Linda's Southeastern CT Real Estate Blog

Thank you to my son Jeff for the photo of his dog Jack.

In our small town of Wickenburg AZ  pop  aprox 6k   the   cost were going up  distribution was down.

so we gave up our weekly 1/2 pg ad  but stayed in the monthly  showcase.  The other major Real Estate firms followed.

We also save about $30k

 

What's more important anyway, a dog or a house? :-)  I just ran a house ad in a local latino newspaper but other than that, forget it. I agree with you. We run open house ads and that is it.  The Internet is the way to go.

I think the print advertising benefits the agent far more than the seller. The print quality is so poor that even though the original photo is high quality, it ends up being very bad in print even if it's in color. When buyers are used to seeing the clear photos on the internet, how can they be expected to choose a fuzzy photo in the newspaper.

The agents that I see still using big ads in the paper typically don't have any or much web presence. Four of us committed to doing a half page ad this year, but doubt that it will continue for 2008.

Your preaching to the choir with me, Linda. I use to spend about 7000.00 per year. But in 2004, the first year I started tracking to present..........I have had no calls or sales or picked up buyers from the print media. I ONLY do a small ad when I have to hold a open house, which is also few and far between. In my area, only the big companies still run a ton of ad's. The top agents that list, do not. Except for one. Go figure.

And Jack looks cute but mischievous.

I stopped running newspaper ads about six months ago.  i explain this to sellers before I take the listing.  My marketing dollars work harder for me on the internet.

Well the dog sure is a cutie!  

 Thanks for sharing the stats - that will help when I talk with clients about the importance of putting a sign on the property and using the internet and MLS. 

The local newspapers here cater so completely to builders, everything else is all lumped together. 

The only time we advertise anything is for open house and then cross your fingers that they ad gets printed right.

The megas will still advertise so they can brag about market share.  For small companies, it's money down the tube.

 

The newspaper number is even lower than that.  Closer to 2% now.

In my area one of the larger companies pulled out of the print ad market completely quite a while ago; my company still does open house ads that's it. I always ask people where they found out about the open house - having one tomorrow I'll let you guys know, but recently, signs are drawing people not ads. Plus we advertise them on our MLS.

Our office is currently advertising in the Sunday paper.  Like you, I think it is a waste of good money.  So many listings not enough space pictures of homes are the size of postage stamps.

I think we would do better spending money on something like FindAHome.com.

We stopped advertising in the paper when the very same paper started putting down Realtors and spreading doom and gloom in the same sections we were spending our money in! And you want our money? What have you done for us lately? Nada! ZIP! It is a total waste of an agent's money. We have never had a seller mad at us or not list with us for that. We are upfront and we educate the sellers why it is a waste of time. We ask, " when was the last time you bought a house that was advertised in the paper?" Guess what, they all they have not bought a house that way! I think agents who just want to appease the seller are not marketing correctly, they are also wimpy if they are not in control of the marketing, which is what we get paid to do! Katerina

Unless the print ad also has a life on the internet through an active online edition that print ad is unlikely going to bring results. I agree. I think you found another way to spend your ad dollar.

Hi Linda - I stopped print ads several years ago, and I never even talk about it on listing appointments.  If a potential seller brings it up, I just give them the hard facts about what print advertising doesn't do.  Where the buyers are - that's where I want to be.  It's all about setting expectations, and that includes marketing and advertising - where and when, what works and what doesn't.

I do have a great idea, though, for some of that $30,000 you're going to save......we can go on that trek to find the BEST lobster sandwich ever......    ;-)

Ann

I do little print ads bacuse the return is small. I ran a page in homes and land but have cut back to sharing a page. I am going to get a professionally blog-site of my own. I am going to restructure my websites to bring them up to date. If my gross commissions are around 300k then my ad spending is less than 2% of sales and is going to one. My commissons will go down in the future but my tennis game and photos are going to get better.

Hi Linda! You are absolutely right. Newspaper ads do nothing for the seller because buyers aren't looking in the papers. I advertised by print for about i year.  I noticed it wasn't doing aything for the sellers. I was getting very few calls, but it was mostly from mortgage brokers wanting to meet. That was all. :) Much better to advertise on the internet.

Thanks everyone!  It would appear that everyone is in agreement which gives me the confidence to do it! 

Ann, sounds like a plan and Eric, sounds like we are on a similiar path but subsitute golf for tennis for me.

Print ads (classified) give us good results for rentals, but not so much for homes for sale.  The internet, and direct mail are a much better return on investment... and the internet is almost FREE.  I love that price

Linda - I agree 100% and I loved your story - I'll be sharing it in the future: Dog 8 - Homes Sellers 0 - Florida's nice in the winter - $30,000 will take you lots of great places.   

Linda, newspapers are not only ineffective but they are also pricing themselves out of site.  The Realtor Council met with the two major newspapers here in Middlesex County to try to explain the reasons why they were seeing less advertising form the Realtors in the area.  There answer in return was that they had to raise prices because of the decrease in advertising.  As a result the amount of advertising has continued to go down, and if their solution to that is to continue to raise prices, they will end up without anyone to raise price to.

Hi Linda, print advertising in our area is still being done but it really has no effect. I track all my calls and most are from the web or they saw the sign. A waste of money.

I agree, the internet is the way to go and as I tell the "Old Timers" in my office you need to educate your Sellers so that they too understand that they need more exposure than the local newspaper.

I have only sold one house from a ad in the magazines. Sellers think that you should put their house in every paper, magazine, and if you don't do that they are not getting exposure.

I agree that print has gone into cardiac arrest, if not already been pronounced dead.  The newspapers are all going on-line with their news and their ads. 

The biggest problem I see with going on-line for Realtors, is the same problem with the newspaper.  Your listings are going to get lost in the maze.  Consider this.  If you are one of 1.4 million agents on-line, and you have 5 homes to advertise, how are you going to drive one of the 100 million home-buyers on-line to your website.  If they go to Realtor.____ they will not call you.  I know, I had 25 listings over a 7 year period with a showcase site and can count on one hand the leads I got and no sales.  I sold over $30 million in 2004 from other leads, none of them from the IDX feeds and other websites that claim to work.  I also had my branded site in the top 10 of yahoo and google for 8 months with little success, as most of the people that search for keywords on-line are Realtors looking up their placement!  SEO is like the newspaper telling you they have a distribution of 500K weekend subscribers.  Does anyone stop and ask them, how many of the subscribers are actually looking for a home in your marketing area.  Obviously, they are looking for pets, but not homes.  Congratulations, you have now entered into the world of reality and exited the world of illusion. 

 

If the dog is getting all of the calls, have you given any thought to featuring doghouses in the ad instead of people houses? :) Our team doesn't do traditional print ads, but does work with Custom House Publishers on a newspaper that goes to about 20,000 homeowners every other month. We've received some business from it, but I would have to check on our exact returns.

I also use Custome House Publishers and send it out every other month.  My return has been pretty good so I am thinking of increasing that once my newspaper contract expires. 

As a newspaper "girl" (who worked in that business for 18+ years) I have to admit that in years gone by, a homeowner would never blink an eye about searching the paper for a new home.  But, in the recent past, any honest newspaper salesperson would tell you that it just doesn't get the job done and hasn't for some time. Unfortunately, for Realtors, sellers (who don't even look at the newspaper to search for their NEW homes) still want to insist on advertising their homes for sale in the paper--just in case....there in is the problem still out their for Realtors---

 

Ditch the print! Doesn't work for us at all. Yet many agents still spend big money on it.

How about advertising a link to see the website of the home? Any play that way? I only advertise open houses and I don't even think that works, but I was thinking of advertising the web address of the listing in print. No?

Linda, we haven't done print advertising for some time now. Don't miss not getting anything from it at all. We just snarl when they keep trying to get us to come back.

thanks.... 

I agree with the commenter above that you can get responses from print ads for renters. But Craigslist and a local Cleve website work so much better I just use that now

When MLS became an "institution" print advertising for the purpose of finding buyers began losing its value, and it continued to decrease year after year.  This all started in the 1950s.

But what print ads do for Realtors is what land lines and real addresses do for trades people.  It gives them credibility.  It shows your agency has muscle, so in reality it serves two purposes.  1) If people like your ads, your logo, and the quantity of your listings, they are likely to pick you over your competition.  2) If people see you have lots of listings, they are likely to decide you must be "in the know," so they are more likely to call you than your competition.

You aren't saving $30,000 a year by cutting your newspaper ads.  You're losing business and don't have any way to quantify it.

Confusing what yard signs do in the sales equation with what one thinks ads are supposed to do is a mistake.

Print ads are a waste of money, old school, most people these days use the internet, the key is getting people to you via the internet

I heard it said in my CRS course on Technology that Realtors as a whole tend to run about 4 years behind on the latest technology. I believe it.

It amazes me how few Realtors in my area take advantage of the FREE technology that is available, ActiveRain being a prime example.

To quote Egon (Harold Ramis) from Ghostbusters: "Print is dead". I think the main reason most Realtors still rely on it as much as they do is either (a) out of habit, (b) out of laziness or (c) they think the client expects them to put their ad in the paper.

Newspaper ads are all about perception Linda - you don't get calls, but by people seeing your face, they will think of you when it is time to sell.  Our decision to stop our local paper's advertising happened because they tripled the price of an ad we had been running for over a year without warning (tripled!!).  We had not been getting any calls on that ad at all, but people told us they saw us there.

Sponsor a local charity Linda - the money will be much better spent and they will be glad to give you credit to you as their most generous sponsor.

You are preaching to the choir here too.  The newspapers don't work anymore.  I stopped all ads in the Washington Post starting in November of 2004.  Stats keep by my Long and Foster Office manager have shown that there is zero - nada - zip - NO Activity at open houses from the Washington Post anymore.  The number one place buyers are coming from is INTERNET and SIGNS.

You should do more targeted marketing ;) Or buy some spa packages haha Interesting post. I think why the dog got more offers is that it appealed to the heartstrings. It's a great illustration of effective marketing. I also think we should do less print ads. Save more trees that way. ;) I think there are still ways for you to get the face out there other than putting in tons of ads. Frankly as a consumer I flip through the pages to see the houses, not who is selling them. I am going to see the house regardless whose picture is there.

Cheers,

Cindy 

Yes, I agree print ads are dead! 

Most of my leads came form flyer's in the brochure box outside the house.  The challenge has been to convince a seller, especially those who are from the old school of thought, that print ads don't work.  The conversation usually goes something like this "people in my generation don't use the internet, we read the paper and go to open houses." 

I have reduced print advetising by 50% and am considering using less.

Linda... this message is getting louder and louder and newspapers need to wake up and provide some value added to their advertising packages. Theoretically, they still have strong local brand presence. They need to leverage that toward attracting locals to their own Internet offerings. They continue to feed the presses in spite of it all.

I stopped print ads last year...and my business is stronger than ever.

I suppose there will come a time when, by attrition, print ads will stand out again.  Some wierd niche of people who still don't know how to surf the web.  Thanks!

It is amazing how much things have changed in the past few years.  I think it is time that the industry educate the consumer.  Studies, such as the NAR study may be a great assets in helping the sellers understand where potential buyers are looking -- the same thing goes for the open house.  Why spend money on things that don't work any more.

Linda,

I gave up print marketing and most of the advertising about this time last year, I was scared to death to quit it, but it was expensive and no longer producing ANY results.  I am weaning off the last of the newspaper ads right now and I am completely done with it.  The internet leads are coming in steadily.  I think it is a trade-off, the advertising and marketing were expensive, but the internet marketing is very time consuming.  It is my opinion that the $30k would be better spent on another team member to help with the administrative portion of internet marketing.  In the end, it will cost just as much, just money better spent that will generate ROI.  

 

 

One of our Managers, Carlos Arvizu, wanted to buy a HOME and LAND franchise but they wanted far too much money!   So he decieded to print his own real estate magazine.  It is called, "The Real Estate Market Magazine," which he promptly put into print. 

The results were actually quite good in that the magazine's marketing idea is not to put it into places like grocery stores and street corners where people are busy and have another agenda like puchasing goods, but into law offices, dental offices, Beauty Salons, and Barber shops---where there are waiting rooms and people have to sit down and wait to in the hall.    The result has been a very good response in our local market place:  Long Beach, Pico Rivera, Lakewood, Norwalk, Downey, Bellflower and Paramount in Southern California.  For approximately $500.00 we will get about 30 calls. 

 So the moral of the story is that there is still good to be found from print advertising if the printer has some thinking outside of the box ideas.

Linda,

To my knowledge, and I keep track, I have never sold a home from newspaper advertising.  I have, however, sold many because of my internet presence.

I see some sticking to newspaper advertising because their competitors will not stop newspaper advertising.  Most are afraid to stop while the competition keeps doing it.  

The 3 line ads have always worked better than the printed 1/4 page ones in my experience.   It's partly because of ad overrun we tune out the big pictures and focus on the data rich line ads.  It's also because a lot of readers find classifieds on the internet instead of picking up the paper.  You don't see those print ads in the online versions.

$30K?  Sarah, Chris & Ann need new shoes.  Problem solved.

Linda, this just gave me the final push to give up my print ads.  I won't save as much as you, but I could put it to good use.  Not shoes though, maybe handbags... 

The  anonymous handbag shopper was I.  : )

We stopped print a long time ago and it has not hurt us at all.

My first thought - THIRTY THOUSAND DOLLARS!?!?!?!  (Adds up her own newspaper costs, and is relieved.)

My second thought - Yay for the puppy!

My real point - I love debating this with agents from the metro area.  I'm in a very rural area, and from the tracking that I've done, it's about 50% of leads that come from the newspaper, and 50% from the internet and the MLS.  It does differ depending on the type of property, though.  For recreational properties, I do seem to generate more interest online, while local residential properties market better in print.  I still stand firmly in my belief that it completely and totally depends on your area. 

One other point I have is that there is an agent locally who has a "home of the week", and we are good friends (although she is a direct competitor).  I asked her about it, and she said that it definitely wasn't the number one way to find buyers (running her own ad like that), but she admitted that sellers came to her just to be in that ad. 

Sometimes I think it's just a necessary evil.....

Linda, We are killing off the last of our print advertising in December when our contract runs out with a local publication. As mortgage brokers, we have never received so much as a single lead off of our print advertising. I think everyone has been told that is what you're supposed to do and they assume that is correct. Always, track where your leads are coming from!

Its interesting sellers ask alot about newspaper advertising.  But in my experience it doesnt do very well.

I only have an ad in one publication now - its a very niche paper and the advertising revenue supports a specific group, so for now I will stick with that one but the rest are history. 

As for the $30K - I suggest a nice donation to the animal shelter for helping you see the light.  How much kibble would that buy? 

I agree, nothing much ever comes from print anymore.  I occasionally get a call from an existing client on a home that they saw in the paper to get more info.  Ither than that it is just branding yourself.  There are much cheaper ways to go.  The problem is that most sellers want to see their home in the paper.

Linda,

You are absoloutely right about the internet being a powerful source to generate leads for yourself.  Althuough, if you are not educated correctly on how the major search engines analyze your website you may be spending more than $30,000.

I have written a few arcticles so far in my blog, they may be of some interest to you.

I have been trying to get this point across to sellers. They like to see their home in the paper and do not understand the internet much.

I teach and coach many agents on how to become successful. Many agents I work with do not have a company that does a lot of advertising. They keep wondering how they can compete against those that have a lot of newspaper advertising.

This article will give them the confidence to know that they are not alone, Thank you

Brett Noel

Success  Coach

www.Brettnoel.com

Linda the only thing print is good for is driving people to your website. You can present the home much better there and people like to see full color multiple pictures.

Jack is so cute!!  I don't like print advertising either.  We do guides, not newspapers except for open house ads, which the company pays for.

With that extra $30,000, you don't have to wait for Chris to win the lottery -- you could buy your own new shoes.  :o) 

Just as I had suspected, I feel like I am flushing my dollars down the drain when I post adds in the local newspaper.  Those statastics are great!  thanks!!!

 

Linda - it could be that another reason big agencies advertise - is to motivate the agents who do the "floor time", since the leads generated from the company web-site often go directly to the broker. Calls to the office to the agent on duty, I think, are primarily from the ads and yard signs.  As the brokers switch more of their ad dollars to Internet, there will be even less incentive for the agents to answer the phone for "free".

Linda - sorry, that comment without a name is me - I posted it without logging-in. Thanks for the insight on this topic.

Linda-

Newspaper is too saturated these days. Will buyers shuffle through 100 pages of a newpaper that is in no appartent order or will they go online and type in 3bd, 2 Ba, swimming pool, price and exc. Seems as though we only use the newspaper to satisfy the sellers. However maybe you could sell the dog and have the house come with it!

Linda,

I totally concur....I get very little out of newspaper advertising and have mostly cut it out of my budget except for special events and things like that.  Interestingly enough, I tell my sellers right up front where the dollars go to promote their property and seem to have no issues. 

Our Company just decided to stop using newspaper and go for online advertising and now we are using a marketing company to promote us via the web... I think that's the best way to go since 90% of Buyers and Sellers are viewing different site to get results...... Great post.. Thanks for the insight.....love the dog...

Linda-great article and reminder, may have to print this one and share it! I often hear too many times, its to appease the seller's but if only agents could have to guts to tell sellers what it takes to sell houses!  I agree with you 100%.  Your example is a great lesson to all!

Extra $30K?  Maybe a trip around the world?  Or, just some plain old SEO?  So many choices!!!  lol.

Where to spend the $30,000?  Check out the Wizard!

Mike in Tucson

Understand that as more and more real estate agents pull out of print type publications this could become the time to run ads because your ad will get far more focused eyeballs.  I have adjusted my print budget lower today than in years past and reallocated that money towards technology based marketing.  But I can assure you that print marketing if done well will generate business.  The key is that it needs to offer something of value that the consumer wants or needs.  I believe I will have even better print marketing success soon for roughly 1/4 of what I was paying a couple of years ago because so many are leaving print.   

We stopped advertising in the newspaper years ago, and then stopped the magazine ads, too. You need to track the results you get - both calls and resulting sales - to see where to spend your marketing $$. You can use the same statistics to show your sellers where it's best to market their property.

Linda, first I confess I have not read the comments...with that said, I totally agree. I stopped newspaper ads about 2 years ago. I use to put the ad in for Open Houses and EVERY person I asked said, I was driving by and saw the signs or I saw it on the Internet...NO ONE from the newspaper. That got me to thinking...had I been a sucker all this time...pretty much! It's time to education the Sellers if they want print ads! Enjoy, the extra cash... love the dog!

I feel like agents like to post their picture at the top of their 40 listings, to show how big they are. If I had 40 listings, I'd do the same thing. This really does not sell homes as much as it sells the big image of the broker/realtor. And that;s not always a bad thing....but it doesn't sell homes...

I have to say as a home owner, if I did not have a Realtor I would have made a note of you...because of your spending money to help find homes for dogs. It shows a passion and humanity that regular ads don't.

Perhaps you could cut out the regular ads but run one occationaly for the shelter...or a woman's shelter needing donations. Shows the human side of you...and will likely end up with a pay off of clients.

Linda, First, Kudo's for you for putting the puppy in that ad and not another agents listing. You never know, a animal lover like me may remember that ad one day and say hey, Linda Davis featured a puppy at the shelter in her Real Estate Ad, I think I would like to talk to her...

Second, I track all the incoming calls for our company and we run a full page Sunday ad with 2 other area Century 21's and I do get calls from the Sunday paper! Nothing like I used to, but one day I had 4 calls on the same property. I don't know what this ad costs, I do know a couple agents have gotten new business recently from the Sunday ad. I would love to see us ditch the "book" ads, waste of time & money, too many properties, I get a call from one of them once in a blue moon. Literally... (Midori, don't hit me!)

Halleluja!  I wrote a post this past March regarding the how print advertising was history and didn't sell houses I was bombarded by AR members saying I was wrong and there was a place for print advertising and always will be.   This is like saying the awesome covered wagon will always be the choice of commuting!  Great post my friend.

Magazine Ads are hard to get business from. We have a centerfold in Homes&Land and we have closed 1 deal in having the ad 12 months!

Hi Linda, I just left a whole long comment on Adam's post about the same topic. I've really cut back. There are some agents that still swear by the Times classified. I only will do a classified ad for an Open House. I've actually tested the response. 1 week ad in paper 20 people showed up, following week only online 20 people showed up. I prefer online because I like being able to write a description, photos, floor plan and a link back to my website.

No more: 1BR 1BA, Hi Ceil, Hd Wd Fl, EIK, wbfp,gar,vu,low mt,FSB,OH Sun =

One bedroom, one bath, high ceilings, hard wood floors, eat in kitchen, wood burning fireplace, garage, view low maintenance, full service building, Open House Sunday.

I'm a broker and I can't figure out some of the abbreviations in the paper. lol

 

I agree Linda. We stopped the newspaper about two years ago and have cut way back on our "homes book" ads. Everyone, except our office, advertises ALL their listings in the homes book. I have a few pages, highlighting some properties and refer them to our websites. It keeps our name, our number, our web address, our logo out there - at a cheaper price than the newspaper.

Our newspaper deal breaker was similar to yours- I ran an ad for a "dog" of a house that had been on the market for years. I basically said, "The ugliest home on the street. Needs work. Priced too high. etc" We had a dozen or so calls on how funny that spot was. Not one call for the other homes in the ad.  

BTW, we did sell that ugly home, about six months later. The buyer remembered our ad, but it certainly was not what inspired the sale. 

I blogged about this last week and got over 100 comments on it.  I was amazed at how many people argued the other side saying they had to advertise in the paper to appease their sellers.  Save that $30k, and find something more productive to spend it on!!

Linda, you reassure me, thank you.  I think I can reach buyers and sellers through the internet.  I'm banking on it.  All I need is to be very effective with my internet posts, listings, etc.  It's a constant challenge, but it's fun.

Whoa - I totally lost track of comments so I apologize I can't comment to each comment personally.  It seems most people agree.  I did want to talk a little bit about those who feel print advertising is important in overall marketing, branding and to Bill Cherry who felt I would be losing $30,000.   Not quite.

My market area is 6200 households in Ledyard, CT.  I only list homes and 98% of what I list are in the town of Ledyard.  I send my own Custom House Newspaper out 6 times a year and will probably increase that with the savings from eliminating most of my print ads.  I get listings everytime I send out one of my newspapers - always!  I also have been farming religiously for almost 30 years - you can find many of my blogs about farming here.   I also have a dedicated website www.IloveLedyard.com .  I am active in my community and an elected official.  I am finally ready to admit that  don't need print advertising. 

For those who read this (especially newbies) and think that you can't do exactly what I did to get in this position, think again.  I moved here as a Navy Wife 30 years ago and had and have no family here except for my hubby. I built my sphere of influence one person at a time. You can do it!!  Feel free to call or email me anytime.  I'm always happy to share.

P.S.  After I posted, I noticed there were a couple other blogs on this topic.  I'm sorry, I hate when that happens.  I never even checked as it was more of a catharsis!

 

My wife is a graphic designer for a local newspaper here in Kansas City. Because of this I get the opportunity to run a FREE weekly ad. I've taken advantage of this and tried several different ads over the last year, some with homes for sale, some with free buyers/sellers information (not the generic junk either), and some ads with a free list of forclosures, etc. 

I got nothing but headache and heartache from these ads. No real buyers, just people wasting my time that want to rent a home, have bad credit, and little old ladies with nothing better to do.

Recently I told my wife not to put an ad in the paper for me anymore. I believe the REAL buyers are online and nothing but deadbeats are reading through the paper.

 

While $30,000 is a lot of money, appeasing sellers has some value and showing potential sellers you're working for your current clients is more important. This weekly ad does a lot of branding for you. While you may not get many sales, you could easily get a dozen more listings. Why else do you think there are ads with listings with sold banners accross the picture. These ads are for realtors just as much if not more than the houses they're selling.

Sorry for the repeat, I wasn't logged in.

Other than open house ads, we only use the paper in small towns that don't have high speed internet.

We still do newspaper advertising and it does work for us -- when I have a good-priced or unique listing I can get 2-3 calls per week. Not all buy but they are contacts and possibilities. I don't expect to sell a house via the newspaper, just like I don't expect to sell a home exclusively online ... they are simply tools to get in touch with people.

Have a great one! 

I guess I tend to agree with Bill.  It does give a Realtor credibility - or at least visibility.  I live in a smallish town and people read the local papers.  I get asked all the time, "I saw Mary Smith's ad in the paper for a great house at 123 Main Street.  Have you been inside, is it nice?" 

Tire kickers, noisy neighbors, people not really going to buy 123 Main - YES on all accounts.  However, they certainly know Mary Smith has a listing and is in the paper EVERY week.  I may have more listings than Mary Smith, but the community at large doesn't know that if they don't see my ads next to hers. 

Maybe $30,000 is too much for this kind of press, but how about a smaller ad every week to keep your name in front of the community.  Sherry

Yep, I'd save your money on print and start doing it all via email. That's where things are going...

All the best,

Beth

If 5% of buyers find their home from newspaper print advertising, aren't you getting rid of 5% of your business by not advertising in the newspaper?

Is $30,000 equal or greater than 5% of the commissions your office brought in each of the last few years?

Forever is a long time..

I agree that print is pretty useless in most cases.  There is still a segment of the population that reads a newspaper or gets at least a portion of their news from print sources.  It's a changing landscape and I think the Internet will gradually make print obsolete.

In my neck of the woods, the local newspaper features a Real Estate Section on Fridays. It is filled with Realtor Ads. I have had no luck when using this vehicle to advertise my listings. I only advertise my open houses but the last time I advertised 2 open houses, I did not receive the paper until Sunday morning and minus the Real Estate Section. When I called the paper, they said they would investigate the issue and give me a response. That has been 4 weeks ago. I guess they are still investigating. The bottom line is it is your choice. Yes, it it a branding vehicle and if you are highly visible realtor, you may need to maintain this level of visibility, but more and more, the experts are proving that online is the way to go. Just like billboard and bus shelter advertising.

 

 

 

I'm down to a page in TREB, it's the only one that's ever shown a response from buyers.  Recently, with smaller agents having nothing else to do, I've noticed that within certain companies the same listing is in 4 or 5 different ads...and I didn't even notice it, a buyer of mine pointed it out.

Overall there are better ways to advertise listings and to brand yourself.  I've noticed that the commentors who think you're nuts are focused on your 'loss' of branding-but they'd have to see your overall business plan to understand that there are other ways you are branded in your market.

You're working by referral and working smart-I say pocket the additional revenue and thank the shelter! =)

Our company, as do most all the larger real estate companies in Charleston, spends heavily on Saturday and Sunday real estate ads in the local newspaper.  Is it effective?  I don't have the numbers, but I don't see it going by the wayside anytime soon.  It's hard to get rid of old practices, even though they aren't as effective as they once were. 

So many agents are afraid to say no to their client and explain what really works and why.  I've found that by educating my clients, they're much less likely to be pointing out everything that you're not doing.  Set the expectations up front, then communicate with them regularly showing them what you're doing.

I could offer a few suggestions for the 30k.  How about you use ot towards the purchase of your own private gold course ;-)

When I purchased both of my house, I let my REALTOR® do all the leg work.  I have no regrets, she did a wonderful job

Kewl 100

 

All of my new listings are being told that I am no longer using print media of any kind on the phone, before I even go on the appointment.  So far every single one of them has acknowledged that they figured it was no longer working.  They are finding me online, which is where they are looking, as well as the buyers.  I am getting plenty of listing appointments straight off of my blog and the buyers are flowing in.  Actually I need help because I am getting buried. 

Don't worry about moving away from print media, the only thing that held me up on it was the wrong belief that I still needed it to appease my sellers, that was wrong.   

The thing with this internet marketing is that I am now farming my entire city, not just a neighborhood.  It is great, many new opportunities are presenting themselves and I like it a lot.   

Linda

Thank you for providing the statistics along with your own personal story --it really helped to illustrate the point.

Well Linda, I think I can help you finding a place to spend that money you are going to save.

The market down here in Fredericksburg Virginia is not very healthy at the moment.  Therefore, any contributions will be extremely appreciated; you know my address.

Thank you in advance.

Good for you! It is a waste to me. My brokerage did a third page newspaper ad the first year we opened. Very very little success and no one wanted to do it again. Therefore, we have not this year.

The statistics are right and I show my sellers those exact same NAR stats at my listing appts. so they know up front that I will do little if any print ads

 

great post. Thanks for sharing it with us all.

Seriously....  In my brokerage we donate (it's not really donating because we have to) 3% of our commissions to the "ad fund" -- The only thing the ad fund does is provide a fancy print advertisement each week in our Sunday paper. Over the last 2 years I've donated about $6,000 to our "ad fund" and I've never gotten a lead from one of these ads??? Now if I could turn that money around and use it myself it would have been a totally different story. Newspaper is a thing of the past.

We gave up print ads 2 years ago.  The only thing it did for us (when we did it) was get us more listings.  That is the advantage of it.  It does not sell houses.

Great post.  I agree.  Print media helps get listings but sure doesn't help sell homes.

Buy yourself a new car! =D Or at least half of one if you're going for luxury...

I HATE doing print ads for listings but it seems my sellers really ask for it.  It gets me nothing but if my clients are happy its worth it.

Dogs in ads-can't go wrong.  I bet the shelter was happy to get some calls :)  It's good to give something back to the community.  On my web site I have photos and info of dogs in need of a new homes, it generates traffic to my site and helps the dogs.

I have heard a lot negativity towards print advertising in this post.

 I agree that print advertising may not always be the best money spent but It does serve a purpose.

I do get business from it.

It makes the sellers happy

It creates credibility.

Ex. Seller called me today, saw my ad in harmon home mag and wants to sell his home. That is a listing which pays for almost the whole year of ads.

Ex 2. Buyer who I closed with last week found me on internet 6 months ago. Was hesitant to use an agent -was burnt before. Called me a few weeks ago when he was ready to buy because he kept seeing my name everyone and realized I must be good at what I do. Print advertising created credibility.

 

 

I got an email last week from my newspaper ad rep giving me the "opportunity" to place my picture & name in a "showcase of agents" section for only $220.  There would be about 10-15 agents on the page and it would be in black and white.  WHY???  Why would I want to do that????  What an outrageous waste of $$$!

Newspapers may be dead but tell me how is it that I produce 90,000 copies of The Real Estate Book in Brooklyn, Ny and the Bronx, realtors get calls from the book, sell homes from the book and when I go around to drop off the new book there are none remaining in the store that I left them in.  I have some vendors, who let us leave the books, actually call me to tell me to bring more.

Chuck - Real Estate is local.  I have no doubt the Real Estate Books works fabulously in New York.  I was at Inman a few weeks ago and it is obvious your marketplace is very different than the rest of the country. Very very different.

Nice post. I am in the advertising field myself and see the value in print as well as the internet. The advertising should work hand in hand with eachother and should not cost a fortune. Net time you think to use print try The Real Estate Book because they also feed your listings to roughly 30 partners for free. Its a great marketing tool for listings as well as cutivating buyers. Check them out. Thank again.