theFrontSteps - San Francisco » real estate marketing

No Need To Be Subtle, Begging Works: “Clients Want Offer”

thefrontsteps — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:49:56 +0000

Whether it’s an “extremely motivated client”, or an extremely motivated agent, it’s the new age of real estate marketing…begging…and in San Francisco it’s here to stay.

It’s about time we quit being subtle and get to the point.

-367 31st Ave, 3 bedroom, $1,195,000 [property website]
-13 Ways To Say The Same Thing: Bring Me An Offer [theFrontSteps.com]

Real Estate Agents…Spare Us The Mugshot

thefrontsteps — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 13:33:55 +0000

Zillow provides us with raw data to back up the fact that your image does nothing to sell you, or the home. But it does make for a damn good Sexiest Realtor contest.

From Zillow’s Blog:

Zillow makes money by selling ads on the site. But, to be a successful media company, we need to make sure our customers are realizing success with their ads. To help our customers do this, it is important to look at what the best-performing ads look like, and the lowest performing, because ad content is crucial to performance. Actually, these findings can apply broadly to any advertising campaign, not just those on Zillow.

The #1 takeaway:

LISTING ADS PERFORM A LOT BETTER (in terms of “click-throughs”) THAN AGENT HEAD SHOT ADS.

Observations from the Top 50 ads on Zillow:

-100% were ads for listings
-45 of 50 ads were an exterior home shot, 3 were interior, 2 were aerials
-42 of the ads mentioned a specific area (neighborhood, city or address)
-8 central messages revolved around Short Sale, Foreclosure or price reduction
-2 were Open House ads
-0 photos were renderings (illustrations), all were actual photos
-0 ads promoted a specific person, business or brand
-22 of the ads had a specific price visible
-7 had a phone number visible
-50 had photos that were taken on a sunny day

Observations from the Bottom 20 ads on Zillow:

18 of the ads promoted an agent/broker/brand
1 did not have a photo (and no clicks)
1 had some type of call-to-action on the ad

There you have it. The mugshot does nothing, the public wants details about the real estate, not how you look or whether you’re a “Top Producer”. We vote to remove agent mugshots from all marketing in the future on all media. You with us?

-Why are Realtors so arrogant and such assholes [theFrontSteps]

Realtors Take Note: Real Estate Marketing Report Card Is Here

thefrontsteps — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 12:51:50 +0000

Real Estate technology is absolutely booming (judging by the daily emails we get pitching new products), and every so often we come across something clever enough to post and share with you. This application (website) is definitely not something that is going to change the world of real estate (we’ve been known to be wrong), but it is certainly something useful for both Realtors and their clients (if nothing else it’s kinda fun).

Didn’t pass your G.E.D with flying colors? Now is your chance to get straight A’s on your “Real Estate Marketing Report Card“. Transparency at its finest.

Since we know you’ll look, we scored an “A” for 241 7th Ave, and a “B+” for 469 Clipper, which is odd, because they’re marketed identically. Anyone else care to give it a go?

-Real Estate Marketing Report Card