Going pro - the sequel

[unpopular]

So I have given the prospect some thought, and I keep returning to the same ideas: real estate. I was wondering if there is a market for a marketing and advertising firm that specializes in real estate?

I'm familiar with real estate advertising, and realtors. Just kind of thinking out loud here ... I know that they are super busy people, that are asked to do a lot of different tasks - marketing legal, sales, customer service... it takes a special kind of person to be a realtor. Do you think there is enough capital in real estate though to make a business out of taking the day-to-day marketing off their hands - stuff like photography, ad design, flyers and brochures, ad placement, copy, etc off their hands?

I know how realtors can be, too. They REALLY like being on top of things. I'm not sure they'd ever really trust someone else to handle this. I've looked around a little for real-estate-oriented marketing firms, but I haven't found much.

Should I focus more on design (print/web) and photography, and less on a full service consulting firm?

Any thoughts?

 

[tirediron]

I suppose that depends on your area. In a city like Los Angeles or Toronto where they are listing multi-million dollar homes, perhaps, but in the "avearage" area, I'm not so sure. I routinely look at real estate photos while waiting in line for the banking-machine and almost without exception, they're shot with inexpensive P&S cameras and little concern for anything other than give you a rough idea of what the house/room looks like. In my area at least, almost all realtors work for one of a half-dozen national syndicates, and the syndicate office provides all of the routine administrative stuff.

 

[panblue]

What do you do at the moment?

 

[runnah]

So I have given the prospect some thought, and I keep returning to the same ideas: real estate. I was wondering if there is a market for a marketing and advertising firm that specializes in real estate?

I'm familiar with real estate advertising, and realtors. Just kind of thinking out loud here ... I know that they are super busy people, that are asked to do a lot of different tasks - marketing legal, sales, customer service... it takes a special kind of person to be a realtor. Do you think there is enough capital in real estate though to make a business out of taking the day-to-day marketing off their hands - stuff like photography, ad design, flyers and brochures, ad placement, copy, etc off their hands?

I know how realtors can be, too. They REALLY like being on top of things. I'm not sure they'd ever really trust someone else to handle this. I've looked around a little for real-estate-oriented marketing firms, but I haven't found much.

Should I focus more on design (print/web) and photography, and less on a full service consulting firm?

Any thoughts?

I would do a sit down with several agents and identify shortfalls of their advertising efforts. This way you might find a glaring problem.

 

[CCericola]

It also depends on if the realtor is backed by a nationwide real estate company. A real estate agent that has joined companies like Remax, Century21, etc... They get free/deeply discounted marketing materials from the parent company. They do, however, need to get the photos done for themselves. Check out small, independent realty companies. They would be easier to handle then a national account that hires a large ad agency. Is it possible, yes. And you don't have to limit yourself to just people in your area. I have several design clients that I have never met in person as they are in different states all together.

 

[unpopular]

I have several years experience with real estate advertising, I worked in the real estate department at a regional newspaper in northern, CA. Even the nation-wide companies offer only limited marketing materials, things like logos, artwork, stylesheets etc. But still, they rely on over-taxed newspaper art departments a lot. Of course, basic design services usually come with newspaper advertising - so there is an expense involved with my proposed service - one which they are not accustom to.

I would be doing this in a part of the state with lots of high-dollar real estate. I can't imagine that this would be worth the while for any property too much under the $1 million mark. If there is enough property to support the business is another thing I need to consider. No matter, my service area though would include a pretty wide region, and that's something I'd have to consider as well when pricing.

Still though. There's a LOT of stuff involved with real estate advertising. Ad placement alone is a huge hassle, especially if you're placing in multiple publications. Plus, the design staff at these publications are very limited, and that makes it very hard to stand out.

 

[runnah]

I have several years experience with real estate advertising, I worked in the real estate department at a regional newspaper in northern, CA. Even the nation-wide companies offer only limited marketing materials, things like logos, artwork, stylesheets etc. But still, they rely on over-taxed newspaper art departments a lot. Of course, basic design services usually come with newspaper advertising - so there is an expense involved with my proposed service - one which they are not accustom to.

I would be doing this in a part of the state with lots of high-dollar real estate. I can't imagine that this would be worth the while for any property too much under the $1 million mark. If there is enough property to support the business is another thing I need to consider. No matter, my service area though would include a pretty wide region, and that's something I'd have to consider as well when pricing.

Still though. There's a LOT of stuff involved with real estate advertising. Ad placement alone is a huge hassle, especially if you're placing in multiple publications. Plus, the design staff at these publications are very limited, and that makes it very hard to stand out.

I could write a book on outdated methods of advertising. Real Estate would be chapter one.

Who is the prime demo? Old retired people or rich young people? Are they measuring ROI? Do they know what ROI is? Are they utilizing social media? Do they measure social media advertising ROI? Are what website they do have formatted for mobile devices?

PM me is you want to get in depth.

 

[The_Traveler]

I'm still waiting for my payment from my one real estate shoot done after guy begged me to do it as a favor.

He got paid his 8-10 k; I'm waiting.

 

[skieur]

Gee, I am out in a village and the real estate advertising is much more sophisticated here. Local paper inserts advertise virtual tours of any house/cottage over an asking price of $400,000. One real estate company creates a web site for each house on the market with their own web address which is the same as that of the house. One agent even uses a medium format Hasselblad with a wide angle lens to create his own panoramas and virtual tours.

skieur

 

[unpopular]

I have several years experience with real estate advertising, I worked in the real estate department at a regional newspaper in northern, CA. Even the nation-wide companies offer only limited marketing materials, things like logos, artwork, stylesheets etc. But still, they rely on over-taxed newspaper art departments a lot. Of course, basic design services usually come with newspaper advertising - so there is an expense involved with my proposed service - one which they are not accustom to.

I would be doing this in a part of the state with lots of high-dollar real estate. I can't imagine that this would be worth the while for any property too much under the $1 million mark. If there is enough property to support the business is another thing I need to consider. No matter, my service area though would include a pretty wide region, and that's something I'd have to consider as well when pricing.

Still though. There's a LOT of stuff involved with real estate advertising. Ad placement alone is a huge hassle, especially if you're placing in multiple publications. Plus, the design staff at these publications are very limited, and that makes it very hard to stand out.

I could write a book on outdated methods of advertising. Real Estate would be chapter one.

Who is the prime demo? Old retired people or rich young people? Are they measuring ROI? Do they know what ROI is? Are they utilizing social media? Do they measure social media advertising ROI? Are what website they do have formatted for mobile devices?

PM me is you want to get in depth.

I agree 100,000% Real estate marketing is typically SO lousy. I understand completely why, realtors have A LOT to deal with. They also tend to be very one-on-one oriented, so I don't really get the impression they completely understand mass media. Unfortunately for their competitors who won't use my service (heehee), marketing strategies typically suffer as a result.

ROI though is what I'm most worried about - so maybe I should be hoping they don't know what ROI is!

 

[ronlane]

I had a guy talk with me about shooting his listings to be included on the MLS system here in Oklahoma. It hasn't panned out yet but I think that there is a market to go shoot houses and stuff for real estate agents out there. It would help them with time management and allow them to do something else besides spend time shooting the house. Couldn't hurt to give it a go.

 

[unpopular]

You know. My thinking is, you look into getting a $20,000 car, and you get a nice booklet with glossy pages and full color photographs.

You look into getting a $4 million house, you get a crappy printout some Hawaiian Punch and Shrimp cocktail (if you're lucky). I think there is room for improvement, the cost of high quality pamphlets and brochures really isn't that much anymore. I just don't know if I can convince people it's worth the investment.

 

[CCericola]

True, but they are selling millions of those 20,000 cars. Bit of a difference.

 

[unpopular]

^^ and that is a BIG difference. I do know that developers produce some REALLY sophisticated material, but, again, they're selling tens or hundreds of units.

Though I am curious what would happen if one realtor started printing higher quality flyers. ATM the bar is set so tremendously low.

 

[amolitor]

With all due respect, I think this is mostly a loser of an idea. I mean, you might sign some agents up and make some money, but you're not going to help them shift houses.

People buy houses based on size, features, location, and price. The high end market is no different. The customer is gonna have some ideas of neighborhoods or areas they want to buy in, and roughly the kind of house they want to buy. Then they're going to drive by every single house that meets those criteria, and walk through any of the potential buys.

Where does a bunch of great photography, or movies, or virtual tours, come in to this process?