Listing of the Day - Advertising Critique - North Lauderdale FL

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.



This seller should be very disappointed with this ad from the start:


http://tashomes.vflyer.com/home/flyer/home/3476208?goback=%2Egde_845877_member_31240697


The headline reads "Real Estate Investment Deal", while the first line is "Move right in" and the copy is geared toward "your family". If the agent is targeting this as a true investment property the copy should be geared toward reasons why. (Is there a tenant? Can it be flipped? etc.) A true investor is not likely to return to this agent's listings since this is not actually presented as the investment property the headline touts.

If the agent is targeting this for family use, the headline should focus in that direction. As a result, a "family leader" is not likely to look at this ad.

Because of the lack of focus on the true target audience (and I'll add that I found this under "Real Estate Investment Opportunity"), the agent is blowing the opportunity regardless of how good or bad the photos and description copy is.

The photo spread is good overall. However, the primary photo is the poor one. Therefore, still another opportunity blown. Out of 9 photos in the spread, only 1 is an exterior shot. Normally, that is a good approach. However, the exterior photo used should not have even made the cut, let alone be the first impression. It shows part of the next home to the left and cuts off part of the featured property on the right. The big tree on the front lawn interferes with the view and becomes a distraction. We don't know what is cut off at the right side, and therefore we may not be seeing the right perspective of the home and the property.

Meanwhile, the one photo of the empty living room shows the view through the blinds looking out to the trash can. Oh my.

Topping it off is the comment under "Exterior Amenities" at the bottom of the listing page. It says, and I quote "Grass Lawn". Quick. How fast does knowing the property has a "Grass Lawn" make you pick up the phone to contact the agent? I thought so.

This is another example of why it is not always "the market" as the reason a property doesn't sell.

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!

It takes more than just a headline......

Upon finding out that I will have an opening for at least one new real estate related marketing client later this month, I was looking at one of the networking sites I frequent, and saw this teaser:

"Investors: Don’t Just Estimate! We have all homes for sale ranked by investment potential."


This is the type of headline which attracts my attention, and more indicative of what agents and brokers should be doing to make their listings stand out, especially in this challenging market.

However, when I clicked on the link, all I got was a web page which was for visitors to either register or login. Not one word about any such property listings or rankings.

Therefore, within a matter of seconds, this guy’s idea went from solid to junk. But it should be a lesson for people in marketing, real estate or not.

Just having an effective headline doesn’t help. In this instance, it makes it worse. We not only don’t get the information we hoped when we click, but we don’t even get a confirmation that we can get it. Just because the page says to either login or register doesn’t mean that we would get the desired information after we register. Let’s face it, people aren’t anxious to give out their e-mail address and take their chances, especially when it means showing an interest in buying real estate.

What did I expect when I clicked? Either a list of properties as promoted, or at the very least an explanation of the criteria used in “ranking” the homes for sale. I still have no idea about what part(s) of the country these properties are supposedly located in, whether they are single family homes, multi-family, or strictly for investment potential. If for investment potential, it raises the question of single family, rental, flipping, rehabbing, etc. Instead, not even a “coming soon” or anything to indicate I got to the “right” site, and this was by clicking on the link provided.

However, I’m not going to go back to that site to find out.