Melissa - Exactly, You have to be smart with your marketing dollars. Whats the return on investment and what's in it for me.  Marketing is essential but wasted money on marketing is a complete waste!  Good post.

If you're only making enough to cover expenses, then things need to be re-evaluated.  There's too many ways to market to throw money after anything with a poor ROI.

I come from a school of spend it as you earn it there is a lot you can do to build tayour business for zero dollars.. Once you have it you need to feel confident in spending it. As you earn it you will learn your target audience spend money in the paths they walk bit just were you think you should

I think the big challenge with any advertising is that most people do not track results so they do not really know what the payoff is or if the advertising is even working.  Another problem is that there are so many ways to spend money that it is hard to really know where the best place is to put those dollars.  What has worked for you?

Melissa, this commonly repeated little gem is one that drives me up a wall. You walk into an office and someone says: I am using this advertising/taking this seminar/subscribing to Realtor.Com Featured-Banner or Special Program/Local newspaper print ad. If I only get one sale it is worth the price!! If businesses operated in that manner, Business Expenses = Business Revenues EQUALS NO NET PROFIT.

Justin - Thank you!  There is just so much money that is wasted.... Paying attention to what is working is important!

Audrey - There are great inexpensive and even free ways to market yourself (can you say blogging?).  Some things just aren't worth the investment, others are amazing!

Eric - ?? Certainly as your income grows your expenditures will.... McDonalds spends a ton of money on advertising, but what is their income?  This is why understanding appropriate percentages is important.  The amount of money may go up, but the % should actually go down over time!

Mel - You can say that again!  Why don't people track this?  My number one marketing tool... newsletters.  I can directly track over $100K in personal sales from them last year.  (I'm a stager, not an REA.)  My cost?  $55/mo.  I think that is pretty good ROI!  I do very little other advertising and stay busy all year long. 

Carolyn - You must have snuck yours in when I was typing.  I'm glad it makes someone else crazy!  We are in this for a profit, right?

We are inundated with marketing promos all the time, one little ad here, another here, on and on, it could cost a fortune.  You really have to have some business knowledge and some common sense to keep it under control.  I think that's why so many business's fail so soon.

Love your post Melissa. So true. You are correct. If its not going to give me a return forget it. I do believe in brand building, but it must be in direct connection with getting a return on my investment. Throwing money at marketing programs or any program that is not giving you a return will run you right into the ground. Kym

Great Post Melissa!  You can spend so much money so quickly! It is really best to go over the numbers first.

Melissa ~ Good points!  I know that I think long and hard before I committ dollars to advertising.  

Melissa - I completely agree with your comments. I've cut my professional memberships down to one that I feel has a return. Like you, the largest return on marketing I've had is my newsletters. It amazes me how long people hang onto them - I've had calls after six months. I sent my March issue out last week and have already booked four jobs directly from the newsletter.

Cindy & Kym -  I agree!  While it is important to make sure your clients know who you are it isn't necessary to spread out your marketing dollar too wide.  Often targeted marketing - knowing your demographics - is a much better plan.  Even then you need to be careful not to overspend!

Tanya - There are some things that we will invest in that will not provide a direct return, but they are done for the purpose of building a relationship with a specific group that will provide the returns in the long run.  We shouldn't underestimate the power of relationships when taking the equations into mind... (not so much directed at you, but your comment made me think about it)

Kathy - That is never a bad idea.  Just make sure you don't hold onto the dime so hard that you miss the dollar!

Lynn - Yeah, newsletters are definately the biggest bang for the buck for us.  It educates and provides information they want to utilize.  It shows them our work and what other agents think about us (testimonials).  It is the perfect advertising. 

Great information Melissa. Thanks so much for sharing and for the links.

Melissa:  I'm coming up on my one-year Staging anniversary, and am reviewing all my expenses, both start-up (classes, stationary) and on-going (insurance, memberships).  My business has come from physically putting myself out there, networking, referrals, and ActiveRain.  I'm dropping the directory, expos, and maybe a membership.  Advertising makes no sense to me.  Thanks for the heads-up!  Julie

Hey Melissa, hope your doing well.  We have found that our best marketing results have came from things that are free but priceless.  The ones that cost you only your time.  News paper articles, Magazine articles, TV segments, AR-SIF, Press Releases, Referrals from Realtors (In print, to clients, to other Realtors).  Closely behind that are results from such things as sending RES's to Realtors & Builders, being involved with organizations such as RESA or SH.Com, these are very in-expensive in the scheme of things.  The higher priced efforts like news paper adds or Magazine adds have never worked well for us.   The point of your post is what needs to be focused on here. Regardless of what you would like to do.  Choose wisely, it may make you feel good to have an advertisement in the most popular and stylish magazine in your city, however if you spend $2,000 for an ad and it brings you $200 worth of business, then you would have been better off getting a tub of ice cream for $5.00.  That would have made you feel good also at a much lower cost ratio.  Just my experience on the subject.

In real estate people have to learn there is a fine line to walk on what to spend advertising on and where not to do it.  We have to make sure we do not go over our budgets.  Sometimes this knowledge comes from trial and error.

Melissa- I struggle with this ALL the time! It's very hard for me to admit that something isn't working, when I have put so much money into it. BUT, I am getting better, because some of my marketing efforts have started to show real results, so now I think I can recognize the difference. If all else fails, my honey (my VOR) is always ready to step in to look at my marketing objectively, and steer me in the right direction! Thanks for the great post!

Ginger - Thank you!  I hope they are helpful.... There is a lot of information to glean off of them!

Julia - I think overall that is part of the message.  This is a service oriented business.  Most of our business should be referral and relationship based - much like REAs.  Expensive advertisng is not needed!

Gary - Well said!  We do like to advertise in areas such as Agent events that do not necessarily earn a direct return, but it is part of the branding and education factor.  We do hear from new clients that they saw us there, or were familiar with us so they called us first.  We consider those relationship building - supporting the agents.  Overall though, our marketing is direct and/or face to face.

DeAndrea - Setting a budget is foreign to so many.... staying within it would be great as well!

Print advertising is effective for an continuing an established, and ongoingawareness campaign.  For the new business, print (magazine or newspaper) is not the best media buy, and print media, rarely leads directly to increased sales. 

The response on direct mail is less than 2%, with only a portion of that turning into business.

Trade shows have been a very effective marketing tool.  For example: here in Katy TX home stagers had no presence.  Thus, when we did our first trade show, folks walked by, and wondered what 'home staging' was/is.  This year, people stopped, knew what home staging was, and had stories to tell about how they saw our yard sign (another great piece of advertising) on a 'for sale' property.

Active Rain advertising has delivered over 25,000 views of my company logo, in less than two weeks.  My investment was only $150.  Through my other website I am able to track the date, time, and interests of those who click on.   From there, I'm gathering information so that I can place my Active Rain advertisement at the time of the month that is most active.

In my humble opinion, your web site needs to be on the first page of a Google search for Home Stagers in your town!   An easy way to do this, is to name your website (for example) www. Houstonhomestaging.net.  The name of the website doesn't have to be the name of your company.  However, naming your website in a fashion that attracts your target market will inexpensively reposition your site in a Google search.  When supported by blogging on Active Rain you move quickly to the front of the pack!

Rarely does advertising or media exposure develop into instant dollars.  It's purpose is to keep your name front and forward, so that when the client needs your service, your contact information is only a click away. Remember, most folks won't click more than three times, so if you can't find you on the internet, your clients won't find you either.

(Does this guy Tom, ever have a short answer <G>)

Elaine - Things like newspapers and magazines take a certain amount of time to work.  You cannot just do one or two ads and expect a return.  On the other hand, if you've run an ad for 6 months and you have only gotten a couple of one time jobs, then it's not worth it to continue.  Now if you've done an ad for 6 months and gotten a few long term clients (perhaps agents who provide multiple jobs) then you can be sure it is worth it. 

Tom - I was answering Elaine when you were writing apparently.... trying to keep up here... lol!

I agree with everything you said!  Our local company website is www.RedesigningCharleston.com and we are almost always number 1 - if not number one then definately #2 or #3, usually it depends on the search engines.  Our national website, www.stagingandredesign.com is always in the top 5 locally, and it varies in search engines on a national level. 

Needless to say I'm an active blogger - this blog was #202 I think. 

Hi Melissa -

Great post as usual. I think next to blogging and getting your name to come up in the search engines that the newsletters are a great idea. I've been doing them and have had pretty good success when sending them to people I've already worked with or met in person but when I send them to REA's that I haven't met only about 22% open the e-mail. Where do you get the names for your newsletter mailing list and what is the percentage of opened mail that you usually see? 

Melissa:

Had it not been for fate I would have been Charleston Home Staging.   We had the house picked, we had the interviews nailed, we had a plan, and then........... well here I am in Houston.

Now, if you could just stage me some fried green tomatoes, and ship them in a sawgrass basket, I'll reciprocate by sending some heat and humidity <G>

Good post!

Kelly - I think that 22% is actually a pretty good percentage.  I had to go to CC to get our numbers becaues honestly I don't pay that much attention to them.  Numbers by themselves mean nothing without actually getting the business.  We get the business, so again numbers become secondary..... our open rate is 31.6% (which is nearly 400 agents monthly opening) and 12.8% opens (Which is around 40 agents).  That is not bad every single month! 

If an agent emails us, phones us or gives us a business card we add them to the list.  We probably add 20-40 new agents every month and get about 2-3 opt outs a month.  We virtually never have spam reports (maybe 1 every 6 months or so). 

I do love tracking the opens.  I'm always impressed that one of the big 3 (owners) of the largest company in our area opens our newsletter every month!  The head of their training department does also.  That is information you definately want to know! 

Tom - Too bad you didn't move here, we could be staging buddies!  I do have a team member in the Austin area, but that's not close to Houston is it?  (I don't know my TX geography, sorry!)

Right now I would take the heat and humidity in return.  We are off to our beach cabin today & while I am looking forward to the bon fire tonight, I think the beach is a bit chilly in 68 degree weather!  I'm sure my northern friends would disagree though....

Melissa: Very clearly stated and informative. I get lots of offers to advertise and am often weighing the value of "should I" or "shouldn't I". In my market, there are a very high number of potential clients searching for home stagers on Google and other search engines. So I have found that my money is best spent on SEO and improving my rankings. However, I get my best advertising by blogging on AR and being listed in the RESA directory (www.realestatestagingassociation.com) and the HSR & ASHSR directory (www.homestagingresource.com) . AR is free, and the membership fees for both those other organizations are relatively low for the value they provide.

Michelle - I'm not a member of ASHSR but of course the others would apply for me.  I think that a good website is extremely important and then the rankings behind it.  We regularly check ours and find we are always at the top (locally).  The lowest I've seen us in some time is #5, but that was before AR I think.  AR does do a great job of keeping rankings up!