10-8-2014
You were right if you said, ?More than any other advertiser!? They?re paying for expensive stocks, full color photos, the works. But why don?t they use radio too?
One: Because radio?s never proved itself to realtors. Two: They have but one train of thought: ?When someone?s in the market for a new home, they?ll go to the newspaper-- or homes magazines -- or some other print source.
Are the realtors right, or only half right? It it?s the latter, they?re missing a huge segment of potential home buyers!
Put yourself into this scenario. A man and woman marry and purchase a nice 1200-square-foot ranch with two bedrooms and one bath -- just the perfect size for the two of them, with an affordable monthly payment of just $500. A few years go by and here come the babies, one, two, three! Mom and Dad have good jobs, so they have acquired lots of ?stuff.? So much, in fact, that there?s no room to park the car in the garage.
Now that the kids are here, there?s always a ?line? at the bathroom, and when Mom?s cooking, things are always falling out of the over-stuffed cabinets. ?Darn it!? she exclaims. ?One of these days we?ve got to buy a bigger house!?
Will she drop her stirring spoon and grab the real estate section of the paper right away? Absolutely not! Why not? Because she and hubby haven?t yet made a conscious decision that today is ?one of these days.?
Now let?s say a smart realtor buys some radio time to promote a new subdivision. His ads announcer paints a great word-picture about ?beautiful new 3,000+ square-foot homes, with four bedrooms, two and a half baths, a community pool, playground, and more!? He then says that ?With today?s interest rates at their lowest point in history, and with a small down payment, a family can own one of these grand new homes for monthly payments of just over $700!?
Any chance that when the wife and husband hear this while listening to their favorite radio station, they might decide that this is one of those days, after all? You betcha! How long do you think it might take them to pile the kids into the car and go see the models? Not long at all.
Radio is king at creating desire. Newspaper?s just a picture and a price for those already in the market, but it misses the thousands more who are close to being in the market.
See if you can get an audience at your local realtor?s market meeting, where all the area realtors gather ? and share this thought. There is so much we can do for them if they?ll just listen with open minds.
Same goes for the movies, and a host of other advertisers. People only go to the paper once they?re in the market for the movie. All the newsprint in the world won?t get the attention of the ?almost ready to buy? segment, because people only read sections they?re already interested in.
BOTTOM LINE: There are lots of advertisers who decided 20, 30, maybe 50 years ago to build a ?no-radio wall,? believing that radio couldn?t do anything for them. Challenge every single one of those thoughts. With new ideas and just a little creativity, you can break down every one of those walls.
Gary Ratcliff is the owner of High Impact Communications, Inc. and a broadcast sales author. Visit his LinkedIn page HERE.
(10/10/2014 9:32:01 AM)
Great analogy regarding the "wall" advertisers put up to keep radio out of their plans. I'm renting a battering ram today.
(10/8/2014 5:16:51 PM)
Realtors value listings more than sales. Most are poor salespeople and want to get the listing, throw it up in the ether and hope someone sells it. Home buyers care about homes, not realtors. In fact, open houses are really just ways for realtors to latch onto potential buyers. They don't sell many homes that way. The equation changes once they want to sell the house. Now they need a realtor and name recognition goes a long way towards their choice. I've been successful with listiings
(10/8/2014 11:54:33 AM)
Thanks for the comments and great ideas friends.
30% of my business is from Realtors
who agree with my take. How many
Realtors do you have? Just try this argument.
Again my contention is that NO one goes to print until they have made a conscience decision to buy. Radio can get them there much sooner.
Now let's hear some more comments.
Better still, use the realtor's spots on air for promoting listings from potential sellers, then direct listeners to the station website for the featured "Home of the Week" shown on there with a mortgage calculator included and hyperlink that to the realtor's website where buyers can see all of the listings. Look Ma, no print!
(10/8/2014 10:29:12 AM)
How's about BOTH? Generate a desirable (branded) destination realtor and their website for those who are going to be making a buying decision in the future. Include the strategy as supplied by The Realist, and "Realtors" become very desirable clients that can be super-served.
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