To Market, To Market

Real estate agents and property owners alike feel a strong belief in the power of advertising. And within limits, they are correct. In particular, effective Internet marketing can increase eyes on a property; these views hopefully translate into visits, and these visits into offers. But a series of unrealistic expectations often arises around marketing about which I want to offer a few opinions.

• Unrealistic Expectation No. 1: Advertising Actually Creates Sales 

It is not the role of advertising to sell property. That job falls to the agent, the price, and the features which draw a buyer to the home. The primary goal of marketing: it draws eyes to the property. Beautiful photographs and a clear floor plan can contribute substantially to engaging a buyer’s interest. But that is all.

• Unrealistic Expectation No. 2: Print Ads Are Vital To Promotion

Print ads, especially the big ones, serve a strong branding purpose for the agency. But they provide minimal sales-related impact for the featured properties. Leads today come from the Internet, not newspapers or magazines. We place print ads for two reasons: they build our brand, and sellers like them. I can’t remember the last time one of our print ads actually expedited the sale of a Warburg exclusive.

• Unrealistic Expectation No.3: The Big Firm With The Big Website Sells Property Faster

In fact, neither the size of the firm nor the size of the website have much impact on the speed or effectiveness at which properties sell. Few buyers search firm websites any more. The vast majority go to aggregator sites like Zillow or StreetEasy where they can search all the listings in the residential database at once. In Manhattan and, increasingly, Brooklyn, we all co-broke our listings with each other, so the big firm benefit counts for much less than it used to in terms of property exposure. In this era in which information about listings is readily available to everyone, buyers as well as their agents find property sales or rental details online. Real estate agents in today’s market provide expertise as trusted advisors, not access to listing information. So size, in fact, no longer matters.

Today’s real estate environment takes us back to basics. Marketing isn’t magic. Beautiful photos can’t correct for an excessive price, nor can splashy magazine ads make a poorly decorated space more appealing. The savvy seller needs a smart broker to advise him, a correct price which will encourage buyer interest, a neutral property presentation which allows the space’s attributes to shine, and a carefully rendered and photographed marketing presentation which encourages the buyer to visit the home. Advertising and marketing, done well, generate interest by creating an impression. It’s not so specific that it allows most buyers to reject the property, nor so general that it fails to engage these buyers. It’s a calling card. Once it has done its job, it’s up to us humans to bring a transaction home.