Strategic Advertising for Real Estate Agents

“99% of advertising doesn’t sell a thing.”Sounds like something a local real estate agent might say after paying for yet another ad that didn’t produce, right?You might be surprised to learn that the quote actually belongs to David Ogilvy, legendary founder of one of the world’s largest and most successful advertising agencies.Yikes – if a man regarded as a giant in the ad industry is so negative about advertising’s success rate, how should you feel?The Bad News is the Good News…There is an upside here. If so much of the advertising in your local market is ineffective, you can gain a significant edge on your competition by having a better local advertising strategy than other agents.Advertising vs. Advertising StrategyNotice that I said a better advertising STRATEGY, not simply better advertising. There’s a big difference.A better ad might get you a few more leads in the short term. A better advertising strategy can help you to have a consistent, meaningful message in your advertising, and will position you to get more business from your local market on an ongoing basis.With that in mind, here are three tips to help you define your advertising strategy, and put it into action:1) Have a Strategic Objective In Mind BEFORE you AdvertiseAdvertising for the sake of “building awareness” is probably the fastest way to flush your advertising dollars away.Before you even think about buying an ad, you must have a strategic objective in mind – after all, why should you pay for any type of ad unless it helps you to reach your objective.Here are just a few questions that you might ask yourself before placing an ad to help define what you want your advertising strategy to do for you:- If I could be known for just one thing in my local market, what would it be?- Which part of the local real estate market is not currently well serviced by other agents? Is there potential in this neighborhood/age group/demographic profile?- Which part of the local market is emerging and might be a driving force for sales in future years?- What’s changing in my market right now – immigration, aging population, young families moving in, etc – and how do I capitalize on the change more effectively than my competitors?If you can answer even some of these questions, you will probably be on your way to identifying the basis for an advertising strategy.For example, you may determine that based on trends and current prices, your market will become increasingly popular with first time homebuyers. As a result, your strategic objective may be to use your advertising to become recognized as the local expert in serving first time homebuyers.2) Have a Specific Objective for Each Ad you Place within your StrategyWith a clear objective as part of your advertising strategy, you can now think about investing in ads that support your objective.Here’s a tip – you can create advertising that generates an immediate response while also serving to build your brand in a particular market.Continuing with the above example, if you ran a series of ads in the local newspaper offering a free “First-Time Homebuyers Report” available from your website, you would actually be running a direct response ad (aimed at getting people to download the report) that also delivered a brand building message (the message being that you are the agent for first time homebuyers to call because you are the expert in that field).You can measure the success of the ad by looking at the number of downloads from your site while the ad was running – since generating downloads was the specific objective of the ad. If the ads don’t generate enough downloads to justify the cost, pull them or change them. Ads are only valuable if they get you closer to achieving your strategic objective.3) Be ConsistentAll of your advertising (online, print, directory, flyers, etc) should be similar in both style and substance within your advertising strategy.Yes, a consistent look and style for your ads is important to help you get recognized in a competitive market.But even more important is being consistent when it comes to the messages in your ads. You can’t buy a Yellow Pages ad that promotes you as the leader in client service, and then advertise your “low low price” in the local newspaper, and then distribute flyers that try to promote you as the family real estate expert.Your messages can’t conflict! Again, here’s where an advertising strategy comes in. With a strategic objective in mind for your advertising, you will be able to focus your advertising dollars on communicating a single, clear message to potential clients about why they should call you.An Advertising Strategy is Critical to your SuccessIf Mr. Ogilvy was right, then most of the advertisers out there in your real estate market are getting it wrong. This creates a huge opportunity for you to use an advertising strategy to drive business and outdo your competitors.- Have a Strategic Objective for all of your Advertising – Know what you want to say about your business, and who you want to say it to within your local market.- Have an Objective for Each Ad – Measure each ad’s results against the strategic objective you are trying to achieve – if you don’t, how will you know if the ads were successful or not?- Be Consistent – Make sure all of your ads are focused on helping you reach your strategic objective by communicating a clear message to the market.Advertising can be a tough game, but so can real estate. And in both cases, those with a well thought out strategy will almost always succeed over those that don’t have a plan.

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Small Business Credit Cards Advantages

A lot of people associate credit cards with just personal credit card which an individual posses and uses for shopping etc. However, there is another category of credit cards and that is called small business credit cards. As suggested by the name itself, the small business credit cards are meant for small businesses or people running small businesses.So how does the small business credit card differ from the other credit cards in general?The very obvious difference is that small business credit cards have the credit account in the name of the small business and not any individual, though the benefits indirectly accrue to the business owner. The other difference is with the terms and conditions that come with the small business credit cards. Finally, there are some subtle benefits with small business credit cards which would not be applicable to personal credit cards. Let’s check all these things one by one.We know that the credit cards provide a lot of convenience and security for an individual and a lot of other benefits too. Most of the benefits related to personal credit cards apply here too. What is interesting here is the indirect benefits that ensue from using a small business credit card.The indirect benefits associated with small business credit cards are so great that it makes them almost indispensable. The most important benefit is that you can easily segregate your business and personal expenses. So if you have been wasting a lot of time keeping track of your business bills and trying to keep them separate from personal bills, small business credit cards could help. You just need to ensure that you always make all your business payments using your small business credit card. When the credit card bill comes at the month end, you will have itemized account of all the business expenses as a single document. Thus small business cards reduce (and in some cases completely remove) the need for bookkeeping for a small business. The credit card company does that for you for free, although indirectly.Another important benefit comes from rolling credit. If you have to pay for your purchases upfront and still invoice your clients later (a situation faced very often with small businesses), you can roll the credit, you are providing your client with, to your credit card. Moreover, since these purchases are mostly urgent, arranging for money immediately can sometimes be a problem. In such cases, the small business credit card is the one which can bail you out. Well, if you are thinking that your personal credit card could do the same for you, you are a bit off the track on two fronts. Firstly, you want to keep your business expenses separate from your personal expenses and secondly, the APR on business cards is generally lower as compared to personal credit cards. A lot of the small business credit cards don’t require you to pay an annual fee even.So if you run a small business but haven’t got a small business credit card yet, it’s about time that you considered this wonderful option.

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Are Vendor Finance Homes Right For Your Portfolio?

With so many different ways out there of investing your money, you might not have thought about vendor finance homes as an option before. Even so, they are worth looking into, and could form a worthwhile portion of your overall investment portfolio. They involve helping others to purchase property, placing yourself less in the traditional position of the owner selling it on than simply in the position of the person providing the finance for it. In doing so, they avoid several key difficulties associated with more traditional forms of property investment.Difficulties such as the range of additional costs that always seem to minimise any profit you make. From taxes to estate agents’ fees, everything you do when buying or selling property seems to cost slightly more than you thought it would at the start, with the result that there is hardly anything left for you at the end. That’s assuming that you can sell the place on, of course. You are absolutely trapped by the state of the housing market, and the need to only sell when it has risen by enough to make it worth your while. You end up not knowing when you will be able to liquidate your investment, or what sort of profit you will realise when you do.By offering the finance for a purchase, you are putting yourself in a very different position. Instead of being the owner, paying out for every little thing, you are the one being paid. High earning would be home owners without the spare cash for a deposit come to you, pay what they owe regularly, and give you a guaranteed return for your initial investment. They get the home they want without years of saving, and both sides are happy with the arrangement.If that sounds too good to be true, remember that this is a scenario where you are genuinely protected from the worst of the risks. If your clients are vetted properly at the start, then the likelihood of them defaulting is drastically reduced, and even if they do, you get the property in addition to any money already paid. You get to sell that on in the more traditional fashion, and you still make a profit. Contrast that with the dangers of so called protections like negative gearing, which only works when property values rise, and which can leave you with substantial costs if it falls.Obviously, this is generally a long term investment, but one of the key advantages of this approach is that you know that. You know how long it will take, and what you will get back over any given period. You aren’t stymied by the guesswork needed when trying to ride the peaks and troughs of the property market. Nor are you stuck waiting for a buyer. Yes, seek the correct advice from your legal or financial advisors, but in general, vendor finance homes are a great opportunity for those put off by the problems of other property investment options.

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