Why do Agents Run Newspaper Ads
Posted by Scott Norris on Sun, May 30, 2010 @ 08:18 PM
Interestingly enough, the NAR Study asked home sellers what methods agent used to market their home. Print advertising was the 4th most common approach with 42% of home sellers saying that agents used newspaper advertising in their marketing plan. More interesting is that 37% used print advertising in a home magazine (which is rounded completely of the sources used by buyers). Why would agents spend this money and wouldn't it better be deployed towards internet advertising?
If you look at the ads you will eventually see that there are 2 reasons. The type of ad will tell you the reason. Large color ads with many featured homes are run to advertise the broker/agent. There is usually very little info about any one home in the ad and nothing in the ad would cause a buyer to call on a home. The ads are designed to entice prospects to call the broker. These ads establish credibility of the broker/agent. There is just nothing wrong or deceptive about this. Being in a broker ad certainly doesn't hurt your chances of selling and it helps the broker. It's a win/win.
The second type of ad is a stand alone "house ad". These are either run to satisfy a seller who doesn't believe the statistics I just presented or by an agent who doesn't know about the stats. Either way, you can see that the ads don't scream for anyone to call and they are totally ineffective, under most circumstances. This is a lose/lose ad. There is almost no chance that anyone will call the agent which means that the ad did nothing for the seller. Both would have been better off with more internet advertising.
A great home with an unbelievable price can generate some traffic, but ad, price and home must be exceptional. That is rarely the case with most newspaper ads.