 6-8): Expanding reach and improving efficiency.

Each step on the ladder represents a different marketing channel or tactic, and each one builds on what came before it.

This isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, but we’ve found it to be successful as a framework for builders of all sizes and markets. Some companies move up the ladder faster than others, depending on their budget and resources; however, experience shows that following the steps in order generally leads to the best results. When you follow the sequence and respect the structure, each new investment improves what you’ve already built. The idea is that you can’t jump from step 1 to step 8 and expect a strong ROI. If you skip steps, you risk falling – just as you would climbing a physical ladder.

Let’s go through each step of the Digital Marketing Ladder® and explain why it matters for homebuilders.

The Foundational Tier

Step 1: Brand Awareness

Before you spend a single dollar on SEO and paid ads, you need to answer one question: what makes your company different? This is your brand statement, and it’s the foundation of everything else you’ll build.

A brand statement is your unique selling proposition (USP). It’s the clear, specific reason why a buyer should choose you over every other builder in your market.

Your brand statement is the first step of the Digital Marketing Ladder® because every marketing decision you make should start from it. Without a clear USP, your website content will feel generic. Your ad campaigns won’t have a compelling hook. Your social media posts will lack direction. You’ll end up looking and sounding like every other builder, which means prospects have no reason to pick up the phone and call you instead of your competitor.

We’ve seen builders skip this step because they’re eager to get campaigns running. They want leads now, so they jump straight to paid ads or SEO. However, when we ask them what makes their company unique, they struggle to articulate it. Or worse, they give us the same answer every builder gives: “quality craftsmanship” or “customer service.” Those aren’t differentiators.

When you start with a strong brand statement, it guides every piece of content you create, every ad you run, and every page on your website. It keeps your messaging consistent and gives prospects a clear reason to remember you.

Before you move to the next step, make sure you can clearly articulate your USP in one or two sentences. If you can’t, stop and do this first. Everything else depends on it.

Step 2: Website and Landing Pages

Once you’ve defined your brand statement, the next step is to create a website that communicates it. Your website is where potential customers decide if you’re worth their time. If it doesn’t clearly present your services and reflect your USP, you risk losing buyers before they even contact you.

A strong website has three key elements:

• Smooth user experience: This means fast load times, easy navigation, and a design that works well on mobile devices. If someone has to search for information or wait for pages to load, they’ll leave and look at your competitor instead.
• Consistency with brand statement: Every page should highlight what sets you apart. If that is customizability and transparency in the build process, your site should showcase those features and make that value immediately clear.
• Designed to convert: Clear calls to action, well-placed contact forms, clear messaging, and convincing reasons to get in touch are all important.

Why is this step so important? Your website is the focal point for every other marketing effort. SEO brings traffic to your site. Paid ads direct clicks to your landing pages. Social media posts direct users back to your content. If your website isn’t ready to turn that traffic into leads, you’re wasting money on everything else.

The Promotional Tier

Step 3: Search Engine Optimization

With your brand statement defined and your website designed to convert, it’s time to make sure people can actually find you. This is where search engine optimization, or SEO, comes in.

When most people hear SEO, they think of Google. However, search optimization in 2025 goes beyond traditional search engines. AI platforms like ChatGPT and Perplexity now answer questions that previously led people to Google. Social platforms like TikTok serve as search engines for younger buyers looking into their first home purchase. If your content isn’t optimized for these channels, you risk being invisible to a growing portion of your audience.

The real strength of SEO is its long-term value. Unlike paid ads that stop generating traffic once you stop spending, organic search builds momentum over time. A well-optimized blog post you publish today can drive qualified traffic to your site for years. Each piece of content becomes an asset that works for you continuously.

Step 4: Search Ads

Once your SEO foundation is driving organic traffic, search ads help you capture high-intent leads you haven’t reached yet. These prospects are actively searching for homebuilders in your market right now. They’re entering prompts like “new homes in Charlotte” or “custom homebuilder near me.” If you don’t appear in those paid results, someone else will get that sale.

To maximize return on investment, start with targeted campaigns that showcase your strongest services and the keywords that convert the most. Avoid trying to plan for every possible search term. Instead, direct your budget toward the searches that actually lead to sales. Test different ad copy to see what works best. Search ads provide immediate feedback, so use that data to make quick changes.

When managed well, paid search fills the gap while your organic efforts gain traction, and together they create a steady stream of qualified leads.

Step 5: Zillow and Real Estate Platforms

At this point in the ladder, you’ve built your foundation, optimized for search, and started capturing high-intent leads through paid ads. Now it’s time to meet buyers where they are already looking: Zillow and similar real estate platforms.

According to Zillow, 67% of homebuyers use the platform during their search process. That’s not something you can afford to ignore. Zillow is a costly line item, but for most builders, it’s a necessary one. In our experience, pulling back too hard on Zillow almost always shows up later as softer traffic and fewer leads at the community level. If your homes aren’t listed there with accurate information, professional photos, and engagement, you’re missing out on a huge part of the market.

This step in the ladder builds on everything below it. Your brand statement tells you how to position your listings. Your website is where you send interested buyers for more information. The SEO foundation you’ve already built helps your profile rank. And your paid search experience guides you on how to approach paid advertising options on Zillow itself. Each piece works together to create a system that captures leads from multiple angles, and real estate platforms are a part of that system for homebuilders.

The Advanced Tier

Step 6: Retargeting

Retargeting isn’t about blasting everyone with your message. By this stage, you’ve generated traffic through SEO, search ads, and real estate platforms. Now you need to stay in front of visitors who checked out your site but didn’t convert.

Retargeting works by displaying ads to individuals who have previously interacted with your website or listings. They might have browsed your available homes page, looked at floor plans, or clicked through from a Zillow listing. They showed interest, but something stopped them from filling out a contact form or reaching out to your sales team. Retargeting gives you another chance to bring them back and help them make a decision.

Common retargeting strategies for homebuilders include showing specific community ads to people who visited those community pages, promoting limited inventory to visitors who looked at your available homes, and highlighting your unique selling points to anyone who spent time on your homepage but didn’t explore more. You can also retarget people who interacted with your listings on Zillow, bringing them back to your site where you control the experience.

The key is to match the ad content to what they have already viewed, creating a natural continuation of their research instead of a generic message.

Step 7: Demographic Display and Video Ads

Once you’ve captured warm leads through retargeting, demographic display, and video ads, they help you reach new prospects who match your ideal buyer profile. This is the time to be specific about who you’re targeting based on age, location, household income, interests, etc.

Video ads are powerful at this stage because they allow you to tell your story in a way that images can’t. A 30-second video showcasing a community, highlighting your building process, or explaining your unique selling proposition builds brand awareness and engages prospects who aren’t actively searching yet. Video holds attention longer than a banner ad and creates a stronger impression.

This step is more advanced because it requires a larger budget and wider reach than retargeting. You’re no longer just following up with people who already know you. You’re introducing yourself to cold audiences. But by targeting demographics that match your ideal buyer, you’re spending smart.

Step 8: Other Digital Marketing Tactics

At the top of the ladder are tactics like geofencing, email marketing, and social media. These are extra strategies that support what you’ve built below. They help you stay visible, build relationships, and keep your brand in front of potential customers.

Geofencing enables you to target individuals based on their past physical locations, utilizing GPS technology. Email marketing keeps past leads engaged and nurtures prospects with updates about the community and new listings. Social media helps you build a presence where buyers spend their time, showcasing your homes and interacting with your community.

There’s flexibility here. Depending on your timing and goals, you can change the order or mix of these tactics. If you’re launching a new community, ramping up social media early might be a good idea. If you have a solid database of past buyers, email marketing could move up on your list. The ladder gives you a framework, but you can adjust based on what your business needs right now.

Strategize and adapt

Building a successful digital marketing strategy isn’t about doing everything at once. It’s about doing the right things in the proper order.

The Digital Marketing Ladder® gives you that order. A clear path for where to invest first, how fast to climb based on budget, and which tactics actually move the needle on sales. The foundation (brand, website, search) rarely changes. The upper levels (retargeting, video, geofencing, email, social) remain flexible, allowing you to adjust to market shifts, technological changes, and launch timelines.

If you’re done guessing and want a data-first plan that ties marketing spend to sales, we can help. Rhoads Creative works exclusively with home builders, and we’ve been helping them climb this ladder for years. Schedule a strategy session, and we’ll map out your next steps on the ladder and identify where you may be wasting your budget today.