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While I take a short break with the “Listing of the Day” advertising critique, there is definitely room for observation. Hopefully more agents are starting to realize that in this market, cookie-cutter advertising doesn’t cut it. There should be more outrage that I find the same problem areas in advertisements for million dollar homes that I do for $100,000 properties.
Each property should be treated as a unique property, even if it is in the middle of a development of 20 houses built exactly alike on the same circle drive. Heck, even in that case, one is likely to face east and thus not have the hot afternoon sun blazing into the living room and/or master bedroom. (See, there I go again!)
Even though in this age of political correctness it is increasingly difficult to write to your true target audience, there continues to be opportunities for better targeting than what I see in the majority of property advertisements.
For example, suppose you have a listing in an ethnic neighborhood and it is down the block from the elementary school. These days, you are no longer able to say “ideal for young Asian family” or whatever it may happen to be. Many agents and brokers become more concerned about staying within the guidelines, and reduce their ad for such a property to “close to schools”, and fail to realize how changing their advertising approach to something that soft in effect costs them business.
Using that example, suppose the husband in a Latin family sees this ad. He then sees the address, and realizes that the advertised home in an Asian community. He is looking for something in a Spanish community and will look at other advertisements. Chances are he will eventually contact ANOTHER agent with a property in his desired area.
How do you get around the “politically correct” restrictions? That is a tough challenge, but one that should be recognized as a challenge by agents and brokers who understand the importance of advertising for every single listing.
If this were my client faced with this situation, I would start with one important suggestion. Advertise this property, with the “close to schools” (in order to remain politically correct) in a publication and/or web site which specifically targets the Asian audience!
It is not only gearing each property advertisement toward its most likely audience. It is placing the ad(s) where it will have the best reach.
Some of you are thinking, “but I advertise all of my listings in one place all of the time”. If so, you are only reaching the same people all of the time. How are you going to sell the home in the Asian community if only a tiny percentage of Asians would happen upon the ad?
The placement of advertising is very often as important as the content. There might not be any “wrong” places to advertise, but keep in mind that the days of “just put an ad in the paper” or “it’s on Realtor.com” are no longer sufficient in order to list and sell in the current marketplace.
In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.
14 Eastparke St. Jackson MS 4 + 4 1/2 $649,000
http://us.mg4.mail.yahoo.com/dc/launch?.gx=0&.rand=cmhgce4qa31od
This advertisement is a classic example of "set it and forget it" that far too many realty agents do. I would think that the listing agent might want to make an effort to generate a commission on a $649,000 property.
The primary photo makes the house look impressive, but the "photo spread" is an insult to the intelligence of a potential buyer of a home in this price range. It wastes our time to click on the 2 additional pictures when they are really the same shot taken a few feet further down the street. Makes me wonder if the photographer even bothered to get out of the car. As a result, we have no idea what the inside of this home might look like, or where the residents park.
Those who continue to review the advertisement are then greeted with "New construction!" as the first words of the description copy. Normally, that isn't a bad way to start. Except that the upper left portion of the ad states that the home was "Year Built: 2007" and that it was added to this advertisement listing in March of 2009. Seems to me that 3 years is well past the "new" anything stage, but plenty of time to add more photos.
Although the description copy targets the "georgous finishes, huge bonus room, great keeping room" and more, there is nothing visually or within the description copy to support that. Or to tell us what a "keeping room" is. The final sentence of the copy reads "All the best." It certainly does not describe this advertisement.
GRADE: D+
Note: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.
At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.
Your comments are most welcome!
In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.
48 Turquoise Way, San Francisco CA 3 + 2 $1,050,000
http://realestate.sfgate.com/homes/listing/123-2891/San-Francisco-CA-USA/2-beds/2-baths/SINGLE-FAMILY-type/1000000-3000000-price/Priority,0,,Price_Sales,0-ns/20-CH5521534--123-2975--290-371870--20-CH5522942--123-2891--20-CH5523019--20-CH5523010--193-367710--20-CH5522400--312-81000129-ls/199-t
For anyone that gets past the photospread, this is an excellent job of marketing a million dollar property. The primary exterior photo looks like a gated castle wall entrance and not the property itself, along with appearing to be very close to the curb for a mansion. A poor choice for catching the eye of an interested potential buyer. The remaining photos are mostly exterior and do not provide a scope of the size and features of the home. The last photo shows some of the interior, but appears to be to spotlight an exterior entrance to the inside.
For those who stick around long enough to read the description, it is compounded by having approximately half of the copy touting the location and the exterior features, including some Realtor fluff. The "incredible street presence" and "spacious public rooms" mentions could be turn-offs to buyers or investors of this caliber of property wishing to maintain a degree of privacy. Let alone that they have no idea of what the interior actually looks like after all of this time.
The lower 1/2 of the description, finally addressing the interior, is among the best I have ever seen in my 21 years of reviewing property advertisements. The agent's ability to walk you through with his description becomes a 'written tour' and is excellently done. He makes it seem like a million dollar property without any further Realtor fluff.
It took getting to that point to understand why the seller listed with this agent. That is before the ad reveals at the end that this property has a street address web site with more information.
However, the effective part is too late into the package. Think of a job resume where the applicant lists his/her most significant experience at the bottom, underneath the entry level positions. An employer probably isn't going to keep reading long enough to see the potential of the applicant. That's what happens here.
This problem could be easily fixed, even without adding photos of the interior (although that would certainly help). Simply reverse the order of the content, putting the interior description as prominent.
Until or unless adjustments are made:
GRADE: B-
Note: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.
At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.
Your comments are most welcome!
In an effort to improve the impact of the marketing of listings, I randomly choose current listings around the country in a variety of price ranges and comment on their effectiveness. No current clients of mine are used, nor do I know any sellers or buyers or have any additional information about the property.
Fountain St., New Haven CT $216,900 3 + 2
http://homes.localhomesinct.com/sales/detail/203-N297656
Listing advertisements such as this one are the reason I first got involved with the advertising and marketing of properties more than 20 years ago. The people have a right to know.
This home was built in 1937. This advertisement comes off as if it was designed when the house was brand new. There is no address given. I even checked on the company web site and didn't find one there either. The map feature shows the arrow on Fountain Street, but that isn't confirmed. Thus, no one could possibly drive by this property.
There is no description copy either. No selling points. Not even fluff copy. Other than being told 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and the square footage, we get only one other "fact". As of press time, this so-called advertisement shows "Monthly tax: $4,961". Say what? If I read that right the owner of this property pays $59,532 per year in taxes alone. No wonder the address is a secret.
All of this "information" comes after the primary photo, which I couldn't even identify when I first clicked on the ad to review it. Turns out it is a photo looking down on top of a fireplace. Unless this is the only fireplace in a house within miles, this is hardly a big deal. In more than 20 years of looking at property ads, I have never seen a single fireplace given such priority.
Out of 8 photos in the photo spread (the only redeeming part of this "ad"), only 3 have any merit toward a potential buyer. One of the exterior shots shows 2 cars in the driveway. Besides being a security concern, it reminds us that we don't know if the garage appearing in one of the photos is for this property or not. If it is only single lane parking for 2 cars, it means that a home owner with more than 1 car has to be concerned with the order of the cars being parked and struggle getting in and out on a daily basis.
Two photos show the back yard. Normally that would be fine, except that the lawn is in poor shape. Even if due to the season, these photos do not show the property in a good light. One of the living room photos reveals a poor quality table covered with a cheap looking table cloth. Not flattering for a home asking more than $200,000.
After all this, there is no agent name listed (which is almost understanable given the presentation), and the "Contact Information" link goes to the office web site and not a specific name or anything further about this property.
How a seller would allow this as a representation of their property is beyond me. How an agent from a name brand real estate office can, in 2010, put an advertisement online with no selling points and a possible serious financial error (not sure what to think about the "tax" line) is even further beyond me. The only way this agent would get a commission is to sell others a list of anyone who would actually inquire about this home based on this advertisement.
That there are a couple of decent photos raises the grade from F- to a straight F.
GRADE: F
Note: This commentary is uncompensated and for marketing purposes only and is no reflection on the featured property. Its accuracy is not guaranteed. Neither Dave Kohl nor First In Promotions shall be held responsible for any representations.
At this time, I have openings for more realty agent/office clients to critique current and brand new listings on an hourly basis. No current or past client listings are featured on this blog.Random listings are chosen around the country.
Your comments are most welcome!
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