27 Jan 12 How to Design Great Marketing Adverts When Selling Commercial Property
Marketing commercial real estate for sale of lease is not just an exercise in spending money in the media. If you want to be successful in the industry you should devote time in designing each and every marketing campaign to match the target market that the property needs to reach.
Some key goals must be reached in each marketing campaign:
1. Advertising is to be timely to the market
2. Advertising is to use the most effective ‘channels’
3. Advertising is to be cost effective
4. Advertising is to be to a budget (usually 1% of the sale price)
5. Advertising should be vendor paid (in advance)
6. Advertising should be monitored so that you know what works and what doesn’t
7. Advertising should focus on the initial 4 to 6 weeks of the campaign, after which the property becomes ‘stale’ if unsold or unlet
8. Advertising results should be reported in writing to the vendor at least weekly
9. Advertising should be adjusted as the campaign proceeds and results are tracked
What types of buyers will be the most interested in your property? It is a prime question and needs review so that your campaign to sell the property is as effective as possible. In the first instance you need to know if the property is attractive to all or any of these:
o Investors
o Developers
o Businesses in the area
o Occupants of the building
o Neighbouring property owners
At least one of these will be your target market to get the best price for the property.
Highest and Best Use
As part of the advertising considerations you also need to know if the property has a highest and best use that stands out above everything else that the property could be used for. Whatever that best ‘use’ is, will likely be the core element of your target market and the advertising campaign. From that you should select the most relevant ‘channels’ of advertising that will reach your market.
The most common channels of advertising available to you include:
o Internet websites (this of high value to most campaigns)
o Newspapers
o Radio
o TV
o Brochures
o Direct mail
o Telemarketing (this of high value to most campaigns)
o Signboard (this of high value to most campaigns)
o Email marketing (this of high value to most campaigns)
The use of the property is always analysed prior to the advertising campaign being designed and implemented. To handle this matter, ask yourself this question;
‘What ‘needs’ can the property best satisfy in its current or future condition?’
AIDA
So property advertising is designed to match the target market. In some agencies it is common for the advertising to be written by a specialist advertising consultant that is contracted to the business for that purpose. This practice all depends on the authorised budget that you are to work to.
Many adverts when designed by expert consultants are constructed to a principle of advertising called ‘AIDA’. It stands for:
o Attention
o Interest
o Desire
o Action
The advert you are designing is simply built around the four main points above and in that order. Consider this in more detail:
o The top lines or headers of the advert are to create or attract the ‘attention’ of the reader
o The following area below the ‘header’ is to encourage interest through providing more and yet simple information
o The following area is to create desire from the reader so that they are really interested
o The base of the advert is to encourage people to take action and call you now
Property adverts today are less ‘wordy’ and utilise carefully selected ‘dot points’ that are simply read and attract interest. Lengthy sentences should be avoided where possible as people generally do not read them. The ‘white space’ principle of advertising is used extensively today so that more white space appearing on the advert both simplifies the layout and also allows the key focus points to be seen.
Channels & Search Engine Optimisation
So what is the most common ‘channel’ of property advertising? Internet based property promotions from websites and direct email marketing is by far the most effective methods of promoting properties today. That will get even stronger as time passes. The internet is also the most cost effective for reaching most markets.
To use this channel of advertising most effectively, you will need a well constructed and maintained website that is ‘search engine optimised’ on an ongoing basis. This is a specialised field of business communication that many agents are yet to fully appreciate and undertake. You can seek specialists in the field to advise you and help you should you wish to ‘optimise’ your website and attract higher levels of enquiry or market presence.
Advertising Processes
The decision you make in the selection of marketing alternatives should be the result of the following process of review with the seller of the property:
1. Define seller objectives
2. Define target market
3. Examine outside influences
4. Business environment
5. Interest rates
6. Supply and demand
7. Construction costs
8. Financial constraints
9. Change opportunities
10. Buyer sentiment
11. Seller budgetary constraints
12. Timing influences
13. Select best marketing tools for your target market
14. Establish a ‘point of difference’ or ‘competitive edge’ strategy that applies to your property
15. Design the Marketing Plan
16. Discuss Marketing Plan with Seller and seek written approval
17. Implement the Marketing Plan
18. Evaluate the plan progress weekly
19. Adjust plan strategy if and when necessary
20. Review and evaluate all results at campaign end
REMEMBER – A good marketing process always involves asking your buyers or prospects the source from which they found out about the sale or lease of the subject property. This allows you to appreciate real value from the campaign while also allowing you to make adjustment when necessary.
27 Jan 12 One Of The Best Realtor WordPress Themes For Real Estate Agent Websites
Do you know what I love? I love it when I get a client inquiry through my business website. My business website is one of the most cost-effective marketing activities I undertake. The reason it’s so cost-effective is I don’t pay for an expensive website with hefty ongoing fees.
Instead, I use a WordPress theme that I installed in less than a half hour. After that I just added loads of great content such as images, articles, videos. All of this content ranks well in the search engines and I gain a great deal of new business through this very inexpensive website.
Any business or professional can easily build a very high-converting (turning website visitors into customers) website using a WordPress theme. Realtors are no exception. In fact there are WordPress themes built specifically for realtors. One of my favorite realtor WordPress themes is AgentPress by StudioPress.
More than one real estate agent website equals more business
Beyond looking great, when you use a WordPress theme from StudioPress, you can build as many real estate websites as you like with a single theme purchase.
Why would a realtor want more than one website?
Let me illustrate with an example. Suppose you sell both condominiums and detached homes in an urban area. You know the demographics of those people. You also know that the benefits offered by a condominium and detached home are different. Instead of writing about both in one website, why not have one site dedicated to condominiums in your area and another site dedicated to detached homes. You can break it down even further such as waterfront, estates, home for under $100,000, etc.
These separate microsites serve two important purposes.
First, you look like the condo expert.
Second, you can target condo buyers easier when your website is dedicated to condo buyers and sellers.
I can tell you that the best thing I ever learned in running an offline service-based business is learning how to build my own websites and blogs. I have several websites that target each type of customer.
Now to the heart of the matter – the AgentPress Theme review
This realtor WordPress theme is built on the StudioPress Genesis Framework which gives you outstanding flexibility, customization, and extremely easy-to-use features.
You don’t need to know any website coding language in order to get a fantastic and highly functional website going when you use a WordPress theme, including a theme designed specifically for realtors.
Real Estate Listings Search Function
The AgentPress theme by StudioPress is an ideal WordPress theme for realtors / real estate agents because it’s designed for optimally featuring your listings. In addition, you can incorporate a blog and your visitors can search your listings with a multi-variable property search function.
Because this is a WordPress theme, you can add as much content as you like whenever you like without knowing any computer / html code. In fact, you can get this theme for your real estate business up and running without knowing any computer / html code. It’s incredibly easy-to-use and very professional looking.
SEO Ready
This realtor WordPress theme comes with a built-in SEO configuration panel which makes it very easy for you to properly optimize your real estate website and blog for search engine rankings. You still need to do some off-site SEO or hire it out, but the on-site SEO is very easy to properly configure with AgentPress theme by WordPress.
Navigation Made Easy for Your Prospective Real Estate Clients
The Genesis Framework offers numerous methods for you to customize the navigation menus in your website and blog. Additionally, the AgentPress theme offers a property search function that is ideal for having your website visitors search your property listings.
Ramp Up Your Realtor Marketing With Built-In Twitter
AgentPress includes a built-in Twitter widget that you can connect with your Twitter feed so your posts and tweets are tweeted to your followers. If you’re into social media marketing, this is a must-have feature on all your realtor websites.
Incredible Property Photograph Display Options
Your entire home page with AgentPress is your featured home gallery. You can add photographs of your listings along with property descriptions. You also have the option to have large featured property listings at the top of the home page that can be configured as a slide show creating a dynamic-looking website.
What if you simply want a WordPress blog?
Perhaps you already have an established realtor website with all your listings. If that’s the case, then consider starting a blog or a real estate WordPress website on something topical that targets your prospective clients. You could write a blog about local businesses, attractions, schools, the economy, detached home prices, condo-living, staging, etc.
If this is where you wish to take your realtor marketing, the consider any one of the StudioPress WordPress themes (my favorite WP theme developer by far). You convert pretty much any of the themes into a personal blog very easily or use the default layout.
What I Don’t Like About AgentPress
I have to minor complaints about AgentPress. They are:
You can’t do multi-variable searches for listings. For example, if your visitor wishes to search by price and number of bedrooms, it can’t be done unless you install the “custom search” WordPress plugin and configure it for searches. However, if you subscribe to a listing service with an iframe code (or however your listing service provides code for inserting in your wbsite), you can insert it in your WordPress theme and then have your full listing search functionality installed on your realtor WordPress theme website.
The drop down menus can be sticky.
More about the Genesis Framework
1. Customization:
You can customize your footers, headers, and sidebars.
2. Generous license granted:
You aren’t restricted to using AgentPress on only one domain. You can build as many realtor websites as you like.
3. Featured Posts function:
You can list out your blog post titles on your home page and/or your sidebar. For example, if you have a series of blog posts you’ll wish to make very easy for your website visitors to see, you can list them on your home page and/or sidebar very easily in the widget panel.
4. Widget friendly:
Widgets in WordPress enable you to place pretty much any type of content (text, images, and/or video) in various locations – wherever the widgets are configured. The key is having a WordPress theme that offers many widget locations. AgentPress (and many StudioPress themes) offers many widget locations which gives you huge flexibility in quickly and easily inserting all types of content throughout your website.
5. Support:
The StudioPress forum is extremely active. I know, because I’m on it weekly getting tips, ideas, and help for building and customizing my theme. There’s a limit to the design help you’ll receive; however, the StudioPress-approved moderators are very prompt in answering questions.
27 Jan 12 Tips for Effective Real Estate Web Design
Get any successful Realtor to show you their secret weapon, and chances are they’ll sit you down at a computer and pull up a nice looking website. As a marketing tool, a website can make all the difference, especially in real estate, where more than 80 per cent of buyers check the net first. Sellers, too, are increasingly using the Internet to market their home, and prominent, attractive websites are where they’re most likely to ask for help. It’s important to consider all aspects of web development, like programming, copy writing, and usability when creating your website, but this article focuses on design because it’s what people notice first.
Whether you’re re-designing your old site or creating a new one, following a few simple guidelines can bring great results. Keep in mind as well that the help of a professional web-designer will help everything here go a lot smoother.
The first challenge in creating a unique looking real estate website is overcoming the sheer volume of similar sites out there. Unfortunately for Realtors, there’s a lot of competition online, and it can sometimes seem like all the good ideas have been taken. While it’s not necessarily that much of an uphill battle for the average Realtor, a post-modern approach to design can make things more interesting. So what if everything’s been done? You can do it better, taking the best ideas you find for layouts and color schemes, and adding your own touch to bring things to the next level, and avoid copyright theft. If you’re worried your site does look too similar to someone else’s, no problem – just find a good real estate design forum and ask for feedback.
One mistake a lot of Realtors make in their design is trying to force a company logo into a layout where it doesn’t fit. If the logo must be there, make sure it complements the design, or vice versa, to avoid the impression you’ve simply taken a template and added your own image files – this can be a turnoff for web users.
As your site concept takes shape, you’ll also have to figure out how much text to use, particularly on the homepage. For this step, keep in mind what the user might be expecting when they click on a particular page – if it’s a clearly designated information section, they might want a lot, but if it’s the homepage, a few lines that connect with and begin to inform the user might suffice. Also make sure your text styles are consistent, and your headings unique and complementary to the design.
Be careful as well not to try and pack too many features or links onto a single page. Things like map searches, menus, and weather indicators are often popular with users, but they might look awkward and take away from the site’s main focus if they aren’t given enough space. Site navigation bars and buttons should be limited to a couple spots on the page where they always appear, so the user is easily able to orient his or herself.
If you’re a Realtor serious about expanding your market, it’s important to spend time each week making yourself look good on the Internet, and coming up with a good site design is the first step.
