Tuesday, March 09, 2010

FOLLOW THE YELLOW BRICK ROAD


In this advertising series I’m stressing the importance of marketing yourself.  Let’s spend a few minutes answering a few questions:

1. You need a new car.  How will you decide to purchase that car?  Ad #1 or Ad #2?


 2. You would like to get married. Will you marry the nice person in Ad #1 or Ad #2?

3.  You need a personal trainer.  Will you hire the person in Ad #1 or Ad #2?

4. You need a new home.  Will you hire the agent in Ad #1 or Ad #2?


Carefully consider why you made the decisions you did in each instance?  I’m assuming you selected Ad #1 in questions 1-3 and probably most of us selected Ad #1 in question #4.  Do you understand your reason for the selections? 

A photo speaks a thousand words.  Cliche I know but so very true.  You can scream “I Sell Homes” from the roof of your office everyday but if you do it wearing a bag over your head then no one will know who you are.  Understand the analogy?  Do you have your photo on each and every piece of marketing and correspondence that leaves your office, right down to your post-it-notes?  If not then email me and I will send you a fresh supply of those brown paper bags. 

If you do have a photo then three cheers for you!  One more question.  Is your photo up-to-date?  Could you be arrested for a bait and switch operation?  You know what I mean!

I’ve contacted realtors before that looked like this on all of the marketing material I saw:

When I arrived at the appointment they looked like this!!








Needless to say my husband and I didn’t "like" any of the homes we were shown and found a reason to cut the appointment short. In my opinion if an agent cannot even post a real photo then what else is she hiding?  I don’t want to know so I’ll find someone else!!!  Get the point?  Keep your photo up-dated.  With today’s high resolution point and shoot digital cameras it is too easy to do. 

Marketing rule of thumb #1:  Create marketing as if you were marketing to yourself.  Would you buy a house from YOU?

Evaluate your marketing, even items that you might not perceive as marketing such as notepads, pens, letterhead, etc.  What is your marketing saying?  What are you marketing?  Are you selling your services or dozens of little tiny houses in an ad?

What are you REALLY selling?


Jeri Winkler, The Secret Assistant, has been working in real estate since 1996. Her expertise includes listing coordination, including advertising. Does your advertising need a boost? Contact Jeri today.

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