Why Image Advertising is Ineffective
Thu, Sep 25, 2014
How to spot image advertising Even if you’re not familiar with the words, you’ve seen image advertising many times before. Image advertising’s biggest distinguishing feature is its focus on the agent. It uses bold statements like “I’m #1,” “List with Me,” or “I Care About Your Business.” Ever run an ad containing statements like these? I know I’m guilty -- this is the kind of advertising I used to run exclusively when I started out in real estate. It’s what they teach us in Real Estate 101. There's a very dangerous myth in advertising which says that once you get your name out there, people will seek you out, and many agents understandably fall into this trap.
The problem with image advertising What's wrong with this? Well, several things. First, image ads don’t communicate any clear benefits for your prospects. They might say that you work for the area’s biggest real estate business or you’re the #1 agent in your city, but how does that benefit them? Your prospect might actually see that ad and think that you’re too big to do a good job finding them exactly what they need. Second, image ads don’t make a specific offer. They don’t target prospects who are looking for a particular product or service -- they just serve up one blanket, generic message to the masses. Think of a restaurant promoting itself to new guests: instead of sending a postcard featuring one high-quality photo of a pasta dish, they shrink down a dozen photos of different entrees and stick them on the same card. In addition to lacking a specific offer, image ads also don’t provide a clear call to action. Even if a prospect were interested in learning more, they wouldn’t know what the next step is toward working with you. And finally, image ads aren’t conducive to tracking or measuring. There’s no systematic way to tell if they’re bringing more business your way.
In short, this type of advertising leaves a lot up to chance. You chance that what you’re saying will impress your prospect. You chance that they will figure out how to find you. You chance that the ads are effective and worth your money. I don’t know about you, but I’m not the type of guy who likes to leave things up to chance. I’m about real, tangible proof. And that’s what direct response marketing provides. The effective alternative As a real estate agent, you need a way beyond image marketing to reach prospects because the reality is, your prospect doesn’t care about you at all. Even though you're a really terrific, hardworking, ethical realtor. Your prospects want to know what’s in it for them – and that’s where direct response marketing comes in. Direct response marketing talks to your prospects, about your prospects. It presents them with clear benefits of working with you. It provides a non-threatening way for prospects to get more information, and it gives them compelling reasons to call you to get it. The title of this very blog post incorporates this benefit-focused strategy. I didn’t title it “I’m an Expert on Effective Real Estate Marketing”-- that would be image-based and highly ineffective. Instead, I communicated why it’s important for you to read about the issue -- and since you’re reading this right now, I’d say it worked, wouldn’t you? Once I harnessed the power of direct response marketing, my real estate business grew by leaps and bounds. In my Quantum Leap program, I share the exact direct response methods that led to this success.
You can experience different results. But it’s up to you to take the first step and make it happen. Is this the time to move from just thinking about success to achieving it with an experienced real estate coach? You can also significantly increase sales effectiveness by attending one of the biggest events in the real estate industry, The Craig Proctor Super Conference. You’ll get intense, relevant and actionable training, including 20 specific how-to sessions covering every aspect of real estate sales. You’ll also get direct Q&A access to Craig Proctor and his coaching staff, and have access to his specialized technology and Internet experts. Join us in San Francisco on November 14-15/14 and start improving your business!
P.S. You can test drive my ideas and systems absolutely free by signing up for Free Weekly Training which includes live weekly webinars, a monthly newsletter and priority invitations to free half day training events. This Free Weekly training will expose you to inexpensive and highly effective methods of lead generation (with no cold calling) — what I call “Reverse Prospecting”, where qualified prospects actually hunt you down rather than the other way around. But I don’t stop at lead generation I then show you how to follow these leads through closings via proprietary lead conversion and prospect presentation systems. My program is a complete system. I teach you everything you need to know to grow a profitable real estate business, including lead generation, follow up, presentations, when and who to hire, technology and much more. The easiest way for you to find out with no risk or obligation what my system is all about and how it can help you profitably grow your real estate business and vastly improve your quality of life is to JOIN MY FREE WEEKLY TRAINING PROGRAM HERE.