The SBA and the US Dept of Commerce both acknowledge signage as vital and effective forms of advertising.  For those us marketing property, those signs can be at the property; directional signage leading to the property, outdoor signage using billboards, signage at local sports teams, signage at nearby schools, and signage using other venues around the neighborhoods surrounding your property. The more prominent, clearer, and simpler the signs are for your property the better.

Did you know that very often your local Department of Transportation will have traffic information for bigger roads, such that you can assess which corner is the better one for a sign.  Similarly, the folks selling billboard advertising will have traffic counts for wherever their billboards are located.

Another point about signage is that while the coloring may speak to your company’s logo, the size of the sign and the material it’s printed on can illustrate a level of luxury or economy such that many inquiring phone calls can be avoided.  Equally, a well-designed sign can set the tone for a building or neighborhood, adding one more arrow in your marketing quiver.

We know that most buyers want to “move in on Friday, unpack on Saturday, and go to work on Monday”.  This is why new construction always trumps “pre-owned”.  

I wrote an article a year ago about competing against new construction.  You’re welcome to read the whole thing  However, I believe the key points were - 

1. Mint Condition 
2. Updated Lighting (Recessed lighting, and halogen make such a difference to the feeling of a home)
3. Warranty (so, try Certified Pre-owned, works for the car people)
4. Layout designed for the Modern Lifestyle (Family Rooms off the kitchen, smaller Living rooms, bigger Master Bedrooms since the 2 people who are paying for the home have to share a room.)
5. The Smell of New Construction (not bottled yet, but so tempting – cedar, oil, paint as opposed to dust,mold, perspiration, rotting food, odd recipes that were likely ill-advised at best! etc.)
6. Special Spaces (an office, a den, a wrapping room – often new homes have quirky areas that are ideal for our more regimented, overly scheduled lives today.)
7. The Green Card (energy saving appliances, windows, etc.)

Of all of these, lighting and smell rank the highest for me in terms of what can be done inexpensively for H-U-G-E impact!  Smell or scent is so important in the selling of a property – home buying may look like it’s about numbers but when it comes right down to it, it’s the emotional pull that causes a particular property to be the one that’s chosen.  When thinking about emotions – the 5 senses come into play.  Smell being one of the more obvious ones at play.

There are lots of options to change the various aromas of your house: from cleaning the carpets, the curtains and upholstery to relocating the pets and plugging in an anti-allergen odor diffuser.  I love the essential oils that are used in aromatherapy, and they do create a luxurious feel but one needs to be careful that it’s a universally appealing aroma as opposed to something pungent and distinctive.  (My husband hates cinnamon for example, whereas my girlfriend, Karen, links orange with strong cleaning products and won’t tolerate it.  So be careful!)

As to lighting ~ a brightly lit home feels so much more cheerful and alive than one with no overhead fixtures and a few hardworking dreary 60 watt bulbs on standard lamps on the corners.  Gloomy = depressing.  I can’t emphasize how important this is.

And do we have to go over the Mint Condition thing again?  Want people to back bid during Inspections?  Fix stuff so you can go to market with confidence and walk tall!

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Here’s a good beginning answer from “Newlywed“: The primary way agents locate potential properties is through the MLS. Unfortunately, because you’re not an agent, you don’t have that ability. You can try Craigslist, local newspapers (local ones are generally more effective than big regional ones), fliers, posters, postcards, and notices. Word of mouth is also effective.

To which we would add, in many markets you can list your property on the local MLS for a fee.  In our market, that fee is $450.  Each MLS runs independently and vary quite considerably.

And then the following social media sites:-

• Facebook
• Squidoo
• Twitter
• Trulia
• Zillow

in that order… and then you might use Slideshare to make a moving slide show of your home and post that to various video sides like YouTube and Vimeo.

Lots of options to get the word out, when marketing your property yourself.  And then you might offer a commission of some sort to the buyer’s agent… because they will be doing a ton of work for you in terms of getting paperwork processed in a timely manner so that their buyer actually gets the home!

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Sincere thanks to my buddy, Joe Ferrara for bringing a new study from Michigan State University  into the real estate space for the rest of us to gnaw on.  It meshes with an article I wrote over a year ago on tailoring your workstyle to fit Gen and Y when trying to help them buy or sell a house.  They – Gen X and Y are quite different from Boomers, and the next generation – the Millennials are different again!  For now, let’s take a top-down look at consumers in general. 

MSU researchers have identified the 4 most important desires of today’s consumer when making a buying decision.

“Consumers say they want a “total experience”  - the totality involves these 4 factors, in this order of importance:

1.  Benefit (what’s in it for me?)

2.  Convenience (easy and readily available)

3.  Price (both the dollar amount and cost in terms of time – time is money).

4.  Environment (does the shopping environment – online or offline – stimulate, entertain, motivate a consumer to buy)”

Although the study was done on the hotel industry, there are obvious correlations for other businesses.  As a researcher said “Consumers’ desire for the total experience does not change in a recession… although they may modify one or more of the factors”.

When preparing a property for sale sellers (and their realtors) need to keep these factors in mind.

Benefit:  Does the home clearly illustrate the opportunity it presents?  Does it look like it’s a great value?

Convenience:  Can the buyers get in to see the home at a moment’s notice?  Is the place easy to show?  How much warning do the sellers have to have and what about that dog?

Price: Back to value – does the home look like it’s worth the money it’s asking?

Environment:  What is the Walkscore of the property?  How much fun is the house to explore?  Are there cool things to look at and imagine how they’d fit for you as you walk around the place?  How motivated are viewers — i.e.  back to value – is it priced well, so well that it apears to be such a great value it won’t last….

Hmmm, back to value, again, do you notice?

Bottom line, today more than ever, is this notion of value.  A property for sale must, must, MUST be priced and presented so that the value is OBVIOUS!

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You know that both buyers and sellers check out realtors online before they meet one.

You know you have to master this online thing… over and above putting your property listings on Realtor.com, Trulia, Zillow and whereever else the Office Manager has organized.

The online piece of property marketing is as much about the listings and properties you have to promote as it is about branding yourself, your service and your expert status in your zipcode (s).

Later posts will go into more detail.  Along this journey, it will be important to remember the same 3 words of encouragement Alex Perriello, CEO of Realogy, offered about the ridiculously tough Spring Market of 2009:

Be positive, proactive and persistent!

Keep at it.  Small steps, every day, and in a short period of time (way faster than advertising) you will see results.

Keep a positive, open outlook.  This stuff works, and it’s how the kids want to do business.  If we want to help them we have to come over to their space to do it.  You’ve heard the old saying – if you want to fish, go where the fish are?  

Building a platform for the social media piece of Property Marketing takes time.  Not a lot of money.  But time.

Stick with it, and you will reap the rewards!

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Property marketing has changed, thanks to the internet.  Because anyone can research houses for sale, with or without a realtor, the way properties look becomes of the most important factor.  Therefore, to successfully market property, it must be conditioned (prepared), styled (primped) and placed online artfully, copiously, everywhere (promoted.)

In the old days, a property was listened in the local MLS and an ad was placed in the newspaper to announce an open house.  If the home was in good condition, the ad said so.  If it was not, that fact was silently reflected in the price.  Those days have gone.

Now, as soon as a house is for sale, it is posted online… with photos.  Those photos are carefully scanned by buyers and agents alike, to assess whether the property is worth taking a look at in real life.

 Just as important as the photos is the data fields:  all need to be filled out since internet searches all work via criteria.  The number of bedrooms, bathrooms, square footage – all vital so that your property comes up in as many search results as possible.

The best way to ace the online promotion piece of marketing property is to get the thing into really good condition.  Finish all the little to-dos that have been hanging around.  Make sure edges and corners are clean and well-defined.  Then style the home that it looks inviting in all of the photos.

This is the case whether you are selling your house by yourself as a For Sale By Owner (FSBO) or whether you’re using an agent.  In either case, the home that is presented best wins the buyer and a higher selling price.

It takes more time to prepare a home to sell in this environment, but the rewards are great.

I encourage you to stop by often for tips, timesavers and best information available from someone in the field of property marketing 24-7.

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