Virtual Advertising – Real Estate Advertising Musts for a 2008 Economy

When it comes to the real estate marketing of new homes and new home communities, the Internet has become the killer prospecting medium.

Over the last two years, the smart buy for building brand awareness and cultivating new prospects for communities and urban projects alike is plain and simple…it’s the Internet. Traditional media plans that include an emphasis of the past tried and true outlets such as newspapers, magazines, billboards, etc., are being rewritten with a totally new emphasis on online marketing and advertising. The new home real estate industry is now recognizing that executing marketing and adverting plans that focus heavily on the key placements on real estate-oriented portals such as golfcommunities.com, move.com, livingsouthernstyle.com and scores of others are more effective in producing interest and driving traffic at a reduced cost. Media buys on Search Engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN and AOL that include the purchase of key words for real estate as well as non-real estate oriented words but relevant to attracting potential buyers for a specific location or lifestyle are becoming the smart advertising buys.

Think like the buyer………..where to they shop and dine; what do they do for entertainment and enrichment; where do they spend their disposable income……..are these places to attract new buyers? Also, don’t forget your competitors when planning your keyword purchases…spend some time researching words and phrases they have purchased by exercising a little internet recon.

Gone are the days when a great looking ad in a glossy magazine will get your homes sold. So, if your 2008 Marketing and Advertising Plan placements doesn’t look dramatically different than your 2005 plan, you’re probably either not going to attract the number of prospects you need for your conversion ratio to meet projections or you are going to have to spend a lot more money to make the numbers!