Generating traffic to an open house means that I must be aware of what audience it will attract, and in my opinion a correlation generally exists between the type of property and the homebuyer.
The public remarks used in a listing must therefore be designed for the target buyer, and the National Association of Realtors (NAR) research findings confirm that the "Gen X & Y" demographic will account for over 75% of home buying.
I am finding that remarks describing a lifestyle (with action) seem to get more of a reaction from this segment than the customary features, advantages and benefits formula used for "Baby Boomers" and "Traditionalists". Besides, the online visuals (a picture is worth a 1,000 words) will often show the granite counters and stainless appliances anyway.
One of the most important answers I want from attendees at an open house is how they found out about it. As well as the conventional Realtor.ca (formerly MLS.ca) website, more often my listings and open houses are being found through other online media marketing resources that I use, and only about one in every five attending open houses is (guestimated) a "Boomer".
What is really interesting is that by the second half of 2008, rarely were there any open house visitors or inquiries stemming from newspaper advertising efforts.
At the start of 2009, one of the two free local newspapers in my community went back to being twice weekly. I suspect that readership is down, as is the advertising revenues which are probably migrating to the Internet.
The "Gen X & Y" get almost everything they want online, as I do, and I believe this is becoming even more common with Boomers I connect with online at LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/realtorca
There is no doubt that online media marketing is becoming even more predominant, and after reading this "The Newspaper Ad is Dead", and this "Century 21 bids adieu to TV ads", I'm convinced, real estate is evolving.
See some comments at John Grasty's Blog.
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