Traditional vs Online advertising

[stepej]

My thoughts...

Drop the printed ads to a page & use it to push the virtues of concentrating your efforts 'online'... perhaps include a simple list of properties with a QR code so people can get the property details on their mobile

Most people, old as well as young realise that most viewings are generated through rightmove, zoopla, etc (and the good old for sale board - although not so much in your price bracket)

If the papers have an online edition, banner ads there may work well for you

I wouldn't 'absolutely cover rightmove' in ads for your agency, it can be off-putting if you end up being too in-your-face

Make sure your own website is up to scratch

[beko1987]

jamescodriver said:

Where i'm based its only now that the big agents are starting to reduce their paper spend, its always been with the "if we are not in it then the others will tell vendors" attitude, nobody buys through the paper, its just branding (and with where we are willy waving: "We've got 8 pages to their 6 pages" type of stuff.

Why not price up your own "paper", delivered to the people you want to target once a month, A3 folded, printed on nice paper with articles as well as "house of the month etc", what are property prices doing in the area? would you like a valuation? its "small village" fayre this weekend dont forget etc etc.

Have that delivered on a solo basis to the postcodes you want to target,

Postal sectors, not postal codes. Be careful of delivering 3/4 of your advertising outside of your target area, unless whatever company you use does distribution to a micro sector level

But responses are never great for estate/letting agents and doordrops. Treat it as a brand awareness exercise and you wont be disappointed. Expecting to get 5 leads for every 1000 items delivered will let you down.

[the prescotts]

FrankAbagnale said:

the prescotts said:

If you are concerned about losing your local presence by reducing your press ads maybe something on the side of bus would make sure your competitors couldn't suggest you were on the decline.



Right move is so vital for any estate agents but don't discard traditional media totally, just look at Compare The Market. They are the leaders in the insurance game and have enjoyed figures as startling as 400% increases when they introduced us to the meerkats but lets not forget that we all met the meerkats on traditional media, encouraging us to find them online.

I think my local market place and target demographic wouldn't see bus advertising as "classy". Houses £1m to £15m. I think buses, petrol pumps, beer mats, receipts etc would not be the best way to promote ourselves.

What do these jokers know about flogging houses?



This old geezer is clueless when it comes to business and marketing, bet he wishes he could afford one of your "classy" houses

[FrankAbagnale]

To my knowledge, zoopla have never sold a house and have a target demographic of every homeowner/buyer in the UK and Sir Alan is advertising a £9.99 book that you probably get half price if you buy a mars bar.

One of us is missing the point! It could very well be me but I still don't think it would be right for me to advertise on a bus.

[FrankAbagnale]

As an update, I think I am going to keep the 2 page presence in the local paper and also take the additional Rightmove packages. Review the increase in business and consider dropping the paper in 6 months if results are strong.