Marketing Techniques That Sell

When showing a home, it’s often easiest to run through the particular set of features within the home, but, you may be missing the best opportunity to show off differences that can help a home sell.

Benefit marketing plays a fundamental role in separating the good from the great in sales and real estate is no different. Just about everyone can walk into a home and see the features, but, home buyers are often trying to take everything in quickly when visiting a home so running down a list of features that they can already see does not help them discern why a particular feature may be important. This is where benefit marketing comes in to play.

As you walk through a home with a client, explaining the benefit of a feature can greatly improve the desirability of the home.

For example: a home has a tankless hot water heater. Many buyers today know that this is a new technology, but, not necessarily what it means to them. Taking a moment when highlighting the feature by explaining how that feature benefits the buyer gives a meaning to that feature. In this case, it means lower monthly utility bills and endless hot water for a shower. For a family of 5, this would be a significant benefit and could be the difference maker between two similar homes.

Another example of benefit marketing might be explaining why new windows in an older home are important rather than simply stating that there are new windows. “Green” building is one area where benefit marketing is important, but, it encompasses just about all read more

Posted by Ryan Ward on Jun 05, 2008 under Online Marketing, Guest Bloggers

Comments (3) Share This Subscribe

Why Personalization Works

Just about any writer writing about the future of the internet and vertical search, and companies like HomeGain providing online services to consumers, emphasizes the problem of personalization and context.

The recent HomeGain survey seems to confirm that consumers will demand personalization and context more and more.

Until the semantic web can create the ability to understand personal intent much better, it’ll be up to humans to provide these missing links.

Home buyers and sellers want a personalized response that provides context to their search for homes and service.

They want to know what the area is like, is it urban-flavored or rural-flavored, friendly to kids, friendly to singles, near hospitals, near good restaurants, a walking community, is golf nearby, is it appreciating or depreciating, are the school systems rated high, is water nearby with boat access—a hundred different questions that can help narrow the process and save time and frustration. read more

Posted by Mike Farmer on Mar 25, 2008 under Online Marketing, Best Practices, Guest Bloggers

Comments (2) Share This Subscribe

Real Estate Blogging Made Easy

Blogging for Business in a Nut Shell

There are over 100 million blogs with a new one being created every 1.4 seconds. You may think that the last thing you have time for at the end of the day is to blog. But I’m sure it wasn’t that long ago when you may have thought the same about email.

If you have a Web site for your real estate business already, is it an efficient marketer? Blogs are becoming far more popular because they can help you and your business be found on the Internet.

Google and search engines alike, love blogs for the dynamic and regularly updated content and reward them with higher page rankings. This means that your prospective clients will have a better chance of finding you.

Give a blog the proper attention it deserves and soon you’ll have all the online exposure you desire. And, Internet buyers and sellers will identify you as the market expert for your area. That being said, creating and maintaining a blog can entail quite a bit of work.

Are you in? read more

Posted by Nicole Nicolay on Feb 12, 2008 under Online Marketing, Guest Bloggers

Comments (9) Share This Subscribe

Tangled in the Web

I don’t feel like an old-timer, but I’m absolutely ancient in the real estate field.

At the beginning of my 23 year career, we did not have cell phones, fax machines, or personal computers. Remember the MLS books – and the rush to the pay phones to check on your messages when you were out of town?

Well, a lot has changed since then, and luckily, I have adapted with the changes – while many other Realtors® have not.

Realtors who used to sell more houses than me are still doing things the way they used to do them and their business has dropped way off.

What’s the biggest change? Obviously, the Web.

Nowadays that’s where most buyers start their home search – so that’s where you need to spend your time and money.

My sales derived from my website have increased by 50% each of the last 3 years. Last years, I had 47 sales that I can attribute to my website. read more

Posted by Barry Karch on Jan 21, 2008 under Online Marketing

Comments (2) Share This Subscribe