Real Estate Advertising vs Marketing

Have you ever heard of a term “spraying and praying”? That’s a crude, but at the same time accurate definition of advertising. You put up a bench ad or a billboard or an overpriced Google Adwords ad (the latter, in all fairness, is not exactly the same, but not entirely different than a bench ad) and hope that your prospects will see your ad and engage with it. It’s a very expensive method of acquiring leads. It’s also based on almost no market research and no testing. Advertising, especially the old school one, is like playing Russian roulette with your marketing budget and your business.

In the real estate industry which is defined by its “feast or famine” culture, advertising dominates over marketing. Some real estate professionals do have nearly unlimited marketing budgets, so “spraying and praying” methods works for them just fine. Others can’t really afford this method, but still continue with it because they simply don’t know any better.

Although often fused with advertising, marketing is a different strategy that requires a different mindset and approach. Marketing is all about research, planning, testing and focusing on long term results. When you’re marking your product or services, you’re focusing on your UVP – Unique Value Proposition. Your marketing is based on creating value for your prospects, on giving something in order to get something.

Most importantly, marketing requires defining your audience first and planning how you’re going to reach it. As opposed to “spraying and praying”, you are carefully selecting your target audience and presenting it with a message which is relevant to them and to which they are more likely to say “yes.”

In real estate, your marketing should revolve around building your custom audience (seller or buyer profile).

There are many ways how you can build an accurate customer profile (or custom audience). The easiest one is to pick a niche. For instance, distressed properties/short sales.

Watch the recorded webinar below to learn more about how you can build your target audience profile and what kind of tools are available for real estate agents and brokers.

If you’re serious about real estate marketing and getting more listings, we invite you to attend the 2015 Monster Marketing Summit in Las Vegas. Get your tickets now!