What About Ads In Home Magazines?

What About Ads In Home Magazines?

Author: Matthew L. Jones

I think advertising in home magazines can be a good investment, or it can be a total waste of money. If done properly, home magazine ads can be a very affordable source of new business while making your listing clients happy at the same time. Done incorrectly, it can put you in the poor house with next to nothing to show for the expense.

When I had about 60 active listings, I personally experimented and tested various ads in several magazines. At one point, I was running 8 full pages each month divided between 3 different publications. I tried lots of different ad formats, and I constantly experimented until I got it dialed in. In the process, I spent a ton of money and learned a lot about magazine advertising. Here are the basics that I learned.

First, what not to do. The typical "bad" home magazine ad, much like the typical "bad" real estate website, is all about the agent. Trust me, customers don´t care about you. They are looking at the magazine for one reason: to look at houses. They don´t care about your company either. So don´t waste a lot of ad space with your photo, your company logo, your personal philosophy, or anything except what that customer wants to see. Homes.

Another big mistake many agents make is including only a small number of homes on the page. That´s generally because they only have a small number of listings. If you are advertising in the magazine to get phone calls, then you need to put as many listings as possible in the ad, even if you have to borrow them from your broker or from other agents. The more homes the better.

Still, probably the biggest mistake you can make when it comes to magazine ads is giving the home price. I know many top coaches and speakers preach to always include the price. But I´ve tested it, and that´s just plain bad advice. Typically, the only reason shoppers will even consider calling in is to get the price of a home they like. If you give them the price up front, there is no reason to call, and they probably won´t. Don´t forget why you´re advertising -- to get leads.

Now, let´s talk about how to create the ultimate magazine ad. In real estate there are three things that are important -- location, location, location. In magazine ads the same is true. Studies have been done and about 50% of the population are front flippers. (In other words, they start at the beginning of the magazine and flip from front to back.) The other half are back flippers. (They start at the back of the magazine and flip forward.) To maximize visibility, you want to be as close to either cover as possible. You also want to be on the right hand side, because ads on the right side, studies show, typically pull 50% better.

Next, you absolutely need to have an IVR system (call capture hotline) in place. There are three reasons for this. First, by offering "free recorded information" instead of the threat of a live REALTOR� on the other end of the call, you will see that you increase your call volume by a factor of 10. Why? Because 90% of home shoppers will typically be in Phase 1 of the buying cycle and won´t want to talk to an agent yet. Only about 10% will be willing to actually talk to you.

The second reason for using an IVR system is that you can measure your results. I happen to know that my cost per lead in one magazine was nearly twice the cost per lead of another magazine, running essentially identical ads. If you can´t know where your various calls are coming from you can´t determine which ads are the most effective, nor your cost per lead.

The third reason is that a hotline phone number works 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, while you may turn your phone off when you go home at night. Trust me when I tell you that you´ll get calls on your hotline in the middle of the night! (And you thought bats lived in caves, not houses!) The best part is that you don´t have to answer the call in order to capture the lead. I looked at a number of hotlines, and ultimately chose Proquest Technologies´ Provantage System. I´ve found it to be very good, reliable, and low-priced, and have personally used it for seven years.

Now for the ad itself. Put as many pictures of houses as the page will allow. Don´t waste valuable ad space with your picture, or a big brokerage logo. I typically put 20 homes on a small page (like The Real Estate Book) and 30 homes on a large page (like Homes & Land). The more homes, the more calls. The better the photos, the more calls. Don´t list the price! Here is a typical blurb I might use:

Remington
3BR, 2BA Only 2 minutes
from Fort Bragg!
Extension 1003

Using that format, I have produced as many as 2300 leads in one month using only 8 pages. That´s an average of 288 calls per page! Most agents are lucky to receive 10-15 phone calls using typical ads without a hotline. Ouch!

Here´s my bottom line: If you choose to advertise in home magazines, get a hotline, and put lots of pictures and very little information on the page. That way customers will call in to hear your recording and you will capture their phone number. If you don´t do it that way, you will rapidly go broke advertising in magazines. And that´s my quick answer.

Matt Jones is a REALTOR, Broker, a best selling author, trainer, and his blog, BlogMattBlog.com, is also syndicated on NewsGeni.us.