It’s a new year and time for new marketing ideas. You may think you’ve tried everything to sell your home, but you’ll be surprised at what you may have overlooked.
For about 25 years of my working life, I worked in some form of marketing. Selling real estate is, of course, marketing; and many of the years I worked for the Sun newspaper I was involved in advertising. But what really got my creative juices running was the years I worked with relocation companies marketing and selling their properties.
Time is money, and when relocation companies are tasked with selling a property they have taken over from one of their client’s employees, it can’t be wasted. Naturally, they are looking to the realtor to come up with the best ideas, and sometimes we did. One of my favorite marketing ideas was giving away a mink coat to the broker who came up with the buyer. This was a multi-million-dollar property in a high-end area on the north shore of Long Island – a lovely home with just one problem: the commuter train ran through the end of the property.
The relocation company at first was reluctant to spend thousands of dollars to acquire the mink, but when their representatives drove down from Connecticut to the broker open house they were impressed by the wall-to-wall brokers who attended. Needless to say, it worked. Realtors are nothing if not competitive and there was so much exposure to the property that it was inevitable.
Obviously, Anna Maria Island and our coastal communities won’t be giving away a mink coat but there are other creative beach-related prizes that will attract the attention of brokers. How about a weekend in a Gulf front home available for rent? Or a year’s worth of restaurant gift certificates at one of the Island’s jazzy restaurants? And my personal favorite: a new wardrobe of bikinis to give to your favorite toned woman.
However, now with artificial intelligence becoming such a major marketing tool, real estate is getting in on the act – and I don’t mean just staging a home or redesigning rooms. I read about a homeowner who created an AI film with a storyline specific to their property and ran it attached to their advertising and their listing. The ideas when you live on the beach are unlimited – everything from Robinson Crusoe to beach parties.
If you want to provide a service to both brokers and open house attendees, arrange for a mortgage broker and/or an insurance broker to attend the open houses. In these confusing times of mortgage rates and new mortgage products the opinion of an experienced mortgage broker can come in very handy in a short conversation.
Likewise, waterfront and flood zone home insurance is always a tricky thing. Insurance brokers can answer questions and clear up confusion for brokers and buyers. You’ll look like a hero and people won’t forget the house.
There are a lot of theories about empty houses not showing as well as lived in properties. Back in my day, the relocation companies came up with an idea of putting people they called “house managers” in the properties. They paid nominal rent and were expected to keep the property clean and clutter-free in return, as well as providing security. There are a lot of empty houses on Anna Maria Island that could benefit by this idea.
You don’t need to reinvent the marketing wheel. Go ahead, borrow some ideas and make them your own, I won’t care.
