264 Finding Your Unique Selling Proposition - Kirsten Nease Apr 16 2025

Greg Bray: [00:00:00] Hello, everybody, and welcome to today's episode of The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine. 

Kevin Weitzel: And I'm Kevin Weitzel with OutHouse.
 
Greg Bray: And we are excited to have joining us today, Kirsten Nease. Kirsten is the Director of Sales and Marketing at Cornerstone Homes. Welcome, Kirsten. Thanks for spending time with us today. 

Kirsten Nease: Hi, guys. Thanks so much for having me. I really appreciate being included. 

Greg Bray: Well, let's start off by just getting to know a little bit more about you. Give us that quick background and overview about some of the things you've been doing. 

Kirsten Nease: Yeah, sure. So, recently we've been [00:01:00] drinking from a fire hose here. I just was given the responsibility of sales and marketing as of January 2nd. So, a little bit of bench building and getting my team up to speed and getting everybody on board in the same direction for the sales side of things. And with marketing, you know, that's like the back of my hand. I've been doing that for seven years, so that's kind of moving along on autopilot right now and really focusing it on the sales side. 

But been in the industry in new home sales for seven years, technically with Cornerstone Homes. And before that was in residential interior design, working with custom home builders and private clients, building houses, renovations, and home design. Some of that was part of my family. My father-in-law had a custom home building business for 40 years that ended up not making it through the last downturn. Prior to that, a mom, a coach, and worked at Marriott International in architectural accounting. So, always kind of been wrapped around the home building [00:02:00] piece and the design.

Kevin Weitzel: That's a lot. But before we jump into that, let's find out one interesting factoid about yourself that has nothing to do with work, family, or the home building industry. 

Kirsten Nease: Oh, okay. Well, it's hard to not be around family because I do a lot for family, but I coached middle school lacrosse for many years while my girls were growing up, and played soccer myself all growing up and through college. I love sports. One of my other main fun things and facts that I'd love to do one day is be a roadie and follow college game day, and take an RV and travel all around and follow college game day. I love it. Every fall when that starts, I stop all things and been known to be watching it heading around the grocery store, doing my grocery list with my earbuds on. So, super fan. 

Kevin Weitzel: The cool thing about following college sports is that there's still passion for the actual game. It's not like in professional sports where there's a very divisive line around the passion just for the money, and [00:03:00] for the contract, and for the accolades more so than the actual sport itself. Would you agree? 

Kirsten Nease: Absolutely. And there's so many great stories about the athletes in the games every week. That's what I love a lot about college game day, is seeing the different campuses. Of course, love the field goal kick for millions of dollars now, and seeing if the kids will make it, and all the money that's being given to charity for that. And then just all the different features of the athletes. The X's and O's I'm not as good at, but I really do enjoy the programming. 

Kevin Weitzel: What is your alma mater? And is that still your favorite school to follow?

Kirsten Nease: You know, that's a family feud. I'm a Villanova University grad at the business school there. Really enjoyed my time at Villanova. I happened to marry somebody that was a huge Duke super fan for basketball, so that's caused some tension over the years. And my youngest is currently a senior at Duke University playing lacrosse. So, right now, my blood bleeds a little Duke blue. 

Kevin Weitzel: That's a rough one. I used to own a triathlon shop. It was called Tribe, and the corporate colors were just orange and [00:04:00] blue, but orange. So we used to give off these promotional t-shirts. They were just orange with their name and blue emblazoned. One of our clients was Kevin Broven, who was a former center for the Miami Dolphins. And then prior to that, Villanova. And I guess their number one hated school or rivalry school is, starts with a T, has an orange color in it. He swore up and down that he would never wear one of my shirts, not because he didn't love me. He hated the color orange and just refused to wear the color orange.

Kirsten Nease: Yes, that happens. That happens. We've got some fun family stories because my dad is also a Villanova grad and my husband couldn't stand hearing my dad always talk about Villanova basketball. I digress and won't go there, but it's been a fun feud over the years, and I'm really glad to see Duke at the top of the listings this year and just what great energy and all those young athletes have there. It's a phenomenal school and program. 

Greg Bray: All right. Well, we will hit them up for a sponsorship for today's episode. See what we get.
Well, Kirsten, tell us a little bit more about [00:05:00] Cornerstone Homes. Where do you guys build? What type of product do you do the most of, and who are you serving as a buyer profile?
 
Kirsten Nease: Sure, so we're a boutique home builder. We build about 100 homes a year. We're trying to grow to get to that 250 spot, but for the last 7 years, we've hung right about 100. We're an active adult builder, so we're exclusive 55-plus. We're the only exclusive 55-plus builder in the state of Virginia. We are nationally award winning and we are constantly pushing the boundaries of what the market wants and needs for the active adult buyer.

We really promote lifestyle and push that. One of our biggest projects that we've been recognized most for has a working farm as the center amenity of the community. So, a lot of the activities center around that farm, and it's an agri hood and really has been a phenomenal product for us. The homeowners that live there just voted their lifestyle coordinator, coordinator of the year. [00:06:00] So, all that we offer the homeowners are really benefiting from the exceptional community design.
 
Kevin Weitzel: Kirsten, these people are 55-plus and you're still making them work on a farm?

Kirsten Nease: I know. We'll see the benefit of the working farm is they don't actually have to work there. They get to choose to work there and reap the benefits of that if they choose. They get market bucks if they work on the farm and some of them are actually paid employees too. But for the most part, our homeowners are coming and enjoying the fresh tomatoes and herbs and produce and all the other added value product that we're offering in our market. They walk from their front door, just a few steps, and they can have that fresh produce. And then an hour later, have it sitting on their dining table. So, they're the beneficiaries of that true farm to table living, which really is important in health and wellness for an active adult person to, you know, you are what you eat, right?  

Greg Bray: So, we have to dive into the marketing around that concept a little bit more [00:07:00] because there's not a ton of those communities out there, right? How do you go to market with something like that where everybody's like, what? Do I really want that? Do I need that? Is that something different? Like Kevin's like, do I have to work at the farm if I live here? You know, how do you start that messaging to reach that audience? 

Kirsten Nease: We've had it all. Well, you know, you really lean into health and wellness, and making sure that the homeowners know that we're setting them up for a place to live where it's intentional living. You know, you hear all these things about blue zone living these days, and blue zones, you know, people are living to be in their hundreds, right? All over the world. Well, we feel like Chickahominy Falls is its own little blue zone and we actively are promoting that lifestyle. 

We do a ton of homeowner testimonials. We have farmbassadors, right? An ambassador, but they're a farmbassador. And we're constantly showcasing our homeowners and their lifestyle in the community, [00:08:00] whether that's working and reaping the benefits of the farm or the lifestyle. All of our amenities are farm designed and have farm motif around them. We have a silo bar.

So, you know, and a really fun thing is to go to happy hour, but if you're doing it around a silo bar, it's bringing in that health and wellness and intentionality. We have really beautiful outdoor amenities and overlooks overlooking rivers and things like that. So, we're just really leaning into that lifestyle of what it's like to be living at a farm and outside a lot and really intentional about your days and what that looks like.

Kevin Weitzel: So, you're saying that if you're 55-plus residents could be very industrious, they could process like farm-grown potatoes and instead of going farm to table go right farm to bottle? Here's your bottle of our grain alcohol, you know, right? 

Kirsten Nease: Yeah. So we actually have some homeowners that are using our products and creating things that we also sell in the market. So, we [00:09:00] have spice blends, we have scones. Our farm staff is creating bowls that people can pick up for fresh to go meals. We have grab and go meals, all kinds of things that we're processing. We process tomato sauce, we've made salsas, all those things that the farm produces. And obviously, not all of it gets used fresh, so we bottle it up and make an added value product the homeowners can enjoy all year. 

Kevin Weitzel: That's cool. 

Greg Bray: Is this vegetables only or do you have livestock to going on? 

Kirsten Nease: So, we only have vegetables. We started out with, you know, this is all the benefits of running a farm. It's a lot of work. We've morphed and molded over the years that we've had the farm now for seven years. We're basically in a model now where we produce about 40 different crops throughout the year. We're not mass producing anything. It's about a two-acre garden bed that we're actively cultivating right now, and turning those beds over and producing.

We're really [00:10:00] good with our salad mixes and our brassicas, which is like your broccolis, your spinach is in your kales. And then if we don't produce it, we do have a small orchard, but like, we get a lot of things from other local vendors here in the state of Virginia. We're lucky enough to have a lot of great local producers. So, we'll bring those into the market for people to share. And then we sell some of our product out to other markets and local restaurants as well. 

Greg Bray: So, Kirsten, it feels like right now that there is a generational change happening in the 55-plus era where the 55-plusers are now the Gen X people as opposed to the boomers that have been. Are you seeing a change in how you market those kinds of communities with that generational evolution, or is it still the same needs, the same desires that people have as they hit kind of that age and stage in life? 

Kirsten Nease: I would say our younger 55ers are way more active and really want to dive in and have [00:11:00] all the different activities and clubs, and they're willing to do the work to get them put in place. Whereas your older boomers were waiting for somebody to do that for them and activate that lifestyle. The younger boomers are hands in, knees in, getting themselves actively involved. 

They're setting up the bingo nights. They're setting up the wine clubs, the travel clubs, the biking and hiking clubs. They're setting up all the different activities that help make a community so engaged and activated. They're helping with that on the daily basis. They're coming up with the clubs that they want to have and working with our lifestyle coordinator to get those in place, and then opening it to the whole community. 

Of all of our communities, this particular community just really has activated and become more engaged with one another faster and is more cohesive than any of our other communities we've had to date. [00:12:00] We've been doing this for 25 years. So, this is like our super community and has really been just a phenomenal experience for our homeowners and for us as a builder. 

Kevin Weitzel: So, in Arizona, and I'm not trying to change the subject at all, but in Arizona we grow two things. Your rattlesnakes, scorpions, black widow spiders, and cactus. That's about it. The other thing we grow in our neighborhoods, in our communities, we grow these giant six-foot block wall fences around all of our properties and only have a garage door facing the street. It's very bleak and sad. How are you developing the culture? How are you getting people in your neighborhoods that participate, that they share versus just isolating away in their own little cocoon?

Kirsten Nease: Yeah. So, actually, somebody was just asking me about that this last week. One of the first things we do is we set up happy hours and we set up coffee hours before we even have infrastructure in the community to host those. We find a place that's local to do that. We start bringing [00:13:00] people together before they're actually even in their homes and engaging the lifestyle, so that people are getting to know one another. We actively have market days where we're bringing people with live music and food, and, you know, just kind of come experience what it's like to live in a farming community like this, or any of our communities for that matter. 

The other thing architecturally that we did in Chickahominy Falls by design was have every house had to have a front porch, and that has been a real activator. When people are walking down the sidewalk, there are others sitting on their front porch watching the neighbors go by or visiting, and it's a really nice way for the neighbors to engage with one another. 

I mean, at Halloween, they have the skeletons all decorated with their personality. So the fireman has the bone fire. The painter has the Bona Lisa. Somebody else has the skeleton on the flying bike that's a bike enthusiast. So, at Christmas, that time of year, it's just nuts. But [00:14:00] those front porches, that's like, the best place for a quick conversation, for a coffee, or the Friday happy hour just with your local neighbors. That absolutely has made a huge difference in bringing people together. 

Kevin Weitzel: So, you're not only marketing internally to your community, but you're also marketing to attract people to community. So, you kind of wear two hats. 

Kirsten Nease: Yeah, I mean, the bonus for me, I do a lot. I'm not just sales and marketing, I'm also actively involved in our community development. I get to name the streets. I get actively involved in the architecture of our homes and our amenities. So, it's really fun because I can see the story beginning at those infancy stages. Like, what kind of architecture do we want to have? Why are the houses facing this way? Is that a good lot for this house? Should we put this house on there? 

And then as the homeowners move in, and we start selling, like, how is that all combining with the lifestyle that we want to create there? And then we sell that. We take what we're [00:15:00] designing, and that story, and that's the story we're telling. And it's so true from the very beginning stages of planning and design and rezoning all the way through to our homeowners living their best life there. 

Greg Bray: So, Kirsten, as you think about the age group and demographic that you're targeting, do you feel like this group still engages digitally just the same as everybody else? Or are they more digitally engaged in learning and studying, you know, on the website, less digitally engaged than maybe some others.? What's your take on that?
 
Kirsten Nease: Well, you know, like everything, you've got your people that are totally technically averse and don't at all that might be on the older side. And then you've got yours that are totally digitally engaged and are online. A vast majority are online in some way before they ever walk in our door or form submit on our website. They've done their research in some format. Whether they've seen an ad on Facebook [00:16:00] that they liked and looked at because they were strolling there to check out and see things and people that they know in their life, or they were guided by their children.

A lot of this generation moves to be closer to their children and grandchildren. Richmond is a great location for that. We're right on the 95 corridor. We're in Virginia as well, offering great four seasons that aren't too harsh in the winters and are relatively moderate in the summers. But they want to be near their grandkids.

So, in some form or fashion, they are digitally involved, but it just varies depending on the person. The older the person, the less they are digitally. Our homeowners at Chickahominy Falls just put together their whole new website. And, man, there are some really digitally savvy people in the neighborhood. So, it's just tapping into those people and kind of learning what their capabilities are. I've done focus groups with people when we redesigned our website. I brought a bunch of homeowners in and I said, what do you like about this website versus that [00:17:00] website? What kind of functionality do you want? So, our website was really designed with their intent and their capability in mind, make it easy, right? Keep it simple. 

Greg Bray: What was one of the big surprises that you got out of that focus group effort? Because I don't think a lot of builders put the time and effort to actually sit down with prospective buyers in a website design conversation. You know, I think that's kind of unusual.
 
Kirsten Nease: I don't know that there was any one thing. You know, it's a lot about keeping it simple, making it visually attractive. I'm starting to get to that point. I have got to wear glasses almost all the time and need to go to the eye doctor to get a new prescription. But just keeping in mind and thinking about what it's like for them to navigate this, and what are they on.

When I first started this seven years ago, it was interesting. It was about 65% that were on a desktop. Now, it's about 75 percent on a tablet or a handheld. So, making sure that your technology is adjusting to that format and that your platforms are equally, if not [00:18:00] better on the platform that the user is on. 

Kevin Weitzel: Completely weird question.

Kirsten Nease: Yeah. 

Kevin Weitzel: Being that you have a relative exclusivity in 55-plus in your area, do you ever have the opportunity to use outside advertisers that would possibly sponsor some of the events that you have in your communities? 

Kirsten Nease: We have. Yeah. So, we have done a couple of things. We used to have this magazine in our state called Boomer Magazine, and they're actually online, and have a radio station and everything. We've been featured on their radio station. We've been featured in their magazine. We held the cover. That was one of the first big rebranding things we did for ourselves. When I came in seven years ago, we were a recognizable brand in our region. We had communities here and there, but we didn't brand Cornerstone. So, we made a really big effort to brand Cornerstone Homes as the exclusive 55-plus builder and we used that boomer [00:19:00] platform really heavily to engage with our demographic. 

So, yes, we have reached out specifically to age-targeted businesses. We've used the center for advanced learning, where it's like, ongoing, continuous study classes. We've brought in some of that. In our branded magazine, we've brought in specialists for writing wills and trusts because we know that that's something this demographic is actively pursuing and looking for. 

You know, we do a lot of marketing with our partners who are offering things that we know that our buyers want. I mean, our buyers, this is their essentially last home that they're building. They may have come from a larger home that they raised their families in that had really nice features and finishes in them. So, we know that they're wanting to right size, but build a jewel box. So, we make sure that our partners and our offerings kind of help fit that, and then we highlight that in our marketing and make sure that people are aware of what [00:20:00] we offer. 

Greg Bray: So, you guys have made a real conscious choice to focus on one particular demographic with the homes that you offer. Do you ever feel like having that real deep focus restricts you in any way? Or do you feel like that deep focus gives you a benefit as you are working on your marketing, where I don't need to worry about this or that because I know I only have to do, you know, this particular audience? 

Kirsten Nease: Yeah, I would say both. It gives us extreme focus, right? We know what our demographic is from the minute we're looking at land. Is this land viable for our projects? We've turned projects down or not been accepted to projects because the land didn't meet our requirements for zero threshold, like, too many basements, too much topography. It didn't work. And then been excluded because they didn't want to 55 restricted area. So, yes, it gives us extreme focus from our marketing standpoint.

We're not only an age-restricted neighborhoods. [00:21:00] We have a neighborhood that's a lifestyle community around a golf course where we're age-targeted neighborhoods. And guess what? The Gen Xer doesn't want to do yard work, and wants to have experiences on the weekends, and wants lock and leave. So, they like the fact that the HOA and the house is built low maintenance, with a big great room, have all the things you really love. But when they want to run out and go to the wineries and the breweries and hang out in the afternoon, or go watch their kids play sports, they don't have to worry about their house. 

So, in that particular community, we've started to sell to some younger professionals and young families that want those experiences. We feel like that's probably going to open up even more in the future as our boomer demographic ages and the Gen Xers age. And these younger millennials are coming through more and more about experiences in your life and less about possessions and having that mega mansion house. So, we feel like we're well positioned for that next phase too. 

Kevin Weitzel: I [00:22:00] understand the desire for a large lot and, you know, expansive land and everything else, but I've in the stage of my life, you know, I'm 53, actually I turn 54 in like a week and a half. But, you know, I'm at that age where I don't want to spend my weekends in the yard, lawn and upkeeping bushes. I don't want that. I live in a townhouse because I will never, ever want to do yard work ever again. I highly recommend townhouses. I really do. I wish more builders built townhouses. 

Kirsten Nease: Not all the zoning and localities allow for that density. We are just getting ready to release a section at Chickahominy Falls, a new section, and we had townhouses and other attached product, and they said, nope, everything has to be detached there. And so the HOA, you know, it's going to cover all that, but you immediately increase your price point and price people out of the neighborhood, potentially, where you could have been 15, 25, 50,000 dollars less with an attached product. You know, we just have to be really careful about that. I totally agree. I was in my yard picking up sticks this morning and I was not having fun, 

Greg Bray: But Kevin, [00:23:00] I thought you only grew cactus there. What is it that you're mowing? 

Kevin Weitzel: Believe it or not, they do have grass in some places here, but it's foreign. It's horrible for the environment. Yeah. Here in Arizona, different beast. 

Greg Bray: Well, Kirsten, what would you say to the marketer who is kind of in that stage where they're dealing with this huge breadth, they're doing first-time homebuyers, they're doing move up, they're doing some attached product for those who are looking to downsize. We've talked with builders that have like all of it. Sometimes they just seem to be going in so many different directions. And I see you being so focused. We have made a decision. We're going to stay with this, even if there's some nuance to it. Still in your messaging, you get some consistency. What advice would you give? Is it wrong to have that full breadth in your opinion of product? 

Kirsten Nease: Look, we all build new houses. We can all build a house that's 2, 3, 4 bedrooms, has the great kitchen. They're not all that different. So you have to, as a builder, identify what is your unique selling proposition? What are your three unique [00:24:00] selling propositions? You know, we really focus on that. As a brand, what are we? Who are we? What do we do? And then when we're in a community, what is this community and what is its unique selling proposition? And then, into the floor plans and everything we focus on that as well.

I think for anybody that's looking to make their mark and kind of identify who they are, you first have to look at yourself and your brand and what identifies you, what can you call out about yourself that's different than your competitors in your market and really lean into that. And it's okay to be different. That's what you want. You want people to notice something different. 

And then, at each community, when we go into a new community, even from the name of the community, we start with what's the history of this land? Where are we? What is the greater community where we're building all about? What is their marketability and why would people want to live here? And then we kind of bring that into our community and lean into the marketing from that standpoint of the [00:25:00] sense of place and making sure that people understand what this place is all about.

I mean, we have a story from one of our earlier communities where, the clubhouse was named The Home Place because the land that we bought from the homeowner she had one big house with big porches and all the kids love to come and play on her property and her house was called The Home Place and she had blackberry bushes everywhere. So, when we built our community, we put blackberry bushes. We named the clubhouse The Home Place because we wanted people to have that connection with the originality of the land and feel that sense of community that was there before we ever came in with the shovels. 

Greg Bray: No, that's nice. And sorry, everybody, but the put a farm in the middle of your community idea is taken. So, can't do that. Too late. Well, Kirsten, this has been a great conversation. We appreciate you sharing so freely. Do you have any kind of last thoughts or words of advice you'd like to leave with the marketers out there today? 

Kirsten Nease: Yeah, I guess it's been a theme with a lot of your other guests is don't settle this is what it [00:26:00] is and this is where we need to be. Constantly look for improvement, constantly be learning, constantly be tweaking your marketing because the environment is changing so rapidly with the technology and access that the buyers have. So, just make sure that you're constantly looking at all your levers.

I wouldn't say change every lever at the same time. You've got to make micro changes and then kind of see how that sets in and how that plays out before making a bunch of adjustments at once. You really need to hone in on what you're doing so that you can see what the results are or aren't and then make adjustments again. Just constantly be learning and constantly be thinking about how can I adjust this and make it better.

Greg Bray: Awesome. Great advice. Well, if somebody wants to reach out and connect with you, what's the best way for them to get in touch? 

Kirsten Nease: Yeah, I think LinkedIn is probably the best way. I'm Kirsten Nease on LinkedIn. I guess you'll put that in your show notes. Right? 

Greg Bray: Absolutely. 
Kirsten Nease: [00:27:00] And I'd be happy to chat with anybody about this. I've been doing it for seven years here at Cornerstone Homes. I've had some really great mentors here who have put a lot of time and attention into, and really invested in our marketing. Our owner is really heavily interested in the marketing concept as well. 

Greg Bray: Thanks again, Kirsten, for joining us. And thank you everybody for listening today to The Home Builder Digital Marketing Podcast. I'm Greg Bray with Blue Tangerine. 

Kevin Weitzel: And I'm Kevin Weitzel with OutHouse. Thank you. [00:28:00]