The marketing plan presented by an agent reveals much about their strategic approach to selling your property.
Advertising is not a perfect science and is always constrained by the likely return on investment.
You should consider a minimum spend of $2000 for a four-bedroom family home, which should be sufficient to gain attention across a range of media channels.
Key questions to ask:
- What is your agent’s assessment of the likely buyer profile who will find your home attractive – e.g. your property might be near local schools and therefore be suitable for young families.
- Which media channels are being proposed to target and attract these buyers– e.g. internet portals, social media, email database marketing, agent website, video, flyers, newspapers.
- What is the cost of each channel
- The frequency and time period each channel will be used
- Expected impact of each channel (based on an agent’s previous campaigns for properties similar to yours)
- How the channels combine to achieve maximum impact with target buyer groups
- Projected breakdown of number of potential buyers who will be attracted
Experienced agents know the types of buyer your home might attract and their research and general reading habits. You’ll find that internet listing sites, such as Domain and realestate.com.au, are extremely popular while social media and email marketing can provide complementary channels.
Do not forget the importance to your marketing campaign of quality photography. Your agent will recommend investing appropriately to ensure your home makes a strong impression in any media. Poor quality photography will cruel any marketing campaign.
The marketing plan might be expanded for prestige properties to include a video walk-through, an advertisement in a glossy magazine or newspaper and even a social media campaign that is targeting specific demographics.
Other elements that will support this activity will feature quality signage at the front of the house. For a minimal investment, you may decide to have it lit up at night.
While the desired results can never be guaranteed, it is important you are satisfied that your marketing campaign is sufficient to attract the right type of buyer for your property and limit the time your property will be on the market.