Real Estate Marketing

Real estate marketing has changed significantly in recent years, with online advertising becoming the dominating factor. Research shows that 86% of buyers look online for their dream home, however, there are traditional methods that should not be ignored.

The goal of any marketing campaign should be to attract and call to action all prospective buyers in the shortest possible time frame. This enables a competitive environment to be created for the property being sold.

Online marketing

In QLD the dominant online marketing platform is realestate.com.au (REA). This generally forms the core of the marketing campaign and usually generates the bulk of enquiries and inspections. Thus it is obvious that the amount of exposure the property receives on this website will dramatically influence the amount of enquiry.

There are four levels of listing available on REA. They are Premier, Highlight, Feature and Standard. These are in decreasing order of exposure and cost. The reality is that if your listing is not a Premier, then you are never at the top of the list when potential buyers search for properties and this greatly influences the number of buyers that see your property. It’s a bit like searching on google, if what you’re looking for is not on the first page, you rarely look much further.

The advantages of a Premiere listing on realestate.com.au to maximise your property’s exposure to buyers.

In my opinion, if you are selling your home you should have every potential buyer in the market aware that your home is available to purchase. If you don’t do this, how could you ever accept an offer and be confident that you’ve got the best price in the market!

I also always recomended a standard listing on domain.com.au as there are some interstate buyers who may not be aware of the dominance of REA in Queensland.

Photography

I cannot exaggerate the importance of professional photography. As stated previously, the majority of enquiries come from online marketing and it’s the photographs that need to capture the buyers’ attention or they will move on to the next property. Most people are time poor and will not waste time viewing a property that isn’t appealing. So make sure your photographs will capture the attention of your potential buyer.

Floor plans

For many buyers, the floor plan of a house plays a large part in their decision to buy or not. It would be a great pity to lose the interest of a potential buyer just because they can’t see a floor plan. You can learn more about floor plans in this great article written by Pure Design Concepts .

Traditional marketing

The “For Sale” sign

The “For Sale” sign outside the house still has great potential for finding the right buyer. Sometimes a neighbour who is renting wants to buy in the area or neighbours have family or friends who want to buy in the area.

New residents to the suburb or city often drive around to get a feel for the suburb and to look for homes to buy and a sign can get you an enquiry from the best prospects.

Open Home signage

Well positioned signage on open home days can drive good buyer traffic through the property. The council rules around open home signage are very restrictive and only allow for a half hour window prior to the open home commencing. I always take full advantage of this window as I often get buyers who were just driving past, visiting my open homes.

Newspaper and magazines

Whether to advertise in the newspaper or not can be a controversial subject in a real estate office, however, it is my opinion that newspaper advertising is not cost effective in most cases. The only properties for which I would consider using newspaper advertising is if you have a property that is prestigious or unique.

Agent Driven Marketing

Calling buyer database

What better place to start than by speaking to buyers you know are actively looking for a property. I always go through all the enquires I’ve had on similar properties and call to inform the buyers of any new listing.

Neighbour invitations to open homes

It’s always good to inform the neighbourhood that the property is for sale by distributing invitations for the first open home. This can also create a great buzz at the open home.

Emailing buyer database

Bulk emailing of all buyers on the database is an incredibly efficient and effective way to notify a large number of buyers of new listings. In our office, all buyers on all of our real estate agents’ databases gets notified of new properties coming onto the market.

Conclusion

As with all sales, marketing is crucial in obtaining the best result. The internet has made it much easier to expose your property to more potential buyers in the market, however, it is crucial to do it right otherwise your property will get lost in the high volume of “noise” in online marketing.

It also remains important for your real estate agent to be proactive and not to rely solely in the online marketing producing the desired result.