Primedia’s Consumer Guides, a national publisher and distributor of apartment, new home and auto guides, has purchased American Home Guides, the Hollywood, Fla.-based provider of Internet marketing for new-home builders, developers and their agencies.
The resulting combined offline and online products will create a powerful media outlet for home builders. American Home Guide’s family of Web sites, including www.americanhomeguides.com, receives millions of visitors per month and generates tens of thousands of home buyer leads for builders, and Primedia Consumer Guides are published in 30 major metropolitan areas.
Together, these “on-demand” media vehicles target and reach buyers searching specifically for new homes. Recent surveys reveal that 77 percent of home buyers begin their search online, and New Home Guide’s free magazines are widely distributed in supermarkets, drug stores and convenience stores. The online-offline combination will help builders reach prospective buyers at the beginning of the home-buying process.
In addition, both advertising resources provide buyers with detailed driving directions and phone numbers, encouraging them to visit builder sales centers on their own. This enables more buyers to deal directly with builder sales representatives.
American Home Guides founder, owner and president, Barry Lynn, began the company in 1994 as a product of his South Florida advertising agency. The company quickly grew into a regional and national Web marketing service as builders found the Internet to be an effective vehicle to market their homes.
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