Realtors up your marketing not your spending.
Market savvy Realtors are not going on vacation until the market improves – they are aggressively marketing their listings and services. The trend of course is to put more marketing dollars into online venues and less towards the old fashioned print ad. This makes sense of course because you can get more value online plus according to NAR Home Buyer and Seller Survey
Eighty-seven percent of home buyers who used the Internet to search for a home purchased through a real estate agent, in contrast with 72 percent of non-Internet users who were more likely to purchase directly from a builder or from an owner they already knew in a private transaction.
While there is no confusion as to where and why Realtors should be focusing their marking efforts on the web, there seems to be much confusion about how to do this.
More than a few of my clients see the initiative as simply duplicating their print materials in PDF format and posting it on their web sites. This, despite the long conversations we share on the benefit of RSS feeds, widgets, SEO and so forth. I realize that while I create much enthusiasm and excitement during these consulting calls, the plan usually falls short of execution. The simple reasons: too much work, too much new stuff to remember, I shut you off when I heard you say “blog…..feed…rss…etc…and the enthusiasm was all your own”.
This is true, I have unbounded enthusiasm for opportunities on the web; The great equalizer that gives Realtors the opportunity to level the playing field. (or any small business playing against the big guys)
OK – so it’s happening again, let’s get back to the reason for this post: A simple way to cover your bases on new technologies:
Listing Syndication, RSS Feeds, Widgets, Mobile access & SMS, Email distribution, Single property websites, Craigslist and Ebay!
vFlyer is the closest thing to a one-stop real estate marketing service that I have seen. It is very easy to create virtual tours, single property sites, printable flyers, and professional content for Craigslist postings. On top of that, vFlyer automatically submits your listings to leading marketplaces such as Zillow, Trulia, Cyberhomes/AOL, Google and more. vFlyer subscriptions are affordable. I understand that most real estate agents sign up for the vFlyer Starter subscription at $12.95/month. That subscription supports up to 10 active listings. vFlyer supplements good online help with email and phone support.