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Print ADS! Overrated and Outdated!

By
Real Estate Agent with Century21 AAIM

$150 for a one time ad in our Knoxville News Senseless(Sentinel)! And this is a corner ad that takes up an 1/8thof the page. For $150 I feel it should include a popup home of the listing in the ad maybe!

In discussing advertising with fellow agents it is amazing to me how much some pay for advertising! Not so much the ads but the lack of prospect tracking that goes with that. Did 20 ppl see it? 100? 1000? Who knows, but you got 2 phone calls, so that is a response right! Maybe in a best case scenario you might get 5 phone calls! Maybe 1 or 2 of those qualify! Hopefully a contract comes from this but if not you are out your $150 and right back where you started.

Not only that but in a newspaper ad lets look at shelf life! Our Sunday paper comes out around 6am. Most ppl have read and recycled by 6pm. That means you had a 12 hour shelf life for your $150 ad. If my public school math is correct that is $12.50 an hr to run that ad! Maybe Im just cheap but HELLO!

So how do you get exposure for your home! If as a Realtor you are not maximizing the internet you will be left with expired listings! Sites such as Realtor.com, Homes.com, MLS.com, Yahoo Real Estate, Real Estate.com, and Craigslist.org make it easy and cheap to get your listing out and have much better feedback!

One last thing to think about is if more and more people move away from print ads the price will get cheaper so if you have a client who insists on print ads they will be less expensive!

Comments (7)

Amanda S
Westfield, IN
I get amazing respone to posting on http://www.craigslist.com , and it's free! 
Apr 04, 2008 04:41 AM
Ken Tracy
Coldwell Banker Residential - Naperville, IL
Helping clients buy and sell since 2005

Hi Richard.  Lot's of ways to advertise.  I wish we had bus stops, so people could sit on my face!

Keep up the good work,

Ken

Apr 04, 2008 04:45 AM
Suzanne Gantner
Realty Texas - Round Rock, TX
GRI, E-Pro, SRES, SRS, ABR, CNE, REDS, CPS, WCS

Include:

Trulia.com/americanhomes.com/here at Activerain, craigslist, realtown.com and on and on.  I don't think many (if any) people go to the paper anymore for home searches.  The internet is way more organized than the hodgepodge of the paper.  Save your money.  It is a proven statistic 68% of buyers start w/the internet.

Apr 04, 2008 04:48 AM
Charles Tharp
Prudential California Realty - Fontana, CA
Inland Empire, Real Estate & Short Sale Specialist

Richard,

I agree to some extent that print ads are a little outdated with the internet, but you can look at it two ways, with the first being yours. My view can be expressed by saying if you pay $150 for an ad, get one good lead out of it and closed (which is easy to do) then you payed $150 for a good, solid lead and made $4,500 or more. That is a 3,000% Return on Investment! Show me a rental property or another investment that makes a 3,000% ROI and I will buy it tomorrow.

Apr 04, 2008 04:48 AM
Nova Shank
Champions Real Estate Services - Seattle, WA
I believe, in what we will achieve.
completely agree print advertising is dead. If 95% present of buyers look on the internet, why print?
Apr 04, 2008 04:58 AM
Chip Jefferson
Gibbs Realty and Auction Company - Columbia, SC
I use net almost exclusively
Apr 04, 2008 04:58 AM
Kona Home Team (LUVA LLC) Lance Owens (RB-24133)
Kona Home Team (luva llc) - Kailua-Kona, HI
2024 Real Estate Expert - Hawaii Island

I did follow up my prospecting from paper ads - I created a dozen different web names - used a different name in every ad - but directed them all to my main website! Amazing the results - I had spent over a $1,000 in one month - had a total of 12 web hits - I had intentionally designed the ads so the buyer would want to get more information and photos from the webpage. I could track what domain forwarded to my main site - I couldn't believe the results??? 12 hits for $1000 - crazy ???

Then I went to free advertising - some of my listings get over 1,000 hits in a month, and I can directly relate over a Half Million dollars in sales - just this year - to my web advertising !

I have not spent a dime in the last year and a half - and guess what - it has been a great year and half !

 

Aloha, and have a great day

 

Lance Owens (RS)

(808) 936-8383

Lance@KonaHomeTeam.com

http://www.konahometeam.com/

Aloha Kona Realty Inc.

78-6740 Alii Drive

 

Apr 04, 2008 05:04 AM