Open House Blogging as Killer Real Estate Marketing Tool

About Altos Research Corp.

Altos Research is the premier source for real-time real estate research. Our real estate data and local real estate reports are used by financial firms, investors, and thousands of real estate professionals around the country.

This blog is primarily authored by Mike Simonsen, co-founder and CEO of Altos Research. Other ways to be in touch:

Live Chat

Wednesday, February 21. 2007

We've been talking a lot about online real estate marketing tools and strategies in this blog lately. Tomato Jim's article of the other day really nails another angle that we discuss all the time with our clients - a powerful, integrated marketing strategy includes elements offline and online.

But what are the really successful offline strategies to drive traffic online? This one image drives the imagination wild with marketing possibilities. As a resident of suburbia, I have never, ever received a Realtor neighborhood handout as compelling as this one. It's value proposition is clear. It's call-to-action is strong. Discuss? Really?! I get to share my opinions? The realtor's name and picture are no where to be found, yet the benefit accrues all to you.

Picture the blog site set up for this property:

Some posts of narrative text, a few pages of photos, the video, another post by the listing agent describing her favorite feature of the place. The nuanced details. The market stats to help counter the prevailing wisdom. And the kicker: The conversation. Engaging the visitors who didn't have time to stop by the home. Chatting with those who did. Hearing feedback. Making friends. Neighbor-to-neighbor gossip. And oh by the way, this brilliant site brought to you by...

And they all find the site from the humble door knob flyer. Beautiful stuff.

Posted by Mike Simonsen in clients, Real Estate Agents, Real Estate Market, Technology at 07:04 | Comments (5)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

Mike,

I am thrilled to have struck such a chord with you and Altos. The services your company provides are nothing short of brilliant, so I consider this recognition above as quite the compliment.
I love your embellishment of the vision here. I think you have nailed it when you see how important the message and function of the marketing piece become once you tap into what the audience is looking for versus what they are looking at.
The 80' and 90's essentially ruined the "understanding your audience" approach to marketing with all the glam shots and award mentions. But then again, we're talking about an era that brought us Poison, Motley Crue and Winger.

#1 Real Estate Tomato (Link) on 2007-02-21 07:51

I think that getting people to notice open houses is a great idea! We are currently working on a project to raise awareness with consumers about open houses for real estate agents. for more info check it out here. http://apellatabletalk.spaces.live.com

#2 Apella (Link) on 2007-02-21 18:52

This is an excellent idea! I'll have to give it a try at my next open house.

#3 Kevin Boer (Link) on 2007-02-27 08:32

Auctioneers are always looking for creative marketing strategies! Real Estate Auctions always get the neighbors talking, but I LOVE the idea of providing a forum for the discussion! If we decide to utlilize the door hangers in our next marketing campaign, I'll definitely write an article about it on our blog! Thanks again for the great article!

#4 Pacific Auction Exchange (Link) on 2007-02-27 14:20

Sweet concept, i'll be sending this out to all my peeps! Just another transparent web idea that makes total sense. Some old school and new school tricks married up for optimal results! Thanks you for sharing.

#5 Mark Eibner (Link) on 2007-03-18 19:46

The author does not allow comments to this entry