When working with sellers we frequently get asked about certain aspects of our home marketing plan that seem to be missing. The simple answer is – we market our listings, not ourselves. We believe that personal advertising is not part of the marketing plan for a home. Here are some examples:
- Neighbourhood flyers – do "just listed" and "just sold" fliers sent around a neighbourhood actually help sell your house, or does it help your agent get more listings? The fliers we get with our junk mail at home are just brag sheets. If a neighbourhood flier was truly designed to market a home, it would advertise a specific web site for that home, not a web site with all the agent's listings.
- For sale signs – yes, the for sale sign is a vital part of marketing you home, but is the for sale sign all about your home, or all about your agent? Does it list their home page or brokerage web site? If so your home is basically advertising all the other homes that brokerage has, which compete with your home. Would Nike put up a billboard advertising a web site for all brands of athletic gear?
- Open houses – open houses rarely end up selling the house that is open. They are an excellent opportunity for an agent to meet buyers. If you want open houses then go ahead and request them, but if they are a major part of your agent's marketing strategy you may want to ask yourself just what is the agent's goal with all these open houses?
- Newspaper ads – have a look at most real estate ads in the paper – what is the first thing you see? The agent's name and photo? The agents' homepage? We believe print ads should focus on the home, not the agent. Our philosophy is that all of our ads feature multiple photos of the home, the web site for that home, and the price! If there is no price it is a sure sign the agent is looking for buyer clients, since you have to call to get the price.
- MLS® Listing -when an agent puts a home on REALTOR.ca the agent has the option of adding links to additional photos and other information. As a home buyer there is nothing more annoying than clicking that link and ending up on the agent's home page, having to register with the web site, and search for the listing. Not many people have that much patience or attention span (they often get sidetracked by the agent's other listings)… we think you'll agree that those links should go directly to the web site for that home. Suprisingly, even though we have been doing this for years very few have followed suit.
Now, I'm not saying these marketing practices are bad, but if you expect your agent to market your home make sure their marketing plan is focused on your home and not your agent.
I agree with most of those comments but query the price one. As a buyer I get frustrated when the price isn’t included but I call through if I am really motivated to know the price. I think some agents use this tactic as a filter to sought out motivated buyers from nosey types.
Excellent points.
It seems that 99% of agents are advertising themselves, not the homes they are supposed to be selling.
You have given some nice examples for marketing and you have described it also good.Some times people don’t know about this thing which you have mentioned here for marketing about homes.I completely agree that marketing plan is focused on your home and not your agent..
Well stated. Yes, there are some agents that actually would use this to get more clients, but then again, there are those who are doing it for their client, not to get others. I do agree, the marketing plan should be focused on the house rather than the agent.