REALTOR® Magazine Online: What Advertising Medium Works Best?

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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

What Advertising Medium Works Best?

There’s not one perfect media for a real estate company. But here’s what the broker/owners in one survey found to be the most effective.

Medium	Percentage rating as most effective
Newspapers Home Magazines Direct Mail Yellow Pages Billboard/Signage	33 28 18 11 10

From “Broker/Owners Relying on More than Newspaper Ads to Promote Their Agencies, Reports Exclusive REBI Survey,” in Real Estate Broker’s Insider, July 15, 1996

Advanced: Dare To Be Different in Your Advertising

Reach out with a community Web site. A community Web site gives members of a real estate planned community or area an interactive way to communicate with each other. Post community events, supply lists of home-repair vendors, let users post free ads and announcements, and share news and home price trends. —Diane Kokoszka, Kokoszka Group, Arvada, Colo.

Build name recognition at the movies. Advertising during the movie preview at a local theater complex helps build brand identity. “On closing surveys, people often write that they heard about me at the theater, so I know it’s working.” —Char MacCullom, Char MacCullom Real Estate Group, Olathe, Kan.

Host a radio call-in show. Providing free real estate advice to callers on a local radio station is a great way to establish yourself as “the” local real estate expert and build you business, according to Robert Griswold, CPM , Griswold Property Management in San Diego.

Buy online banner ads. Like many real estate practitioners today, Nada Sundermeyer of John L. Scott in Seattle makes her listings easily accessible online and offers virtual tours. But she’s also found a prominent place to advertise online. When a prospect clicks on the “Homes” section of the local newspaper’s Web site, Sundermeyer’s ad appears. “If out-of-town buyers look at the newspaper site, the first real estate person they see is me,” she says.

Portions adapted from Leslie Cummings, “Fine Tune Your Marketing Plan ,” REALTOR® Magazine, January 2002

TIP: Don’t put your ad where every other broker in town is advertising. You’ll just fade into the crowd. Don’t be afraid to localize your message—it’s much better to be a big fish in a small pond than a little fish in a big pond. —Ralph Roberts, “Plan Before You Spend,” REALTOR® Magazine Online, January 2000

Tips For Creating Effective Company Ads >

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