Real estate marketing lessons from strange places.

I hadn’t talked to Homer in a while. Homer is a fellow real estate agent weathering the storm of a lousy housing market in a part time job at our favorite “big box” hardware store. When I ran into Homer he was in the “Tool Corral” where all the toys for guys are. It was almost Fathers Day so there were special displays clogging the aisles.

When Homer saw me, his eyes lit up and he came across and greeted me hardily. I was a little surprised. Working the plumbing aisle does not come with an executive salary and it’s hard on the feet. Previously when I’d seen him he was pleasant enough but a little sheepish and possibly embarrassed that he had to resort to this.

But today was different. There was a hop in his step and genuine pleasure in seeing me. Our conversation went something like this:

Me: Well what got into you? You seem unusually peppy for a very warm spring day.

Homer: I love the summer weather. But, hey, that’s not why I’m feeling good.

Me: You gonna share the secret? A new woman in your life? A big raise? You’ve got a client ready to make an offer?

Homer: Well, I do have a client and we may have found a home that he and his wife might buy. But that ain’t it. In fact, that may be more “effect” than “cause.”

Me: Huh?

Homer: Ha! That does sound a little…obtuse… I guess. This is the thing…I’ve been reading something pretty interesting…you’re a fan of Seth Godin, aren’t you?

Me: I am. I can remember reading his book about permission marketing before anyone had heard of him and then listening to it a couple more times on tape on rides up to Richmond to visit my family.

Homer: His latest book is call Linchpin.

Me: I’ve ordered it but haven’t read it yet. I take it you would recommend it?

Homer: Actually, I haven’t even finished it but I’ve read enough that it’s changed the way I approach a lot of things including my job here at Big Box.

Me: That good, huh?

Homer: It was a little disturbing at first. He trashes one of my heroes, Michael Gerber.

Me: Michael Gerber of E-Myth fame?

Homer: Yes. Sort of central to Gerber’s advice is that you build a business around detailed policies and procedures so that the people you hire don’t have to think and are interchangeable…cogs in a machine. He says you can’t build a successful business on “exceptional” people.

Me: Doesn’t a store like Big Box have a lot of policies and procedures?

Homer: Oh Boy, no kidding. The deal is though that at my level they aren’t communicated very well especially to part timers like me. In fact, the communication to the troops is pretty lousy. I’ve heard Pfcs in the Army say the same thing.

Me: I take it that Godin challenges some of that.

Homer: Well, it is more of a self-help book. He argues that to be successful…actually, that’s not the best way to say it…to be more genuine…to be more valuable…you have to stop being a cog and become an artist.

Me: So you’ve become the artist of the plumbing aisle.

Homer: Well, I’m working on it. The odd thing is Big Box seems to recognize this need at some level. What’s funny is that they have tried to make it a procedure and give us little cards and merit badges when we can feed back the steps they have developed for engaging our customers.

Me: The “paint by the numbers” approach to becoming an artist.

Homer: Yeah. That’s kind of the way it is. And you know how good that art is. The problem is that there a lot of different types of customers. Some come in here and know exactly what they want. Others can stand there for a few minutes using their hands to try to describe what they need without having the language to identify it.

Me: So the formula doesn’t work?

Homer: There is no formula that works in every situation. The neon aprons we wear are supposed to recall the good ol’ days when the guy that ran the hardware store knew all his customers and knew where to find every nut and bolt and how to use every tool. He could advise you on almost anything.

Me: He was an artist?

Homer: Yeah, maybe. At least in the sense that Godin is talking about in Linchpin.

Me: And that’s what’s put the spring in your step?

Homer: Ha! Well I’m working on the approach. What I decided to do was simply try to engage each customer in a friendly way and try to help them as much as I could.

Me: Is that working.

Homer: It works for me. The hours go much faster. It’s much more satisfying trying to help people than standing around bitching about the stupid rules. My feet don’t even seem to hurt as much as they used to.

Me: Can you give me an example of how it works.

Homer: Hmm…sure. The other day I caught a call from somebody looking for a particular toilet seat. Now 99% of toilet seats are either round or elongated and have a spread between the bolts that attach them to the tank of about five and a half inches. This guy was looking for one he thought was round and had a ten inch spread. My initial assumption was that he didn’t know what he was talking about and I patiently explained the way things were.

Me: But that’s not the end of the story.

Homer: No, he actually had a model number from the seat manufacturer. So, I got his phone number and told him that I would research it call him back. I went to our special order catalog and found a couple of seats with the ten inch spread…something I didn’t know existed and had never had a request for in the two years I’ve been here.

Me: So you ordered one.

Homer: They weren’t the one he was looking for. So I googled around for a while and found what I thought they needed on a really dreadful website of a plumbing supply place. When I called back I got the man’s wife. Turned out they were trying to find the seat for a friend who lived in a third world country where they don’t throw away functioning toilets when they go out of style.

Me: That’s an issue for another day.

Homer: Yeah, right. Anyway, she wanted to come in and see what I had come up with. Both of them came in an hour or so later. I ended up printing out the information from the website and they went on their way.

Me: But you didn’t sell them anything.

Homer: I had nothing to sell them. But I probably solved their problem and they’ll remember that. But the real point is that I felt like more than just a cog in the Big Box machine.

Me: You felt like an artist?

Homer: Well, not Van Gogh, but, yeah. It was a much more satisfying experience than just blowing them off.

Me: And your supervisor gave you an attaboy for great customer service?

Homer: They don’t know about it. I’m not sure they would even approve. That’s not why I’m doing it.

Me: So, are you saying that there’s some carryover to your real estate business.

Homer: I think so. I’ve been showing this client homes for a good while and on this last one he said something about what he was looking for that I hadn’t heard before. Thinking about it, he’d given me plenty of signals but I was more focused on me than him. I know that if I’d have picked it up earlier I could have made this process less stressful than it has been…for both of us.

Me: So I should read the book?

Homer: Absolutely. Listen, I gotta go. There’s somebody down there with the toilet repair stuff that looks totally befuddled. Time to go build up her confidence!

Me: But I’m looking for a fitting for my ice maker…

Homer: Right there on your left…you’re a smart guy…you can figure it out. I need a bigger challenge. (big smile) Ha!

He was right. I did figure it out.  And so had he.

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Photo credit to Stephen Pierzchala from the Flickr Creative Commons

The tough get going.

There’s lots of hand wringing in our industry these days. This morning there were dueling headlines.  One indicated that new home sales had increased over 19% in May. The other said that there was a record drop in May of over 30%.

There are several reasons for the apparent contradiction.

First of all, the two statistics were measuring different things.  The rise was in closings and the drop was in new contracts and the latter only included new homes.  However, the net is that the end of the homebuyers tax credits finds us still in a very tough market.

What is your approach to this tough market?

I see two prevailing approaches. The first is what I characterize as “The Secret” approach. You know The Secret, the book…movie…whatever… that urges you to wish hard enough and make it so.  Now I’m all for positive thinking and maybe if we all wish hard enough things will come around.  But, I’m sorry, if you count on that you’re a fool.

Because the population is still increasing and families grow we can expect some pent up demand that will need to be filled as economic conditions improve.  That’s going to happen whether we spend our time trying to tap some universal power or not.

But if we what to get it going faster, the needed approach is much more activist and it ain’t really a secret.

The old saw about “when the going gets tough, the tough get going”  is familiar to me from my days playing football in high school and college. I doubt that there is a high school athlete in the country that hasn’t heard this expression and it’s pretty clear what it means in football.

But what does it mean in real estate marketing?

Imagine if Steve Jobs was just a techie wizard and had no marketing skills. He would invent the iPhone and tinker with it,  show it to a few friends, who might show it to a few other friends who might all start bugging him to sell one to them.  But the fact is that Steve Jobs, or somebody close to him, is a marketing genius.  Apple could now introduce an I-toilet and a million would be sold before they were even available.

In real estate we have a tough marketing environment but not an impossible one.

To get tough and get going we need to be better marketers.

Yes, we need more leads. But if you’re thinking that means that you just want a bigger slice of the smaller pie, you’re missing the point.

We need more buyers.

We need to coax more people out of their hunkered down recession mindset and buy into the American dream again of living in a home that meets their needs and satisfies their desire for self-expression. We need them to desire a home the way people crave an iPhone.

Our role as real estate professionals is similar to Steve Jobs role. He has not only figured out how to stir up burning desire in gadget freaks. He’s stirred up his competition with cell phone providers, computer makers and other behemoths like Microsoft and Google who want to be players in the market Jobs has created for this cool stuff.

One agent in a market can not do it. But one agent who challenges another agent who challenges a firm that challenges another firm can start to make home buying attractive again. But it isn’t wishing or hoping. It’s learning, developing and applying more sophisticated marketing skills that spark the demand. It’s an openness to do business in a different way. It’s a willingness to look at the role of the listing agent as a marketing director and not just a transaction facilitator.  It’s an openness to different types of compensation.

Many old line agents will never get it but we prefer to think that the experience represented by John can be married with the marketing skills of Marty that is illustrated in the free eBook available on the left sidebar.

It’s promoting our listings, our neighborhoods, our communities, our amenities, and the many benefits of owning a home of your own.   No, home ownership is not for everyone, but it certainly is still an attractive option for enough people to create an attractive market to work in.

Our Manifesto is available in the right sidebar and this site is devoted to those agents and other professionals who are willing to do the tough things necessary to move the recovery along.

Have you got what it takes to be a better marketer?  Join the movement!

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Home marketers can learn from auto dealers.

In our post about the real estate distribution system as flea market we had some fun describing how many ways they were similar. We could have just as easily compared the real estate market to a used car lot.

Think about the experience of buying a used car.

You can buy one from a private party, a used car lot, a new car dealership or, increasingly, on-line through sites like eBay. Like the home buying experience or a flea market,  you have lots of options and there are lots of risks that things that you can’t see may leave you with a lemon.

A perfectly fine looking car could have been wrecked, neglected or been through a flood. If you were marketing used cars you would be trying to maximize value and the price you can get by taking away as many as possible of those worries that all car buyers have.

We see this in numerous tactics for marketing cars.

Fairly common is prepping the product. This will include a thorough detailing to make the car look like new and even smell like new.

Also common is something like a “128 point inspection by our qualified mechanic,” who may be drunk Uncle Billy counting the wheels and the door hinges.

The point is to make the potential buyer feel better about a purchase and the more genuine the effort the more effective it is as a marketing strategy.

BMW raises the ante.

Several years ago BMW took this one step further and even changed some of the language in the industry. Instead of used cars, their new car dealers offered Certified Pre-Owned cars. Part of their strategy was to attract potential buyers into their showrooms who might not be ready to shell out big bucks for a new beemer  by offering something that might compare price wise to a new Chevy or Ford but still carry the prestige and panache of a BMW.

By adding warranties to the certification they opened up beemer-hood to a whole new group and allowed them to establish a relationship that might lead to many more sales.

Many other dealers have picked up on the “Certified Pre-owned” idea.

In fact, on eBay Motors you can now limit your search for an automobile to “certified pre-owned” vehicles. Click through to Ebay and you can see what each company offers in their certified package.

Speaking of Ebay…

how do you feel about buying a car sight unseen from a dealership or owner hundreds of miles away?

Ebay Motors is my fantasy playground online so I’ve seen an evolution over the years in the approach taken by them and the automobile marketers that use the site to move iron. These days eBay Motors is much less a way for individuals to market their clunkers…that’s gone to Craigslist…to a place for dealers, many of whom market exclusively on eBay.

The most obvious thing is lots of pictures, sometimes dozens and dozens…the tire treads, under the hood, in the trunk, the keys, the door panels and on and on and on. If there is a blemish, they will photograph too.

The second and more recent thing is the availability of free Carfax reports right there with the listing. A few clicks and you’ll know if the car has ever been wrecked, if there were any obvious mileage rollbacks or commercial use. You’ll also see where the car lived its life because of where it was registered.

Finally, eBay encourages the delivery of a quality product through its feedback system. If a dealer’s feedback is bad, he cannot survive on eBay.

The marketing approach described here is product centric. That is, it focuses on competing by offering a better product that is supported and guaranteed. It’s not the only approach to marketing cars, but it’s a good one.

So, what does this have to do with real estate?

Lets focus on how the product centric automobile marketing strategy can be translated into a real estate marketing strategy. In the next post we’ll discuss what can be done to take some of the anxiety out of home buying by “certifying” your listings with a few readily available tools.  You probably are already aware of them and have used them but have you given them the emphasis that BMW has? This is a product centric strategy for real estate but it also infuses the promotional strategy in the marketing mix for marketing homes as we will see.

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The Real Estate Flea Market

Flea markets are fun.  If you read a few profiles on any of the dating sites and you’ll surely see flea markets as a “favorite thing to do” at least once. This conjures up languid Sunday mornings strolling through the makeshift booths holding hands, people watching and looking for bargains.  It’s sort of like shopping for a home…don’t ‘ca think?

The MLS, no less than CraigsList is our flea market.  Here are the similarities.

Mostly Used Product

Most real estate agents earn their living on re-sales. So we’re often dealing with properties that are  cast off for one reason or another.

Mixed Quality and Condition

Homes have been built by thousands and thousands of contractors, building codes have evolved and maintenance and modification are often done at the whim of the owner.  Like purchasing something at a flea market your due diligence often must be perfunctory and quick.

Product of All Ages is Available

Homes available range from new to antiques.  Only a few flea market shoppers can really tell an antique from simply junk with some age on it.

Anybody Can Enter the Market

The cost of setting up a booth at most flea markets is minimal. There are entrepreneurs who make their livings at the flea market and there are those that get a slot for one weekend to unload household junk.

Voodoo Pricing

The price on the tag at a flee market is for the really naive.  Most regulars just see it as a place to start negotiations. What will actually buy something often depends on how late in the day it is.

Does that sound like real estate or not?

No Returns, No Guarantees

Buy something at a flee market and you’re not likely to be able to return it or get it repaired by the vendor. Most flea market vendors are not trying to develop loyal customers or create a “brand.”  They’re just trying to unload some stuff.

The Differences

Two things make the real estate market different from a flea market and understanding these differences is the key to the 4 P’s approach to marketing homes.

Buying a Home is Not an Impulse Purchase

In a flea market the risks are low. Buying an old collectible plate from the New York World’s Fair might set you back a few bucks but worst case it will just befuddle your heirs when you die.

Purchasing a home, on the other hand, is a big deal.

Real Estate Agents Should Improve the Experience of both Selling and Buying Real Estate.

In theory anyway, good agents remove much of the risk and uncertainty of the sale or purchase of a home.  We think of real estate agency as one profession but it is one profession with two jobs.

The job of the listing agent is much different than the job of the buyer agent. Some great buyer agents are lousy listing agents and vice versa.  Think of the listing agent as the marketing director reporting to the CEO/Owner of the listing.  Think of the buyer agent as a manufacturer’s rep who has relationships through the MLS with most of the sellers in a market.  She doesn’t carry a sample case.

Instead she carries a laptop with access to information about every home on the market.

4P’s Real Estate Focuses on the Listing Side and the Marketing of a Home.

Over the next few posts, I’m going to focus on the listing agent’s role in one aspect of developing and positioning the product.  I call it creating the Certified Home. The Certified Home process is meant to reduce several of the concerns buyers have about purchasing a home in the real estate flea market.

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I found this short video while entertaining myself on Ted.com. What do you do when you’re asked to stage a home with a full sized boxing ring in the garage? Or a faux bowling alley in the back yard?

I found this concept fascinating. Probably because I’m sitting in a room that was once a carport with my computer gadgetry, a set of dumbbells, a workout bench, an Airdyne bike and two bookcases filled with a weird collection of books knowing full well that most women would never let me get away with this and maybe why I’ve been divorced twice.

Watch the video and then check your emotional reaction.  Emotion is good.  When there are choices with similar practical implications, emotion drives the process. Sometimes the emotions can be strong enough to override practicality.  It’s something we should think about when we write copy, stage a home, choose photography and set prices.

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Big Box Lessons Lessons for Marketing Homes

Note: Homer is a pseudonym for an underemployed agent friend of mine who has been working a one of the big box home improvement stores since the market took a dive.  I ran into him on the plumbing aisle on a slow day and he agreed to an interview for 4PsRE. I took notes on the piece of cardboard he tore from a 20X20 box of air filters.

4PsRE: Have you given up on real estate as a career?

Homer: Not yet.  But a little steady cash flow and health insurance mean a lot. I’m part time here.

4PsRE: Doesn’t it feel a little odd wearing jeans to work? Did you have to make any adjustments?

Homer: I love working in jeans.  The neon apron is not exactly what I’d call a fashion statement though.  But seriously, this is my first ever job in retail so it’s been an interesting experience. I think maybe I’m  a blue collar type after all. Being on your feet for 6 or 7 hours takes its toll but I’ve gotten used to it. The people that work here come from all kinds of backgrounds… which surprised me. But they’re a great bunch and if I ever got too busy again with real estate to stay here, I’d miss them.

4PsRE: Homer, how did you end up doing this?

Homer: Well, a guy’s got to do what a guy’s got to do. I decided to start my own firm at precisely the wrong time.

4PsRE: What made you think you could do it? You weren’t an agent that long where you?

Homer: Worse than that. A good part of the time I was licensed I wasn’t selling. I’d been talked into managing another firm.  When I left, I had a partner and she was a good salesperson and we thought we would complement each other. I had a lot of marketing and management experience.

4PsRE: So the economy took you down?

Homer: Well, it didn’t help but my partner had to leave the business for a while for family responsibilities and I stumbled onto an opportunity that I couldn’t resist.

4PsRE: What was that?

Homer: A bank in another town contacted me about a foreclosed townhouse that they were trying to get rid of.  I’m not sure why they contacted me but I had shown it to a client and it was a mess.  It seems that typically when these guys handle REO they slash costs. The place was filthy, the utilities were off,  and it hadn’t been updated since it was built in the 70′s.  My clients just laughed.

4PsRE: So you took the listing and talked them into fixing it up?

Homer: No. I bought it to fix up and flip. Coincidentally, I had done that before in the same little subdivision and knew the community and a lot about the construction of these homes to start with.  In fact, that first flip was how I got into real estate in the first place.  I made a lot of mistakes on that first one. One of the mistakes was that the agent I used to buy it and afterward, sell it, made a lot more money than I did.  I worked on the thing full time for a full summer and she spent a few hours.  So, I got my real estate license to save part of the commission. It was easier to get a license then.

4PsRE: So, did you do OK on the second one?

Homer: I did. I had learned my lessons well. The problem was that whatever momentum I had with my selling career and the company I started was lost and then the crash came alone.

4PsRE: But there are firms that are surviving.

Homer: There sure are,  but to be real honest about it, I don’t fit the mold of the successful Realtor very well.  I had much more fun working on those flips than I ever did trying to line up clients. I guess I don’t suffer fools well, and pretending that I enjoy the company of people when I don’t is tough for me. They suck the energy out of me.

4PsRE: So, don’t you have to relate to people here?

Homer: Of course. But it’s different. Most folks come here with a problem to solve. After doing this a while I can help most of them and they appreciate it and they go away.  I’m not paid a commission and the management is pretty good about taking a long view.

4PsRE: What do you mean about a long view?

Homer: Well, they’d rather we solve the problems and have a satisfied customer base  than just push product.  They do a lot of other goofy things but they’ve been pretty consistent about that.

4PsRE: Well, why don’t you go back to flipping houses?

Homer: You have to ask that?

4PsRE: Yeah, I guess I know but I’d rather hear it from you since this is an interview and some of our readers might not know.

Homer: Sure.  With the real estate market in free fall in a lot of areas, it’s pretty risky… for both flippers and lenders.  The shame is that there are a lot of bargains out there.

4PsRE: We’re seeing signs that the market is coming back in a few areas.

Homer: Yeah.  For someone with some money to invest I think it would be a good time to pick up some bargains and turn them over.

4PsRE: Are there any other lessons that you learned from your experience?

Homer: Oh yeah. I get where you’re going with this 4 P’s stuff. I think flippers…and probably builders…are much more attuned to it than the average real estate agent.

4PsRE: How so?

Homer: Listen, I’ve got people poking around down there in toilet repair. I’ve got to get back on the job. It’s been fun catching up.

4PsRE: Can we talk again?

Homer: Sure. I learned a lot about marketing the flips from making mistakes and, surprisingly, I’ve learned a lot here. Our company website has tons of material about how to fix up a home.

4PsRE: And you’d be willing to share what you’ve learned with my audience?

Homer: Do I get paid?

4PsRE: As soon as I do. Is that fair?

Homer: ( laughing) I guess so. I’m looking forward to it.

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Real estate and newspapers are two industries that could help each other out.

The conventional wisdom is that newspaper advertising is a waste of money for real estate agents.  What those outside of real estate may not realize is that it never did much for marketing homes in the first place.  As the Hobbs-Herder folks like to say, the ads were mostly “little heads and little houses” mocking the pictures of agents and their listings.  The real purpose was, like most real estate marketing, to attract clients.  Selling houses in a market with high demand takes care of itself.  The scramble was to sign the clients that would eventually pay the commissions.

Now that the market is quite different, the two struggling industries could help each other out.  Here are a few things newspapers might do to bring back the business from real estate agents.

Go hyper-local with online editions

Instead of further slashing your newsrooms add community and neighborhood coverage to build online readership.  One school of thought is to simply leave that to agents by offering links to agent blogs. However, the quality is inconsistent and spotty or overlapping coverage would not serve the purpose of attracting a large audience. Let interested agents comment or occasionally guest post on the content that the paper creates.

Include a search tool that generates leads.

Many newspapers  already have a search tool but few are using it to generate revenue.  Instead of offering it as simply a convenience to readers, use it to cultivate leads and match them with agents…for a fee.  Why should a newspaper with local credibility and an on-the-ground sales force concede that market to the Homegains of the world?  BestHomePro is an IDX provider that is experimenting with this model in the Durham NC market.

Offer other marketing products

Again, why should the local newspaper concede the agent market for visual tours, single property websites, e-flyers and other property marketing innovations.  For that matter, they could sell yard signs, print services and other traditional forms of advertising.  Shoot, maybe they could even stretch a little and turn their photography staff into a profit center that created really good real estate photography. What do those guys do when there is no sports event going on or breaking news at the courthouse anyway?

Promote the community

Bad news may sell papers but good news sells houses. Feature coverage, both online and offline, promoting the good things that are happening in the school system,  crime prevention, parades,  celebrations, entertainment, etc. Why have most newspapers conceded great coverage of entertainment and cultural events to independent weeklies.  In an obsession to be independent, if not totally objective, many papers will not work closely with the local chamber, visitors bureau or other community development organizations.  Journalistic standards may require newspapers  to cover the bad stuff but they don’t preclude promoting the good stuff.  It’s win/win/win for everyone and may even suppress the bad stuff.

Help agents promote themselves

4PsRE is really about marketing homes but the need for agents to market themselves does not go away. There are agents that develop their own elaborate websites and there are agents that are happy with templates pages hooked to their brokerage site. But there are a lot of agents and even brokerages that use templates from companies like AdvancedAccess.  Why are newspapers giving this market up to them? Ditto for agents that want to blog. Why are the newspapers conceding that market and its advertising potential to ActiveRain and Trulia, who will never do “local” the way the newspaper can?

Newspapers could argue that they don’t see the demand for these services among agents. They may even do some focus groups with agents that reinforces those conclusions. What they may not realize is that most agents don’t realize that the newspaper could be an alternative.  Agents can be just as stuck in their traditional view of their role in commerce as newspapers.

It’s a new world guys! Knock your heads together.  Figure out a ways to help each other market your way out of industry slumps.  This thought has been banging around in my head for awhile but a post at Media Transparent about “hyperlocal couponing” got me wondering why newspapers were conceding this market to national companies too.

My grandfather and namesake spent his entire working life setting type for the Times Union in Albany, New York and my fondest memories as a youth were of riding my bike to the Dairy Queen for a root beer float with a pocket heavy with nickles and dimes I had collected on my paper route.  That gives me some currency to be nostalgic about newspapers, I suppose, but my real impulse is quite different.  Newspapers should drag themselves from the edge of the grave and embrace e-commerce and their traditional strengths in community coverage and become an influential force in their communities again.

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Be impressed.

A lot of trends start on the west coast and eventually find there way to the good Old North State where I live, but you have to wonder about this one. Why? We’ll discuss that in a moment but first take a couple of minutes to view this video in full screen and then go to the property web site. You should be able to click through to it when a link appears at the end of the video. I think you will be impressed. I’ve never seen anything like this for a home in Durham…or anywhere in North Carolina for that matter with the possible exception of the Biltmore House, and that was to attract tourists, not buyers.

A few observations and thoughts…

The most obvious thing of course is that the production values are stunning. I came across this in a blog on real estate photography. The photographer, whose name is Scott Hargis, is quite proud of the work, as he should be.  I don’t know much about serious photography but this wasn’t done with a point and shoot camera.  Much of the blog I mentioned is about the use of software tools like Photoshop and not about what to shoot and how.

Did you notice that nowhere in the video or on the website is price mentioned?  I don’t think this was an oversight.  This reinforces the old saw that if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it.  I did a little additional research and found out the price on REALTOR.com. Take a guess and click through yourself.  If the link doesn’t work it means the home has sold. Clue…the price is 8 figures and a nice round number. Do you think the price was set after a careful analysis of the comps? Can you imagine there would be any comps?

Another unusual feature…people.

There are rarely any people in property advertising. Have you ever wondered about that? I have. Virtually everything else uses people…cars, schools, soap, beer. Why so few people in property ads? Of course, there are plenty of people used in real estate advertising…mostly not-so-great photographs of agents. After all, the vast majority of real estate marketing focuses on promoting agents and companies, not properties.

The people used in the video and the photos for Casa Estella did not look like actors. If you read the copy on the site you may come to the conclusion that the people are the owners.  In fact, the copy is much different than you usually see in property promotion.  It has a blog-like conversational tone and in places conveys very subjective information from the sellers…about their favorite places in the house…which, very cleverly, it turns out, depends on the time of day.

There is no doubt that this was expensive to put together.  In the realm of multi-million dollar homes big budgets may make sense but who would you guess paid for it? I don’t know.  If you had a listing this spectacular would you front the cost or would you ask the seller to pay for it? Would you ask for an advance on a traditional commission or negotiate a separate  marketing budget separate from the commission? Would you take the same approach with a more modest property?

Overall impact

I shared the video with a California luxury agent that contributes to another blog I also occasionally contribute to.  She was totally blown away. Among other equally enthusiastic things she said, “Seriously….they are taking it to a whole new level! I loved it! It totally excited me!”

The photographer who took the pictures and collaborated with the video producer posted a blog with comments that run along the same lines as my friend. The comments also contain a discussion about the use of “talent”  or people in the pictures and why it is seldom done. The post is here.

I’m not quite that excited but my roots run deep in a much more conservative area of the country.   Or maybe I would much prefer a city local where good restaurants and convenience stores are always just a few blocks away.

But my primary concern is that maybe it is too good.  My issue  is whether the material creates such high expectations that some disappointment would be inevitable if you took the trouble to go see the property.  A cold overcast day might leave you totally bummed out.  Sometimes you just can’t Photoshop real life.

The goal of good property marketing is to get the home shown to qualified buyers. The promotional material should tease. It doesn’t have to show everything. In fact, it should tease enough to get the showings and then let a fabulous property sell itself.  The biggest “Wow!” moments should come on site…not  at a website.

I’d welcome some other opinions on this.  If you decide to contact the agent, go see the property, and then buy it, please tell them Jay sent you. I could use the referral fee.

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What Domino’s can teach us about real estate marketing.

No serious low-carb freak should do it but sometimes nothing but pizza will satisfy.  Since there is a Dominos between my home and my office I sometimes call and order a pizza and pick it up on the way home.

The last time I did this something weird happened.  As I was into my second slice and washing it down with a glass of cold milk my attention was drawn from the magazine article I was reading.  The pizza was really good!

Much better, in fact, than what I had come to expect.  What was going on? The personnel in the store were still the same mumbling and bleary eyed guys I’d seen before making pizzas and walking from the nearby convenience store drinking from paper bags.

Later I noticed that Dominos ads were admitting that there pizza wasn’t that good and were changing the recipe and putting in better ingredients. Then I saw a tiny article on a business page that Dominos’ business had improved since the changes had been made.

All this brought back memories of a particular time.  I was an English major and have no academic marketing background and a good part of my long marketing career in banking was in product development which really means a lot of project management and procedures writing.  When I took my last job in banking as the marketing director of a regional bank I had more responsibility for promotion and pricing than I had ever had before.

Some things are best learned by teaching.

During that time I was asked to teach a marketing course by the local chapter of the BAI or the Bank Administration Institute. This involved introducing marketing concepts to ambitious bank tellers and customer service reps and getting paid a little bit to do it. But it also meant educating myself  about the concept of “the marketing mix” and integrated marketing. The BAI text  book…which is still within reach of this desk… was my introduction to the concept of the 4 Ps of Marketing, Product, Price, Place, and Promotion.

Place, of course, really refers today to the distribution system for a company’s products.

At the time, Dominos was revolutionizing the pizza industry with a very distinct distribution strategy…rapid and reliable home delivery.  For a while they guaranteed delivery within 30 minutes which was a strong strategic commitment until it became abundantly clear that encouraging already hormone stoked, lead footed teenagers to try to beat the clock was not a good idea.

Still, for my students, most of whom assumed that “marketing” was synonymous with “advertising,” it provided a good example of how a company could build its marketing strategy around doing distribution better than anyone else. Dominos pizzas were OK and its prices…not including tips to the delivery guys…were about the same as the other pizza chains.  They probably spent no more than the other chains on advertising either and kept their costs down by not maintaining sit-down restaurants. This worked for years until gradually the other chains adapted and started adding delivery services.

So now things come full circle. A rival chain that promotes “better ingredients, better pizza” is forcing everyone else to adapt.   My experience with Dominos’ improved pizza is one indication that they are shifting to a heavy Product strategy. When I picked up that last pizza I noticed that they also now have sandwiches and “pasta bowls.” I haven’t tried any of this yet…I really like pizza when I veer off the low-carb freeway…but I may in a weak moment.

Does that mean that pizza tycoons have given up on distribution strategies? Not at all. In fact, another big trend in the industry in on-line ordering. You even see some smaller chains going back to sit down stores. Amazing.

I can imagine some product planner way back in the day making a pitch with overhead transparencies (this was way before PowerPoint) to corporate leadership at Dominos to undertake this risky “delivery” strategy.  Delivery of pizza was a Mom and Pop strategy when Sal and Angela’s  kid was home from school in the world of pizza places.

Dominos adopted a  strategy that was thinking outside the (pizza) box, so to speak at the time. Residential real estate is at one of those inflection points when the old models will be turned upside down just like the pizza business was then.

My gut continues to tell me that the large real estate franchise operations will be the last to adapt and that most change will come from small companies and individual agents.

Hobbs/Herder says  “Lesson 1: You are the product; Lesson 2: Market the Product.” Well, OK, you do have to market yourself.  And that may have sufficed before the bubble burst.  But the next parallel to Dominos in real estate will come from companies and/or individuals that realize that with fewer qualified buyers you also have to market real estate…homes, shelter, communities,  not just yourself.

The 4 P’s provide a good framework for taking each listing and developing a marketing plan that will work. Developing and promoting best practices for that is what we are about here.

Writing about food is hard work.  It’s making me hungry…is it lunch time yet?

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How would you write a movie review?

There are other posts here about copy writing in real estate but there are a lot of points that bear repeating and expansion.  Recently I wrote a post for another blog that focuses on luxury real estate. The basic theme was that what you are trying to do when you write copy is not sell as much as tease.

This is based on the premise that very few properties are sold…speculative investors notwithstanding…without a showing. The goal then of most real estate copy writing is to get showings scheduled for qualified buyers.

Another contributor to that luxury site is Karen Crystal who is a successful luxury property marketer in Southern California. Karen provided a comment to my post that took the idea to another level. She likened good real estate copy writing to a good movie preview. Of course!

My immediate reaction was “Why didn’t I think of that?” Like Karen,  I enjoy the 20 minutes or so of previews that usually precede the main attraction in movie theaters around here. I’ll also watch the “trailers” of any movie that I’m considering online.  Some movies I can quickly eliminate this way but I also often find myself considering movies of a different genre than those I normally gravitate to.

Home buyers are no more rational than other consumers in this way.

We are often barely aware of the emotions that make us fall in love with a movie, a person,  a place or a home. Too much information…even pictures… especially without any emotional content, can often provide the reason not to go see a home. In a buyers’ market with lots of choices, this happens more often than you would expect.

In writing copy for your listings become the “director” and think of the preview or trailer you would create for the home and adjust your copy accordingly. Listen to  your own emotional antennae to pick up clues on what might work.  Look for the clues that you can convey that will not only attract more showings but the right showings.

A couple of weeks ago I showed a home that my buyer clients had identified because of its proximity to where they both work.  It wasn’t their cup of tea, but I loved it. It was built in the 50′s and hadn’t really had much done to it since then except to turn a large garage into an awkward master bedroom.

My feedback to the listing agents  got a laugh out of them because I described how I could imagine my first car…a 1955 turquoise and creme Chevrolet Bel Air in the circular driveway with Wally and Beaver Cleaver shooting baskets behind it.

In fact, it reminded me of the home of some very good childhood friends, right down to the swimming pool,  backyard greenhouse and large rooms all on one level.  Come to think of it, my folks actually bought that Chevy for my brother and I from those friends.  If cars could tell stories…

My clients were probably too young to relate to any of this but there are buyers out there who would.   To be honest the place needed a lot of work. An accurate and more detailed description would have left anyone cold.  Let the nostalgia flow.  There are few homes that you will list that don’t have some characteristic that can provide an emotional hook to get those showings from the right buyers.

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