RealTown's RealTalk

I agree with Jim, I too have dropped almost all of the print advertising. As we are in South Florida, I will do some during "season" just to please listing clients, but not much, just enough to please them initially. Once I feed them information about "hits" on their property on line, that seems to satisfy them that the Internet is what is producing most of our traffic . . and sometimes snow up North!

Ann Quinn
Illustrated Properties
Palm Beach Gardens, Fl 33418

I for one, dropped just about all my print advertising. Not due to economics, but mainly because I was not seeing the return on the dollar and it was my most expensive advertising medium.

Who's next?

What a fabulous thread! I, too, have seen my business totally evolve in the last several years. I joined my husband in his 11+ year career back in 2002. At that time, we were already seeing a tremendous increase in our traffic from hits on  internet sources.

Just today, I received a last minute call from our local newspaper. Someone had dropped out of the real estate edition at the last minute, leaving a vacancy of 1/2 page in Friday's edition and they were going to "let it go" at the cut rate of $400. Gee....for $400 I can increase my search engine presence for at least 10 months, or I can pay for 1/4 of my upgraded presence on realtor.com, or I can play for almost 1 year of improved visual tours and free links to those websites. Hmm.....it's just economics.

Our regions print real estate advertising magazine has gotten smaller and smaller, and for my part, it's not because of slower business....to the contrary, I am not advertising in that medium because the $$$ it generates are just not equal to the $$$ I spend. I will not be a defunct company because I've gone broke!

Seriously, advertising budgeting is critical. If we put the dollars we formerly spend on monthly real estate magazines, we could make a significantly stronger impact in other directions.

Jill Finney Haymore, Realtor, Covington,GA

mail to:jhaymore@remax.net  or visit me at http://haymorehometeam.com

Sellers do not walk into a Real Estate office when they want to sell their home. They check the internet for the value of their home and also search the internet for a Realtor or talk to friends to here from them who they recommend.

RG

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Part of the problem in addressing the "print" advertising question is in the question itself. Print advertising is much more than just newspapers. It includes magazines, handouts, fliers, etc. We have seen the recent RealTalk debate regarding online fliers and whether or not they work. So, how about fliers on the For Sale sign? How about door hangers? Even dual sided business cards with your contact info on the front and your listing on the back. In a hot market, two sided cards don't work, sales come quickly. In a slow market, those listing-oriented business cards make perfect sense and are relatively inexpensive.

I totally agree that there is a major shift away from newspaper ads. I know several major newspapers have eliminated the real estate section entirely, including all the advertorial that runs in those sections. I was actually the Real Estate editor for a daily back in the day. A majority of the stuff was for new developments, obviously one of the weakest segments in this market. However, submitting informational-based columns directed towards consumers is still a great idea. Make yourself the local real estate expert. The first person a reporter will call when he or she has a question.

At the same time, I see Tarbell doing image advertising featuring their top agents on billboards. Of course, you have to separate broker advertising from agent advertising and the fact that every broker provides a different level of marketing support.

The fact remains that in this market you have to do something to distinguish yourself from the others. The question remains: how?

Rich Hudson
Director of PR/Marketing
InternetCrusade
(619) 283-7302 Ext. 602
Rich@InternetCrusade.com

I have not used print advertising in over a year, and I do not miss it, nor do I see any loss in business. I agressively utilize the internet and the sites I syndicate to.  I tell sellers up front that print advertising "Does Not Work".  On the occasion I do an open house, we post on our companies web site, which disseminates to www.openhouse.com and others.  Seems to  generate some traffic, albeit not the best traffic. Having said that about open houses, I do not see the value of my time sitting an open house. I talk to many people who waste my time, and if it's raining, leave their little grubby footprints on the carpet or flooring, who have no intention of buying anything.

Monica McNamara
Coldwell Banker
Ocean City Maryland
http://www.Ocean-CitySales.com
http://www.RealTown.com/MonicaMcNamara/blog 

877-480-7653 (SOLD)