Re: Advertising – Part 1

In our last post we talked about an article that detailed the shared common traits that result in 10k views on a Zillow listing.

What it all boils down to today is that you must have nearly amazing photos and spectacular words to get any type of attention.

If you don’t choose the right photos and words – your listing could simply flop.

No traffic online.

This means no traffic to your house in the real world.

Which means no traffic in your wallet.

Even in an aggressive buyers market – the more people that you can get excited about your listing – the more likely you are to get top dollar.

Better yet – get enough people excited and you might find yourself in a bidding war.

There are many “ingredients” that go into a profitable property flip:

• Choosing a great neighborhood with good nearby schools
• Choosing the right home where the bulk of buyers will be interested in “living”
• Choosing the right materials when you improve the home
• Not over-improving the property while still being competitive in your upgrades
• Not over-paying for the property to begin with
• Doing it all in a timely manner so you can get to the closing table and collect your profit.
• and many, many more.

All along the way – if you make the right decisions – the process can be really very simple.

When it’s time to write up the listing for sale – it’s nearly effortless.

However, if you choose the wrong house that is just a little too small you can find yourself overpriced, and waiting for the right buyer.

On a recent “real life” home buying show one of the buyers said something that made me laugh out loud.

“I don’t want to see any house that they say is “charming”. Charming just means it’s small.” – Home Buyer on TV Show

The buyers are onto all our old tricks. If the house is small – let’s just play it up for the audience that is out there looking for something small.

For instance, your headline could be

Save on electric bills this winter!
Smaller house = smaller utility bills!

What that does is “targets” your audience. People looking for a monstrous McMansion will pass right on by. On the other hand, it will cause the right person looking for something smaller to stop and stare.

Speak directly to YOUR AUDIENCE. Ignore the rest.

Now on to David Ogilvy. He wrote a book that came out in 1983. The title was Ogilvy on Advertising.

It’s considered timeless by anyone in the advertising industry. If you’ve never heard of it and are seriously running a business you deserve to give it a good slow read – with a highlighter.

Ogilvy spent his career working on ads for major corporations. He would get laser focused on an audience, understand what they wanted and then speak to them in his ads.

Something I really appreciate about the guy – as an ad man –  He wasn’t afraid to ask for the order.

If fact, he seems to sum up his efforts with this quote from his book –

“When I write an advertisement, I don’t want you to tell me that you find it ‘creative.’ I want you to find it so interesting that you buy the product.”

Keep that in mind when you are working on your next property. Whether you are rehabbing the bathroom or writing the listing – are you looking for a pat on the back for being “creative” or are you trying to sell the property?

With that thought, and before we eat up too much time, how about I leave a little more to this discussion for part two?

Now, I hope this does not surprise you. I’m about to ask you for an order.

Come on out on Monday, September 11th. We will be hyper focused talking about marketing tactics and specific advertising for small businesses in our DC area that brings results.

Getting your message in front of the right audience has never been more important.

Learn what it’s like to run monthly 4 and 5 figure marketing campaigns for companies in the DC area and beyond.

You may not have the budget or interest in spending 70-80k in a month on marketing.

That’s completely fine. You can relax.

You can still learn to easily use these tactics and scale them down – or up – depending on your individual needs.

Maybe 70-80$ in ads is all you need to improve results on your listing? Don’t let 70-80$ stand in the way of actually selling a home!

When done right – this type of targeted marketing will pay off with thousands in profit.

You can grab a seat for next Monday night or become a WREIA member here.

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Interested in a single night seat or a WREIA Membership?

Save a few dollars and reserve your seat early.

Tremendous Savings and Additional
“Members Only” Perks for WREIA Members

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FOCUS and make 2017 a great year for your business!

Let me know how I can help you,

John Peterson
301-881-5541
Washington REIA Network, President
Profitable Property, Founder