REALTOR® Magazine Online: Choosing Advertising Media (Part 2)

YOUR INTERACTIVE MAGAZINE

REALTOR.ORG/realtormag
.

Setting Marketing Strategies

Analyzing the Business Climate

Creating Your Market Identity

Planning Your Advertising

Coordinating Company and Salesperson Marketing

Developing Public Relations Strategies

Enhancing Customer Service

Planning Your Advertising (continued)

Radio Ads:
Good for building name recognition and market share, only good for promoting properties if a large group are located together (such as a newly opened development).

Pluses:

Exposure: At least one radio can be found in 98 percent of all households, and the average adult listens to three and one-half hours of radio a day.
Targeting: Radio can reach selected audiences both geographically and demographically with great variety in scheduling and programming.
Flexibility: Radio ads can be changed easily at the last minute.

Minuses:

Finality: A radio commercial can’t be reviewed like a print ad. If people miss it, it’s gone.
Clutter: Listeners may mentally turn off because many commercials are jammed into a short period.

Company Web Site:
Good for building name recognition, promoting relocation business, promoting actual listings.

Pluses:

Positioning: Through content and design, you can build your company’s image and showcase the solutions it offers.
Competitiveness: The Internet enables small firms to compete on equal footing with large firms.
Flexibility: Content can be modified at will without limitations.
Low ad cost: Once the site is created, properties can presented in detail, with multiple photos and a long description.
Exposure: The Internet reaches a huge audience of prospects.

Minuses:

Production: Unless you’re skilled in Web design, you’ll need to hire someone to create and maintain your site.
Passivity: A Web site is a passive marketing tool—instead of pursuing business, you wait for business to come to you.
Effectiveness: Online ads may be seen by many people, but they don’t necessarily generate productive leads. According to the 2002 NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, only 8 percent of homebuyers first found their homes on the Internet.
Technology: Not everyone has access to or is comfortable with Internet technology.

Television:
Good for establishing and reinforcing company identity as market leader.

Pluses:

Immediacy: TV ads give you instant validity and prominence.
Targeting: It’s easy to reach your target audience by advertising at certain times and during certain programs.
Volume: Greater availability of air time enables you to buy larger blocks of time and advertise more often.

Minuses:

Cost: Broadcast TV advertising is extremely expensive and may be out of reach for small businesses; cable ads cost only 20 percent of broadcast costs.
Production: Professionals must be hired to produce a quality TV spot.
Exposure: Unless you buy a number of spots, your ad will be seen only once for a short time.

TIP: Because costs are lower and more of the viewers in the area would be prospects for a real estate company in a particular geographic area, television ads are often a better choice in smaller markets than in major metropolitan areas. —Bill Barrett, CRS, “Managing Your Advertising Campaign,” in Real Estate Business, Summer 1993

Yellow Pages:
Good for attracting motivated customers, reinforcing market dominance through ad size.

Pluses:

Value: One ad works all year long.
Budgeting: Because the billing for these ads is spread over 12 months, it can be easier on your budget.
Exposure: Clients can easily locate or contact you, even if they didn’t initially know your name.

Minuses:

Cost: You must commit to an entire year of advertising.
Competition: Your ad is placed with those of your competitors, encouraging clients to comparison shop.
Location: Clients must look up exactly the right classification to find you.

Outdoor Ads:
Good for establishing company identity, setting the company apart from competition.

Pluses:

Exposure: People can’t throw outdoor ads away or change the channel.
Frequency: People who drive or walk by the ad site see your message numerous times.
Location: Outdoor ads can be placed in strategic locations, such as near your office or a new development.

Minuses:

Attention: Readers typically glance at an outdoor ad for only two to three seconds.
Content: Messages must be very brief to communicate effectively from a distance. —Adapted from Hal Kahn, CRB, CRS, The Manager’s Guide to Real Estate Marketing, 1989, and “Deciding on the Advertising Media,” on the CD-ROM “Managing a Small Business,” from bizmove.com

TIP: Comprehensive marketing relies on a variety of sources, such as television, newspaper, radio, and the Internet. However, one of the best resources for the real estate companies is free: getting customers to market for you by word of mouth. —Adapted from Blanche Evans, “What REALTORS® Can Learn from Guerrilla Marketing,” Realtytimes.com, Sept. 13, 2000

TIP: The advertising media you choose also depends on the price of the home and the cost per lead. For example, an exclusive home magazine may not produce as many leads as a newspaper ad, making it a higher cost-per-lead advertising buy. But the leads may be more well-qualified for the luxury homes your company specializes in.

What Advertising Medium Works Best? >

Copyright THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS® | Headquarters: 430 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611 |
DC Office: 500 New Jersey Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20001 | 1 800 874 6500