Advertising real estate for sale has changed dramatically in the past few years. Homeowners who wish to sell their homes can no longer simply rely upon traditional advertising techniques. Listing your home with an agent who inputs your home information into the MLS, runs an ad in the local print newspaper, and maybe a small ad in a real estate magazine is no longer as effective as it used to be. That’s a grand understatement. Television ads and traditional media campaigns are losing their power to sell homes. Perhaps the example of a major player in the real estate industry will make the point better.
Century 21 Real Estate, LLC, comprised of 8,000 offices in 45 countries “pulled its national television advertising in 2009 and invested those resources into online marketing,” according to David Meerman Scott, author of The New Rules of Marketing and PR. Scott goes on to say in his book:
[The Century 21] team learned that people who are in the market to buy or sell a home rely heavily on the Web and that the closer they get to a real estate transaction, the more they use online resources. Many companies spending large amounts of money on television advertising (and other offline marketing such as direct mail, magazine and newspaper advertising, and Yellow Page listings) are afraid to make even partial moves away from their comfort zones and into online marketing and social media.
But consumers (buyers) have already made the move. It’s advertisers and Madison Avenue who cling to traditional media that is expensive and ineffective. Do you have a home for sale in Sequim or Port Angeles? How are you marketing it? Is your advertising campaign relevant to the habits and preferences of buyers today? This very day, perhaps this very minute, someone may be searching for a home like yours in Sequim or Port Angeles online. Are you reaching them? Are you sure?
Last Updated on July 27, 2012 by Chuck Marunde
