Traditional Vs On Line Marketing – The Big Disconnect
I was chatting today to a number of real estate agents in Mackay in Qld and in discussions after my presentation, up came the old chestnut of press vs on line and how much is or should be, invested by real estate agents in either medium. Well it got me thinking about a recent Yahoo survey of on line real estate users in the US and a snapshot of that survey is outlined here for you:
The biggest disconnect of the study is that real estate agent’s advertising budgets and consumer preferences are still far out of line. 77 percent of respondents searching online for real estate versus 34 percent using print media with print media still receiving the largest share of real estate agent’s advertising budgets
The NAR also found that the more experienced a real estate agent is, the more likely they are to advertise aggressively on the net, whilst the less experienced agents will focus on more traditional means.
Just recently in one of my sessions on SEO, I highlighted some interesting stats on the volume of searches conducted on Google for real estate in July 2008, and there was an increase in the search volume for the on line portals. This means that whilst the market may have slowed the volume of searching taking place actually increased during this period, more people searching on line more often.
So then why would any agent cancel or wind back their on line presence at the very time that searching on line is increasing!
Now is the time to make sure that you focus on increasing what you do on line and embrace new communication tools such as Blogging, Vlogging and Podcasting and add video to your listings. Invest in an office video profile and use this to market yourself and your team. In a previous post I mentioned how video is portable content and you can upload it to Facebook, Myspace and Youtube as well as the main portals. Controlling the on line space in your area should be a prime consideration in any business plan. If you don’t know how to do this, send me a comment and I’ll show you how. With 80% Internet penetration in Australia and another 17% predicted on line in the next 12 months, on line real estate search volumes will continue to grow, so my advice to you in spend more of your budget on line and start to maximise your exposure in this medium. It will generate far more leads for you and your client than press will.
I have to thank Marguerite Foxall from domain.com.au in Victoria for sending to me the following link to a very interesting video. Please enjoy and if you need help, let me know!!!!
http://www.retechblog.com/2008/08/so-marketing-yourself-online-isnt.html
Listen to this post as a Podcast:
Traditional Vs On Line Marketing – The Big Disconnect
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[...] one week of starting their search. Mike has alot of interesting post, you can view these at: http://mikeandrewrealestate.wordpress.com/2008/09/01/traditional-vs-on-line-marketing-the-big-discon... [...]
Mike,
Glad you enjoyed the video. I thought it was easier if everyone could see a visual that explains how important online marketing can be.
-Matt Rains
RETechBlog.com
RealEstateTechnologyOnline.com
Info@ReTechBlog.com
Perfect article! I’ll be using this with my clients to help educate them. Thanks Mike
Mike I enjoyed your seminar in Mackay this morning. I found it fascinating and am keen to put your recommendations into practice.