Marketing Tips For Tougher Marketplaces

28 April – MARKET COMMENTARY, REAL ESTATE, TIPS FOR SELLERS

Every 7 to 10 years we have a market change in Auckland (New Zealand). These are cyclical periods typically characterised by an extended length of growth followed by a short trough or stages of consolidation of prices with lower demand. More simply put, times of price realignments from over-inflated levels. Often these cycles are exacerbated or can be brought on by other events such as market crashes, government and policy changes, international economic pressure and more recently a pandemic.

The timeframes between troughs also known as “buyer’s markets” have historically been between one to three years.

For any career real estate agent, this means they will find themselves working within 5 to 9 years of tougher or harder market climates where many people still need to transact property.

Competition between properties and sellers to compete for buyer interest is at its peak through these periods and effectiveness in these environments can make all the difference in securing a good sale result or not.

Here are some tips that could help you come out on top and before similar homes in your area do.

Bigger is Better

Buyers look to exclude rather than include. A shortlist is what they are aiming to create. Small advertisements or properties at the bottom of searches are always the last to get on the shortlist.

Size is more important in ensuring you get seen and more so than the frequency of advertisement. The only exception to this rule is with social media where the frequency is the winner.

Dare to Be Different

You need to stand out. Equally good or bad marketing can have a similar result. The key is to stand out from the competition and be remembered even if for the wrong reasons. Look at the advertising platforms you will be using and look at the competition. Look to differentiate to get cut through and a reason to stay on the shortlist. This can be done in the advertising copy, title headings, photo choices, and method of sale used. Look at all and every way to separate yourself from the pack and then commit to the plan to succeed.

Digital Baby

In today’s modern real estate environment you have to embrace where people want to view a property. Then own it. Sometimes it is not about being on every platform available but looking at a big profile and good cut through on the main places people are looking and in a format that suits them. Landing pages that work well on phones and mobiles devices, tablets etc is where it is. Look to create advertising streams that can feed to one landing place where you can manage the content and enquiries.

Sell the Sizzle not the Sausage

When offering a product to entice people to engage, the key is to wet the appetite and sell the sizzle. Get enough info and marketing out there to grab their interest but not enough to have that interest assess the entire property from afar without more commitment to come and view. For example, don’t have 50 photos so they can find the 5 that may turn them away from deciding to view. Have the 10 or 15 or at most 20 of the best photos and just enough information to tell them if it suits their needs. If you just give enough then the viewings will occur. Rule of thumb is to start with less and then add more where necessary. Trust me, the buyers will tell you if you don’t have enough as the enquires will be higher to qualify the details you are missing to represent in the advertising.

Momentum of Positivity

Don’t give everything up at the marketing level. Focus on the main attributes the property offers. Its features, advantages and benefits. Don’t list all the small and additional features that won’t impact the total decision but are nice surprises for the buyer to find upon viewing.

There is nothing worse than a buyer viewing a property after being drawn in from the marketing to find that the home is not up to expectation and there is nothing left to get excited about.  This takes them from a positive point of committing to a physical viewing to leaving the property feeling underwhelmed. It is about creating positive momentum. The aim is to create a buyer’s interest at the marketing level, and when they see it in person it lives up to the marketing and then a little more. This will leave them more interested and excited and a positive reason to go home to discuss the property further. This positive momentum makes it easier to transition buyers from browsing to buying to securing the property.

Dress the Marketing Up with Bells and Whistles

I don’t mean put tinsel on the signboard and stuff like that, yet {cringing} I have seen this done. What I am suggesting is get the advertising features that dress up the details about what the property offers and sell those features, advantages and benefits. Get the floor plans. Both in 2D (birds-eye) and 3D. Some people are not spatially aware and with 2D alone struggle to understand how a home flows and how they can use the spaces or see the benefits in them. Do aerial photography so that people can get a true sense of the boundaries, grounds, nearby parks, beaches, schools, bus routes, parking and amenities. Video, if done well (not focused on making the profile for the agent), for the right property and more specifically the right target market is good but don’t fall into the trap of too much information again resulting in people not needing to view the property in person.

Invest in Browser Market places

On and off looking or buyers who browse property are a large part of the market place. Often they have looked but didn’t see anything they liked so have given it a break. The need for a change isn’t large enough yet to force them to make a move, or what they are looking for is quite specific/unique that it only comes up rarely and they may not see it during the short durations they are actively looking. This is where new platforms of social media marketing or google re-marketing can work its magic. A good algorithm-based service or google marketing service can help you reach these masses of untapped opportunities. This is also when other media where you can stimulate people who are not active but passive buyers can and should be considered.

Manage the numbers (create social pressure)

Managing buyer activity is important. Buyers are more hesitant and nervous, therefore need to see social proof for confidence. Open homes are great in showing groups and often provide this social proof but if numbers are low then you need to compact your viewing envelopes to ensure the same environment for success is present. Alternatively move to buyer viewings where people cannot judge the level or lack of interest and make sure you / your agent books viewings at the same time or back to back so people are aware that other buyers are still there and that they are in competition for the property.

Cross-collateral properties

Whether you want to call it piggybacking, riding the coat tales or just being easily accessible when similar opportunities are being presented to buyers, the awareness of similar competition on the market and how they can help or hinder you is important.

Agents or agencies that have a large inventory of similar homes in the area you are selling in would ensure a larger buyer network and more chances of referral of your property to buyers. We call this cross-collateral selling.

Don’t get overly excited as albeit beneficial, cross-collateral selling of surrounding housing stock is only if that buyer isn’t interested and exhausted on the property they viewed initially.

What should be considered is how can you position yourself against other homes in the area so you get more cross-collateral benefit. Firstly you need to assess how you compare unbiasedly.

1. If your home is better, your open homes should be at similar times to the surrounding competition. This will help accentuate the fact you are superior and if you are looking at Auction or other non-price, set sale date market methods, then you should absorb a-lot of their interest to first exhaust themselves competing for your home before theirs.
2. If your home is not better, separate yourself in open home times or viewings. You have to be more aggressive with your advertising, make sure you tell people you are great buying as you represent better value for money than all the other surrounding properties on the market.

When selling in these more challenging climates there are opportunities for great successes.

“If you drill down on any success story, you always discover that luck was a huge part of it. You can’t control luck, but you can move from a game with bad odds to one with better odds.” Scott Adams