Hard words, but there is no nice way to say it – worldwide, the real estate industry breaks most of the advertising rules, as practised by the advertising professionals, when advertising Sellers’ properties.

But, how can an entire industry’s advertising be bad?

There are a number of reasons and these would be the most important:-

• The real estate industry has been spoilt and become complacent.
• There has always been a place to look for real estate advertising, either in hard copy or online, whereas with other products, that is not the case.
• Once the industry realised the audience coming to the real estate section/portal had been preselected – they already had the product in mind – they became complacent and believed all they needed to do was put the property in front of them and they would buy it.
• Sadly, then we end up with ads that are merely a listing of features and that is not what people are buying – with any product or service, people are only ever buying benefits.

Most real estate ads are talking about and trying to sell, only the product – and that’s not what people are buying.

As an example, when we are selling shampoo, we don’t just show a shampoo bottle and describe its contents. 

Firstly, we specifically target the market we are after (they are the ones we have ascertained, who will see the most value in the product/property for them) – and then we show them what they can do, as a result of their purchase – and that is always what people are buying, with real estate being no different whatsoever.

Properly targeted real estate ads should always be selling ‘living there’; as that is what people are buying – and the number of people who buy homes totally different to what they originally told the agent they were looking for, or buy in a totally different suburb, proves that point conclusively.

Most often, ads don’t match across the different media used.

Research shows us that people only react on the 3rd or 4th time they’ve seen the same ad with the same image and message, therefore it is vital the main photo, headline and theme are matched across all the different media. Most times the ads are disjointed and not matching, not treated as a proper campaign, as the professional advertising people do, maximising the accumulative effect, that makes professional advertising successful.

How to identify ‘bad’ ads

• Firstly, ‘Ads’; without headlines or those where the headline is the address of the property, are not even ads – they are merely notices, no better than births, marriages and deaths in a classified advertising section!
• They are certainly not identifying the target market which is what proper professional advertising headlines do
• Photos that don’t match headlines (and not the other way round)- this is vital we get this right, as it is the most important part of the ad, with research showing us that only 1 in 5 people read past the headline (and photo) of the ad.
• With photos, I often hear “Less is more”– not so!- Research clearly shows that the more photographs, carefully chosen to match first the headline then the body copy in sequence, the more successful the ad campaigns will be – but don't just focus on multiple photos of the property, also use photos that show what living there and in that area will be like. So, ads that are perfectly laid out, with great brand presentation and beautiful photography will look 'pretty', but if there is no headline for example, it's a bad ad and all you're left with is 'pretty bad advertising'.
• Photos taken before the ad is written – that’s a no-no! It’s no different to a movie – they write the script first and then the photography is done to match the script. Only then of course, can the photo match the headline

Become the advertising expert in your area and the results can be nothing short of amazing.

I have a video on my website of a US Realtor who won every listing for over 4 years by becoming known as the advertising expert in the area.

His listing presentation was basically "I believe I can advertise your property better than anyone else, to get more of the right kind of buyers to your property. Let me show you my advertising system, that I believe will achieve for you the best possible end net result and then I will let you be the judge" – how simple, how powerful and totally consultative.

The industry also has a moral obligation – currently, real estate agents with no formal advertising training, can ask for thousands of hard earned dollars from a seller – then if the advertising doesn't work, the seller has lost their money and there is no recourse with the agent. So, to correct that, they need to become the advertising experts!

To watch my youtube video on this subject, click here.

For more information, email Ian Grace via the contact details below.

See also:

Freehold or leasehold in Bali?

Why should we expect further growth in the Asian real estate market?

Buying property in Indonesia