by Brian Rodgers
Most advertising tells you how great the company or Realtor paying for the ad is, or how old they are, or how they are # 1 or some other cute and uninteresting facts. Many other real estate advertising is a bunch of boring property ads that generate very few calls.
This is called Institutional Advertising. The way it is used by most people is a pure waste of time. It doesn’t give any good reason for the reader to pick your services over another. It doesn’t make a case for the services you sell.
The way most companies do it, it comes across like this, “Buy from me instead of my competitor, for no other reason except that I say so.”
Don’t Use Institutional Advertising
Institutional advertising doesn’t tell the reader, viewer, or listener what to do.
Do Use Direct-Response Advertising
Direct-response advertising’s very name explains itself. It is designed to get an immediate response — a visit, a call, or a purchasing decision. Direct-response advertising tells a complete story. It presents specific reasons why your company, product, or service is superior as opposed to the mere guesswork and platitudes used in institutional advertising.
Direct-response advertising is salesmanship in print or on T.V. or Radio. It makes a complete case for your company, product, or service. It overcomes sales objections. It answers questions and it promises results, and it backs it all up with a risk-free warranty or money-back guarantee.
Direct-response advertising asks for some kind of action. To call you, e- mail you, fax you or drive to your office to ask for more information. Used properly it can produce tons of superqualified leads. At its best, it gets people to call or buy.
Also, you can figure out the profitability of direct-response ads you run, because it produces an action you can track.
Institutional advertising produces no results you can actually track. If you run institutional ads, STOP NOW, change them to direct-response.
Put information in the ad that’s important to them, not to you.
Give the facts and benefits of your product or service. Tell them about your guarantee. Give them reasons why your products and services are better than your competition.
Important note: When I refer to products in this manual I am referring to the actual “homes” you sell. When I refer to services I am referring to your professional real estate listing or buyer services.
In addition just use simple language they can relate to.
All the prospect cares about is what you can do for them.
How can you improve their situation and save them effort, time and money? How will your product or service improve their life, and why?
Finally, after building a case, tell them exactly what to do.
Tell them how to get to you, who to call, who to ask for, tell them what to do when your assistant or you calls, remind them of your risk- free guarantee, and, most important of all, tell them what they can expect from using your product or service.
Own Your Market
Answer these types of questions and you’ll own your market.
Direct response marketing is the greatest kept marketing secret for real estate professionals.
Why Do My Advertising Reps Like Institutional Advertising?
You can hold them responsible for zero results. If an ad campaign doesn’t increase your market share they blame it on one of the following:
A. The market
B. The Publication
C. The Timing
D. Or they tell you that you need to run these ads that didn’t work over and over again and suddenly they will work.
Advertising agencies and local newspapers are often interested in winning advertising awards. The advertising field gives awards based on creativity not results. Many ads that have won awards never produced any profits for their owners.
Advertising is meant to do one thing and one thing only:
To Get More Clients
Really big businesses can survive with Institutional Advertising like Coca-cola or McDonalds uses. They can afford long-term advertising that creates awareness for their products. Of course they used savvy direct response strategies also like coupons or sales and joint ventures and tons of other methods besides just institutional advertising. If they didn’t they’d go broke.
You probably don’t have the option of this strategy. You can’t afford to waste marketing dollars on ads that don’t pull in immediate business while also building long term business.
Here are some guidelines for your marketing:
· Don’t do anything you can’t track the results from.
· Never run an ad more than 2 or 3 times if it’s not working.
· Don’t get attached to any marketing method.
An ad is only good if it gets results. Period. Don’t fall in love with any ad, letter or campaign until you have tested it and know that it works.
