Sometimes good news comes wrapped in bad news. Such was the case last week when three major
This was due in great part to lower classified advertising sales, which were caused by the downturn in the residential real estate market. Overall, classified revenue at Tribune fell nearly 14%; at New York Times it slid 11.6%; while Gannett saw a drop of 3%. Classified revenue from real estate advertising was down 15% at Tribune, 13.3% at New York Times and 1.5% at Gannett.
These developments are in sharp contrast to the past ten years during which real estate related ad revenues for print media grew from $2.6 billion to $4.6 billion, which accounts for eight percent of newspaper revenues.
This news is obviously bad for the newspaper industry. Print industry experts are suggesting that the trend is temporary and that when the market comes back so will classified revenues. That is probably an inaccurate assumption. When the market returns newspapers will find that much of the lost revenues are due to a significant shift in brokerage marketing practices. Brokers and consumers are now committing to the Internet.
This then, is the good news. The American real estate broker has turned the corner on classified advertising and is now reinvesting marketing dollars in Internet resources and exposure. This movement is coming none to soon as experts, including ad consultancy Classified Intelligence, now place home buyer Internet participation at over 80% with newspapers falling further behind in every survey.
As one travels across the country the first evidence of this new direction can be seen in the efforts brokers are making to ensure that every dollar invested in print advertising and bill boards drives consumers to their websites.
Recent research also discloses that real estate websites are becoming more and more consumer centric. Super graphics, video, color and unique content are creating greater consumer draw. Brokerage websites are following this trend and garnering an increasing share of the hit traffic.
Brokerages are also making great strides in efforts to educate home sellers relative to what marketing techniques will be most successful in selling their home. Dan Elsea, President of Real Estate One, recently talked about his company’s successful efforts in this direction at the Real Trends Gathering of the Eagles conference. He pointed out that when presented with a compelling and well-documented argument today’s consumer becomes Internet driven.
The challenge, of course, is to keep these brokerage marketing trends moving in the right direction. The Internet is a very fluid and fast moving environment. The key to winning the challenge is for broker owners, broker managers and brokerage marketing executives to keep up to speed on what they need to be doing to drive marketing success on the Internet.
At the very least brokers should be conversant with the following:
· Internet developments relative to real estate. As a start check out realtytimes.com and inmannews.com every day. It only takes five minutes to read the headlines.
· Search Engine Marketing (
· The appropriate use of keywords and adwords as a tool to attract consumer hits
· How landing pages can increase the effectiveness of a website when consumers finally arrive
· What is the acceptable ‘return on investment metrics’ relative to Internet marketing – How many clicks to how many closings
· What conversion rates are the most successful real estate Internet marketers currently generating – It is much better than you may think
· How real estate oriented blogs, RSS distributions or pod casts can help a brokerage be more successful on the Internet
· What “mashups,” “widgets,” and “meta-tags” is your website incorporating to enhance the consumer experience
· What “pay per click” and referral programs are generating the highest return on investment for real estate brokerages
· How successfully are the brokerage leads being distributed on the Internet to such search engines and portals as Trulia.com, Google.com, craigslist.com, and Oodle.com
· The brokerage’s use of Googlebase, Point2 and ListHub technologies
· What ramifications do social networking resources such as secondlife.com, myspace.com and facebook.com have for real estate marketing
Some brokers who review the above items may immediately discount them as being too “technical.” Others may refer them to their technical staff. Both of these responses miss the point.
No one is suggesting that brokers have to become technical experts. However it is critically important that responsible executives have the knowledge necessary to carry out a conversation on the subject.
In the classified world brokers were not experts on printing technologies and newspaper distribution but they probably understood the basics of ad placement, ad appeal, circulation statistics and what day to spend the money. The above Internet related items are no more sophisticated or technical than knowing on what day to place your classified ad.
Another common mistake is to rely solely on the “in house” technical staff when making decisions about the effective use of Internet marketing resources. Competency with Internet technology is no more relevant to Internet marketing than understanding how to tune up a paper carrier’s car is to print marketing.
Internet marketing today is a freestanding area of expertise. Based upon recent research regarding the potential financial returns it would seem that this is an area in which an investment in expertise will more than meet the firm’s return on investments standards.
Keep up the good work American broker. You are on a winning streak. Continue to make your way into the Internet mainstream. This is a fast moving stream. So enjoy the ride and, most of all, relish the profits.
