Do You Have a “Spray and Pray” Marketing Program?

When speaking with advertisers, I always ask where they are advertising.  The question is meant to help me understand if there is a certain audience or certain type of performance an advertiser is trying to achieve. As a result, we see a common practice among real estate advertisers: they spread themselves too thin across multiple online or offline publishers with too little funds to generate any ROI out of their program.

I call this the “spray and pray” marketing program.

I understand the real estate marketer’s dilemma.  You have slashed budgets.  You pull all your print dollars only to have the publications come back with 80% discounts that are so tempting.  Then you realize your audience is all online. And, thanks to exciting new entrants like us, there are so many places to spend your precious dollars.  Add to this the consumer fear in the market, which translates into real estate professionals having fear, and you get a perfect storm for spreading your dollars too thin.

To avoid a “spray and pray” marketing program, here are a few tips:
1.    Build a list of publishers you are interested in.
2.    Make sure you’re targeting the audience for your business needs.
3.    Compare programs, apples to apples.

• Understand each program clearly. Example: “Featured Listings” on Zillow are not the same as Featured Listings on Realtor.com.  Know the difference!

4.    Beware of the inexpensive program.  Odds are you will double or triple your initial dollars to make it work.  Remember, you get what you pay for.
5.    Always do any program that is free!  On Zillow, you can build a Profile or upload your For Sale Listings to Zillow.com, for free. Learn how to market yourself for free on Zillow.com.

Once you have your list and you understand all of the programs clearly, look at your marketing objectives and only purchase 1 or 2 programs that fit your needs.

Example: If you are a real estate agent and want to be known as “the” agent in a certain ZIP code, Zillow’s Showcase Ads program is exactly what you are looking for since you purchase that program based on what % of the time your ad comes up.  The flat fee limits the costs, yet has a guarantee as to what % of the time your ad shows.

If you focus your efforts on only one or two paid marketing programs, you can spend more dollars in each program.  You can also hold that publisher responsible for more.  Those publishers in turn will appreciate your investment and offer more service to you.  In the end, you get more for your money.