Balanced Marketing Brings Buyers
By Kevin McDuffie and David Bediz for the Washington Blade
May 2010

Old and new strategies work best working together

Real estate agents, and sellers themselves, often wonder where they get the most bang for their advertising buck when marketing a home. Traditional postcards, print ads and flyers seem passé and, since the advent of internet advertising, are becoming less and less popular. Since so many buyers begin their search online and are attracted to the interactive nature of internet home browsing, most agents and sellers understand the value of a strong web presence. But the internet is saturated with information, and newspapers are still out there, so which strategy works best? The answer: both, working together.

Our society has evolved to the point that the internet is no longer just a work tool. We are online at the office, at home, in the car, and on the metro (if you can get a signal!). In fact, we’re online just about everywhere. Some of us are more online junkies than others, but almost all buyers are internet savvy these days. In fact, 90% of homebuyers now start their search on the internet. It is a logical extension of banking online, grocery shopping online, e-Baying, Facebooking, etc., and the internet offers so much more information about potential properties than a static print advertisement can provide. Buyers like the ability to view multiple photos and detailed descriptions of properties, not to mention previous sale data, tax records, mortgage estimates and more. 80 percent of buyers say they find online photos and descriptions useful in the home search process.

The internet doesn’t just make for a pleasant experience for buyers—it results in quicker, higher sales too. A strong online presence results in a potential buyer driving by houses that pique their interest online, and if that home has strong curb appeal a buyer is more likely to contact an agent to see the inside. Nationally, 77% of buyers drive by a home they saw online first and 60% go into a home they saw online first, according to the 2009 Profile of Homebuyers and Sellers conducted by National Association of Realtors. This all results in a much higher probability they will actually purchase the home in the end.

Sellers and their agents also are able to take advantage of another online advantage: trackability. Realtor.com, WashingtonPost.com, Trulia, Zillow and many other real-estate websites allow sellers and agents to tailor their ads to get the most possible site visits and use the tracking data as additional feedback to guide their marketing and pricing strategy.

But with all the features an online presence offers both sellers and buyers, the Internet isn’t the end all, be all. Let’s face it — sometimes we all like to pick up a local paper for a little break from all the tweets, pokes and emails we endure all day long. When we have time to read a real paper instead, we often pick up the local publication to find out what is happening in our backyard. We don’t just read for news; we browse the ads to see which boutique or restaurant is having an event or sale, which concert is in town or which charity is having an event. Further, most of us like to support the local establishments in our neighborhood. If you were thinking of moving to a new neighborhood, wouldn’t you look at the local paper to get a feel for the area? A specific local publication has a very strong influence, and buyers will often generate an overall impression of a neighborhood or locality in part from the local publications found in it.

As much as we would all like to deny it, postcards are also very effective in real estate marketing. True, 90% may be thrown in the garbage without even a glance at the photos, and there is an environmental impact to postcard mailing that must be respected. But if a recipient is even contemplating a home purchase, they will more than likely read the entire card and will often show up at an open house with the card in hand. As expensive as they are, carefully managed postcard campaigns are still an effective component of any marketing strategy.

Of course, the keystone of both traditional and new media marketing success is good photography. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and it’s true. If a home’s exterior is not eye-catching in a picture, why would it pique a buyer’s curiosity to actually visit, much less to put in an offer? Sellers must make sure their house looks sharp the day of the photo shoot. If necessary, sellers should consider hiring a staging consultant to ensure the inside looks like a welcoming space for potential buyers. If nothing else, the interior should be tidy and clutter-free, and the exterior should have great curb appeal, including washed windows and trimmed and tended gardens and shrubs. Without a solid foundation of attractive photography, both old and new marketing strategies will suffer.

To properly market a home it is a two prong approach: both the 24-hour online gallery and traditional marketing methods like neighborhood newspapers and postcards that catch someone’s eye that’s in the market to buy. If you want your home to sell, put both traditional and new media and technology to work for you.