Realtor marketing is the most important aspect of expanding your client base and increasing your real estate sales. In part 1 of this series, I touched upon gaining clients through realtor advertising in the Yellow Pages and print media.
The second aspect of realtor marketing is the advertising of the actual properties. This also is a two-way street. One side of real estate advertising is selling the house or property. The other side is the buying or completing the transaction. Realtors are involved in both these aspects with their marketing efforts.
Home and property listings are advertised in the print media through the local newpaper and the ever present "home and property" magazines found outside local businesses. Increasingly, the buyers search the internet through sites like Realtor.com to find local listings known as MLS.
These real estate advertisments usually contain a photograph of the house or property along with a brief description. We've all seen these if we've been in the market for buying a home.
The typical description may read as follows:
123 Orchard Street
$304,900
(photo of house)
4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2028 sq.ft.
Hardwood floors, high ceilings.
Dining room, living room, and family room
Separate laundry room
Privacy fenced yard
Landscaped, lots of original charm
ABC Realty
555-1234 You'll see many of these if you're looking for a house. Prices change, number of bedrooms and baths change, features of the property change with each advertisment. But for the most part they are all the same. The buyer is saying to him/herself, so what.
What is in these advertisments that make a potential buyer want to go see the property and purchase it? For the most part, it's the photograph. It's the photograph that excites the buyer first. The features in the description are used to justify why you want that house or property. But they're not put in the ad to excite the potential customer to want to take a look at what's for sale.
Here's how my realtor listed my property on the internet in the MLS when I was trying to sell my property:
260 cox CT, Bellvue, CO 80512
$325,000
(photo here)
Wood/Frame, 1 Story Ranch Style Home
Located on 10-20 acres
Woodstove heat
Attached Deck
Deciduous Trees, Evergreen Trees, Native Grass, Outbuildings, Rock Out-Croppings, Rolling Lot, Sloping Lot, Wooded Lot, House Faces West
Great very, very, private acreage. Small seasonal springs and pond on property. Lots of aspen trees and evergreens. Wonderful place for a weekend getaway, or a mountain home that is close to town. About 45 mins from central Ft. Collins. VINEYARD ON PROPERTY THAT SUPPLIES 5-25 GALLONS PER YEAR OF WINE!!! Very secluded, yet accessible. Don't mis this opportunity to own your private piece of paradise!!! I have to say that this doesn't make me want to drive the 45 minutes from town to view what I have for sale. The fact is, the realtor didn't even listen to me when I described the property as we walked around viewing my place. This description is totally inaccurate.
Here's how I changed and would have written this MLS:
260 Cox Ct, Bellvue, CO 80512
$325,000
(photo here)
1 1/2 Story Log Home
Located on 20 acres
Forced Air w/wood stove back-up
Well and Septic System
House plumbed with running water
Deck & Detached 10 X 15' Log Storage Shed/Sauna
Aspen Groves, Evergreen Trees, Native Grass & Wild Flowers, meadows and forest land, Outbuildings, Rock Out-Croppings, Rolling Lot, South-East Sloping Lot, House Faces East-Southeast, Great Views!
END OF THE ROAD SECLUSION: Beautiful piece of property in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains! Have to see to appreciate! Wildlife galore! Imagine: aspen groves, hillsides of pine evergreens, and rock outcroppings. Log Cottage with several places to build a permanent residential structure. (Cottage would become guest house.) Small seasonal springs and permanent pond on property. Wonderful place for a weekend getaway, or a mountain home that is close to town and work. (About 45 mins from downtown Ft. Collins.) No other houses visable from cottage! -- VINEYARD ON PROPERTY THAT SUPPLIES 5-25 GALLONS PER YEAR OF WINE!!! Very secluded, yet accessible. Use your imagination to see what your dream is. Can you see it?
Don't miss your opportunity to secure your very own private piece of paradise!!! As you can see, I have tried to inspire someone to come view the property. In fact, my realtor is used to selling houses in town and not mountain property. So, he wanted to focus on the house. I know the property is where the value lies. My "home" is a home built log cabin, and that's all. I tried to excite people to see the property as an investment.
I ask you, who would want to buy a place that is heated with wood and appears to not have running water?
It's the real estate advertisement that needs to excite the potential buyer to see the house and property in person. This is best done by using the hypnotic selling techniques of direct marketers. Not the usual, copycat ads that most realtors use.
The hypnotically written real estate advertisement plays on the emotions. It paints a picture in the mind of the potential buyer that makes them believe that they have to view the property because this is the place that will satisfy their dreams.
A well written real estate advertisement should deal with the buyer's emotions to get them excited and give the reader a tidbit of the best features. They can discuss the complete list of features with the realtor as they are viewing the house or property.
Real estate advertising should be the beginning. Its intent should be to perk up the potential customer and alert them that this may be just what they're looking for. By getting the buyer emotionally involved, you are pre-selling them on what they are looking for. If the house or property turns out to meet their expectations, the realtor's job is mostly done.
The buyer at this point will then begin to concentrate on the features of the home or property (which ever is the most important to them). They will scrutinize the features to justify and back-up their decision to purchase the property (based upon their emotions). When this happens, the deal is done.
But it's the hypnotically emotional real estate advertisement that sets this process in motion. Not the traditional "ho-hum", "so what" advertisements you normally see in real estate sales. This is where the proper realtor marketing can increase your housing sales.
