Whilst there are a handful of real estate agents who are already practising “Wow Factor techniques”, the vast majority appear to still follow the well-worn path of full page press advertisements, broken up into equal checker-board spaces.

Note the radical difference between regular newspaper real estate and John's WOW Factor! (Click for PDF version and allow about 30 seconds for Broadband download.)

John comments “I sometimes find it intriguing that a real estate agent will divide a full page press advertisement into equal squares, when in fact a property selling for $1 million might be positioned right next to a property selling for $500,000. Given the larger commissionable return of the more expensive property, I always wonder why it doesn’t get additional advertising space?”

John appreciates that Real Estate Agents have quite a challenging task in marketing their inventory, given that their stock and style of properties can change from one week to the next. And given such a challenge, it is not surprising that developers and real estate agents are contacting John for overall marketing advice and “specific Wow Factor selling ideas.” After all, very few individual real estate agencies have staff members with marketing or advertising qualifications, which is somewhat ironic, given that their business is primarily “marketing”! (ie: Marketing their own brand name and their clients’ properties.)

John comments “my wow factor philosophy doesn’t mean to say that I believe the marketing of real estate properties needs to always have bells and whistles. If it is a rural property that one is selling, the Wow Factor component might be its serenity, peacefulness, winding river, delightful homestead and cozy fireplace. If it’s a high rise luxury apartment property, the Wow Factors might be the stunning water views, marble bathrooms and touch-button home automation system.”

John goes on to say that “sometimes, people misconstrue the Wow Factor term as being applicable only to industries such as retail and hospitality, simply, because they think that it means you have to offer a value-add gimmick such as 2 Years Interest Free or a Bonus Holiday.” John goes on to explain “in the real estate game, Wow Factor advertising simply means communicating the most attractive and unique selling points of the property, in the most persuasive manner.”

John comments that “one can pick up the Real Estate Section of newspapers any Saturday and be bombarded with tired clichés such as:

• “First to see will buy!”
• “Won’t see value like this again!”
• “Owner instructions to sell!”
• “You’ll kick yourself if you miss this one!”

John comments “Whilst I certainly understand the temptation to use such sell-phrases, I believe the ticket-price of the inventory dictates a more sophisticated approach. After all, with real estate prices being what they are today, the language should not mirror that of a Car Dealer, but rather reflect the personality and price tag of the property.”

HOUSE AND LAND DEVELOPMENT MARKETING

Front cover of direct mail brochure for rutherford park estate.

Because of John’s marketing advisor relationship with the Greater Building Society he was asked to help the financial institution market what could be described as being “a problem child” development, called “Rutherford Park”.

This development had been in the hands of successive real estate agents over the last couple of years, with sales being disappointingly low. The estate was an attractive rural development near Maitland in NSW, but for whatever reasons, the sales of allotments had not reached expectations.

The development was called Rutherford Park Estate, with house and land packages being primarily targeted to first home buyers. Frustrated with the lack of success that previous Real Estate Agents had experienced, the Greater requested that John provide specific advice on selling the home and land packages.

John’s first initiative was to research the demographic profile of the previous purchasers of Rutherford Park homes. In doing so, he was able to segment the type of people who might be “prospects” and identify that they primarily came from within a certain geographical radius of the Estate.

John had previously done this for a similar Estate which the Greater Building Society was involved in, namely “Sommerset Park”, north of Newcastle, NSW.

Similarly, the real estate agent for Sommerset Park, had invested considerable expenditure in television and newspaper advertising in areas as far away as Gosford and Sydney.

John identified that there was massive wastage in such marketing, as the previous buyers of Sommerset Park home and land packages were predominantly from within 10 kilometres’ radius of the Estate. Consequently, his recommendation for Sommerset Park was identical to that of Rutherford Park Estate. ie: Concentrate the marketing efforts in the local vicinity, therefore ensuring a more focussed and cost-effective campaign.

Because of the rural aspect of the Rutherford Park estate, John developed an appropriate “wood grain” logo and produced appropriately themed direct mail literature. Using mail lists and Census Data, direct mail campaigns were forwarded to likely prospects. The results were outstanding, with essentially all remaining home and land packages snapped up by eager buyers within a few months.