Having an effective marketing campaign is essential for any seller looking for the best sale outcome. Talk to your agent to get advice on narrowing down to the marketing strategy that is right for your sales campaign.

There are lots of components to a well-rounded marketing campaign and often options within the components:

PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Good photography is essential when you are putting your home on the market. The images will be used across several platforms to entice buyers to investigate further - making it a worthwhile investment.

While standard daytime photography is the cornerstone of the vast majority of campaigns, it’s important to understand the benefits of the other types of photography and marketing tools on offer. Let’s take a closer look at each of them in turn.

Drone photography

Elevated photography, taken from up to 20 metres high is great for highlighting a larger home’s selling points, such as size, location, pool, landscaping and surrounding topography, none of which are captured by regular photography.

Dusk photography

With its blending of natural and artificial light, dusk photography gives a campaign the ‘wow’ factor, with the home’s lighting popping against the darker skyline and projecting a welcoming feel.

VIDEO

Properties with videos get far more views and interactions online than properties with just photography. Videos are wonderful for stitching together a complete picture of your home in the buyer’s mind. Videos are a must for a great digital campaign using social media such as Facebook and Instagram.

You can have a video where the agent shows buyers around the property, narrating its highlights or you can have a video that is a tour of your home with just music as a background.

VIRTUAL TOURS

Using your photographs, virtual tours can be created that let the potential buyer “walk” through your home viewing photos of each area they move to.

FLOORPLANS

House hunters will seek out floorplans prior to inspecting the home to provide a better understanding of the layout and space. This particularly applies to buyers who may be interstate or unable to visit the property and experience the layout first-hand.

There are a variety of floorplans:

• Interactive floor plans - where you click on a room in the floorplan and photos of that area appear.
• Black and white floorplans remain a popular marketing tool.
• Coloured floorplans are eye-catching and allow a colour coding for wet areas, etc
• Textured plans can help illustrate a home’s finishes, such as tiles or decking.
• Furniture can also be added to plans to give buyers an idea of potential placements of tables, chairs, sofas, beds and so on.
• Site plans show off larger homes effectively by covering extensive grounds and gardens well.

COPYWRITING

It’s important that the wording used online, in brochures and every other marketing avenue captivates a buyer and makes them keen to visit your home to find out more.

The copy about your home needs to consider the target market, avoid real estate jargon and read professionally while telling of the magic that is your home..

Check whether your agent does the copywriting in-house or outsources it to a professional. If you don’t like their in-house style, ask about engaging a professional for your campaign. Great copywriting should tell the story of your property, what is so appealing about it and help buyers see themselves living there.

SIGNBOARD OUTSIDE THE PROPERTY

Signboards are the cornerstone of property marketing. While they may be considered a traditional form of marketing, they are still highly effective in capturing the attention of local buyers who may not be actively looking and, of course, in making sure buyers turn up to the right place for your home inspections.

There are three types of boards:

A stock board - which is a board saying the property is For Sale - maybe a sale method or an auction date if that’s how it’s being sold and contact details of your agent.

A photo board - which is a board with photos that will entice buyers to want to know more, plus a description of the attributes of your home. There’ll be details of the sale method and your agent’s details.

A text board - which has no photos but a written description of the property as well as the sale method and agent’s details. This is often used if the property is vacant or run-down and there are no good photographic opportunities.

Depending on council by-laws, you may be able to luminate your board so that it works for you after the sun goes down.

PRINT MARKETING

Real estate agents often package a marketing campaign that includes print, online and social media. Many buyers still read newspapers and scan listings and auction results each week and a well-placed print media campaign can add to the pool of buyers for your property.

BROCHURES

Potential buyers like a brochure to remind them of the details of the property they have visited. They are also useful for agents to hand out to buyers to pique their interest in the home when inviting them to an inspection.

NEIGHBOURHOOD LETTERBOX LEAFLETS

Neighbours are a great source of buyers. They have family and friends who know the area through them and are often looking for an opportunity to buy. That’s why many agents will put information in the letterboxes of homes around your property telling people that it’s on the market, announcing that there’s a scheduled inspection and letting them know about an auction.

ONLINE ADVERTISING

Digital marketing is instrumental in reaching a wider audience as buyer behaviour has changed drastically over the past decade when it comes to purchasing a property. The real estate industry is dealing with a new group of buyers who are totally reliant on digital platforms, so ensuring your property is across each platform is essential.

Social media

A professional real estate agency will have someone on the team who is adept at social media marketing and will be able to showcase your property through social media outlets such as Facebook and Instagram. This may be organic (just posting and encouraging people to interact and share) or a paid campaign where they will be able to target buyers within the locations you want to seek buyers.

Real estate websites

A whopping 86 per cent of potential buyers use online real estate websites (portals) as their main tool to search for properties, according to realestate.com.au. Therefore, it is essential that this channel forms part of your marketing campaign. Websites such as realestate.com.au, domain.com.au and barryplant.com.au are the first place buyers head to as it is the most efficient way to view all properties for sale in one place, with the ability to filter a search. The added bonus is buyers can sign up for alerts and be notified when a property meeting their criteria is listed. As a seller, you will be privy to the success of the online campaigns as every interaction is reported.

Email marketing to a database

Email marketing - or Electronic Direct Mail (EDM) is an important tool when it comes to putting your property in front of potential buyers. A good agent will have a substantial database of people who are interested in real estate in your area and they will send emails featuring available properties frequently to that database. The properties in the email all link back to the property on a website. A good EDM program will provide the agent with information on who has clicked through to your property, providing them with the opportunity to follow up with that person to see if they are interested.

And finally…

Don’t be overwhelmed by the number of options there are to market your home. The bottom line is that it is important to allocate a budget to sell your home - you can’t sell a secret and the more buyers who find out about your property, the more competition there will be for it.

Your agent will be able to talk you through all these options and, depending on the type of property you have and where it is located, recommend a marketing schedule that will work for you.