Precise Marketing Strategy of D.R. Horton – With Detailed Explanation

Updated on: Dec 22, 2022
marketing strategy of d.r. horton - featured image

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My name is Aditya Shastri and I have written this case study with the help of my students from IIDE's online digital marketing courses in India.

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In our previous article, we learned in detail about the marketing strategy of Logan Construction. In this article, we are going to painstaking on the marketing strategy of D.R. Horton – America’s largest Homebuilder.

The objective is to help you gain insights into D R Horton’s transition to becoming a leading giant in building houses in America. In building a great empire there are a variety of marketing strategies. Lets’s deep dive into them.

As you all know and see, from education to business all are online and marketing is the root of every industry. If you are interested to know more then do check out our Free Masterclass on Digital Marketing by the CEO and Founder of IIDE I Karan Shah

Before diving deep into the crux of the marketing strategy of D.R. Horton. We should know about the company’s story, target audience, and company’s SEO.

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About DR Horton – 

marketing strategy of d.r. horton - d.r.horton logoSource – Wikipedia 

Homebuilding business D.R. Horton, Inc. was established in Delaware and has its corporate office in Arlington, Texas. The business has been the biggest volume homebuilder in the US since 2002. On the 2019 Fortune 500 list of the biggest American corporations by revenue, the company came in at number 194. The business is active in 29 states and 90 markets.

Donald R. Horton launched the business in 1978. Horton, who owns roughly 6% of the business, took it public in 1992. In 1997, the business paid $305 million for Continental Homes, taking on $278 million in debt in the process. Additionally, the business entered the Tucson, Arizona, area. The business elevated Richard Beckwitt to the president in 1998 and Donald J. Tomnitz to vice chairman and chief executive. The business also bought Cambridge Homes.

Express Homes, Freedom Homes, Emerald Homes, and D.R. Horton are the four brands that the company runs. While Emerald Homes is marketed as luxury real estate, Express Homes is designed for entry-level purchasers. The community of active adults is catered to by Freedom Homes.

Due to the impact of wars, high oil prices hit the US homebuilding sector. Builders remain pessimistic about the slumping US housing Market. Due to covid, the demand for houses dented. There was uncertainty all during covid but when the covid situation suttles The company’s shares rose as much as 8.6% to $40.09 in early trading, as the broader S&P 500 index. SPX surged amid signs of flattening coronavirus outbreak. The stock has fallen about 30% this year.

Quick Stats on DR Horton:

CEO David V. Auld
CMO Ira Kramer
Area Served USA
Industry Home Construction
Market Revenue $27.774 billion (2021)
Vision We believe in a vision of homeownership for everyone, a home for every stage in life.
Tagline Simplifying home and life

 

Marketing Strategy of D.R. Horton – 

Let’s learn about the marketing strategy of D.R. Horton! And how DR Horton carries the marketing campaign, SEO, etc.

Segmentation,  Targeting, and Positioning

The Segmentation of customers by DR Horton’s company is to build an engaging, right relationship with customers The homebuilding operations of D.R. Horton (DHI) include the construction and sale of single-family detached homes and attached homes, such as townhomes, duplexes, triplexes, and condominiums. Other major players like Pulte Group (PHM) and Lennar (LEN) also focus on single-family detached homes, while Toll Brothers (TOL) caters mainly to the luxury home segment.

The Target Audience to choose from is very difficult because the construction industry can’t serve all the customers out there. They have to choose which customers best serve their resources and capabilities. DR Horton needs to target the selected customers 

Positioning a product is very crucial due to increasing competition in the marketplace.

You should have a unique identity and distinct image because the reference point is the customer’s mind. It’s extremely important because driving down production costs in the construction service industry If the positioning of the product is not consistent with the consumer ecosystem then consumers won’t accept the product or service.

D.R. Horton is positioned as a national homebuilder in America. 

Marketing Campaigns

marketing strategy of d.r. horton - marketing campaignDR Horton is the Biggest Domain among home builders in America. Lead the Ad campaign in 2014 on Bhenace.net. The campaign was about Adults community. Where the active adult community looking to be the nation’s #1 Builder. DR Horton company provided the perfect time to purchase a beautiful home from DR Horton. The savings had been better up to $35,000 till November 2014. Village Grande at English Mill is located in a wonderful Atlantic Country.

This ad campaign increased sales of DR Horton company due to the adult community. People were satisfied with well-furnished and equipped homes with all the facilities. 

marketing strategy of d.r. horton - marketing campaign

Beyond Traditional helped D.R. Horton rebrand their company by launching a campaign to influence Seattle home seekers to associate the builder with a sense of localness, Fulfillment, and ability

Using a GPS to locate your first or second house is really easy. Through reaching out to homebuyers through a range of targeted advertisements ( placed on billboards, scrolling trucks, and buses) D.R. Horton saw dramatic rises in home sales and public awareness.

Social Media Marketing

DR Horton is active on Social Media Platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. It has maximum followers on Facebook than on Instagram, Twitter, Linkedin, and at last Pinterest.

  • Facebook – 3.5M followers
  • Instagram – 67.7K followers
  • Twitter – 16.1K followers
  • Linkedin – 15.9K followers
  • Pinterest – 3.7K followers

If we talk about Pinterest is not a much-known platform. Instagram and Facebook posts are primarily promotional with posts related to their new product launch.

SEO Strategies  

marketing strategy of d.r. horton - ubersuggest seo screenshot

Source – UberSuggest 

As per SEO ranking, it is said that the number of keywords – below 500 is bad, above 1000 is good, and 10,000+ is amazing. As we can see that www.drhorton.com has 371K+ organic keywords and it’s considered Amazing. That means the digital marketing of DR Horton has an amazing number of insights. 

Also, the traffic per month is around 559K+ which is known as amazing. Hence DR Horton has strong SEO insights and amazing SERP results. DR Horton has a profound foundation digitally also.

Influencer Marketing

For direct, on-ground engagement, the company uses influencers. Influencers interact with consumers directly, or through their channels of communication as a means of content creation and endorsing the D R Horton brand.

Influencers promote the product (DR Horton) so that DR Horton gains popularity and the sales will increase via their fan following.

E-commerce Strategies

In talking about e-commerce strategies. DR Horton has its website (www.drhorton.com) from where they sell their products with special offers. 

Content Marketing Strategies

DR Horton is very active on social media. The post content is related to their new products, awareness messages, etc. The source of posting content is Facebook or Instagram. Also, they press releases about their product via various sources such as The Hindu, MoneyControl, The New Indian Express, etc.

It also does content creation, Blogging and email to a captivating variety of customers worldwide.

This ends the case study on the Marketing Strategy of D.R. Horton.

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What’s Unique in the Marketing strategy of D.R. Horton?

Here we come to the end of our blog. As we have seen DR Horton has gained a lot of love and support from each Domain from campaigns to the Digital world. As we gain insights from SEO traffic, DR Horton has gained a lot of attention from organic keywords to organic traffic. 

As we all know, digital marketing has taken a drastic change because of pandemics that affected every business. As per digital marketing statistics, about 60% of the population of world uses the internet. It rose by 20% in the past two years due to the pandemic with many businesses going online.

DR Horton has a profound foundation of digital presence from influencers to 67k followers on Instagram with a presence on the Pinterest platform. They have done email marketing, blogging, and content creation.

With the increasing importance of digital marketing if you want to learn more and upskill yourself. Check out IIDE’s 4-month Digital Marketing course and 11-Month Digital Marketing Course to learn more.

We hope this blog on the marketing strategy of D.R. Horton has given you a good insight into the company’s marketing strategies.

Check out our IIDE Knowledge Portal for additional intriguing case studies if you enjoy in-depth analyses of businesses, such as the marketing strategy of D.R. Horton.

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Aditya Shastri

Lead Trainer & Head of Learning & Development at IIDE

Leads the Learning & Development segment at IIDE. He is a Content Marketing Expert and has trained 6000+ students and working professionals on various topics of Digital Marketing. He has been a guest speaker at prominent colleges in India including IIMs......[Read full bio]

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