April 18, 2007
In industry climates like these, we are all afforded a chance to catch our breath and we finally have time to "look under the hood" and really evaluate our best practices in brokerage and individual agent businesses. Many offices within the C-21 system and the business as a whole are looking at expenditures through a new lens, particularly in the area of marketing efforts.
Ask most agents when the last time they got a lead from a newspaper ad was and they won't be able to tell you. Ask them how many calls they've gotten over the past five years from newspaper and I'd be surprised if they could count them on more than one hand.
Folks, here's what most companies won't tell you; newspaper ads are done in large part to a) appease sellers and/or b) attract new recruits. Many offices argue that they have to advertise in local papers because ABC and XYZ companies do(!). Huh?
In our company we believe that there has been an overarching and profound shift in the way brokerage is being carried out today. This is not the same world it was even nine months ago. Along with the shifts in consumer confidence, economics, and the number of real estate agents in the world, buyers are looking to the internet more than ever before.
Think about it just for a few moments. With $3+ per gallon gasoline,how do you shop for a big ticket item? Isn't there something to be said for knowing about a product market before searching in earnest? When you ae trying to find a business,where do you turn? How many of us leave a computer on 24/7 so it's ready if we need info quickly? Is there a more efficient way than the internet to do that? Do you smell what I'm stepping in???
Consider this: 75% of all adults in our nation have access to the internet and 86% of ALL real estate searches begin there. It is becoming apparent that the internet is maturing and is more democratized than ever before. The average american spends 44% of their media consumption time online with an average of 14 hours per week. Given these facts, here's a shocker;most real estate brokerages spend less than 6% of their marketing budgets on the internet!!!
C-21 corporate is really blazing the path and setting an example for it's franchisees. They are doing very little print ads, but are heavily investing in banner ads on popular web sites like MSN and Fox News. They are also heavily into the search engine race with real estate specific sites like zillow, trulia, and loopnet, not to mention general engines like yahoo and google. Did you know there are some 8 billion searches per month in the U.S. alone? That's an average of 44 searches per person per month.
At winnersville we are in the infancy of developing our new website, but we qare constantly adding new content. This blog is a part of that initiative. The video is also a part. We are investing in Search Engine Optimization. As new things come along, we want to continue breaking new ground in our region with our internet prescence.
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