Real estate success may hinge on location, but moving hot properties requires spending millions of dollars in advertising to distinguish both listings and brokerages from a fiercely competitive pack. Powerful prose and proper placement can make all the difference between your ad catching someone’s eye or becoming part of the clutter.
For 25 years, Bill Nicholson, an advertising consultant and former executive vice president for the American Association of Advertising Agencies has helped ad firms deliver attention-grabbing ads. He believes there is an art to advertising, pointing out that visually descriptive words resonate with potential buyers more than generic terms. Words like “river view,” “spacious,” “renovated,” “new kitchen and bath,” “safe,” “airy,” and “bright” are punch phrases with impact, he says.
“They all connote some stability about where you live, and some form of well-being. I think people, especially in an urban setting want safety, comfort and convenience all of which is conveyed through these words,” says Nicholson.
Nicholson adds that successful ads often strike a cord with a buyer’s emotions. “You have to appeal to people’s desire for safety, comfort, value and status. In general, physical traits of the apartment are always good, because buyers do not want to be surprised.”
As a rule, however, Nicholson believes where an ad appears is just as important as content.
“Ad placement is more important than catchy punch phrases. Catchy one-liners become part of the clutter, because everyone is doing it. I think those little words look good but are ineffective,” says Nicholson.
He believes larger format advertising That is well-executed and thought out with both photographs and text is what gets noticed. “I’ve done research for years. Most Americans do not read the headlines because many people do not read.”
Lending some helpful tips of the trade, surprisingly, Nicholson believes, when it comes to specific ad placement, “the front and center” approach does not apply.
“You want to be near the top of the first column,” he says. “The center is not good unless you have white space around you.”
Madelyne Kirch, of Sun & Moon Marketing Communications, points to a recent ad campaign her firm executed for the Zephyr Lofts in Jersey City as an example of how advertising can create buzz and turn an unknown property into a brand image. Kirch’s company chose to name the 102-unit condominium building, which is located near the Hoboken PATH station, Zephyr after the shovelnose Pioneer Zephyr trains built by the Chicago Burlington & Quincy Railroad in the 1930s, even building an art deco design into the logo for the building.
“It would have been very different if we had called it ‘Railroad Apartments’. We wanted to create a product that maximizes value,” she says. “The nature of the design worked for the product we were selling. The key is to not try to fool anybody but to find what is unique and special about each property and to focus on that.”
Domenick Lorelli, whose advertising firm Lorelli Associates specializes in high-end residential and commercial real estate, and which executed the current advertising campaign for the Corcoran Group, offers the following tips for companies looking for new ways to market itself.
Give yourself a personality
Distinguish yourself from the group
Make your message clear
Try not to make too many points in one ad
Be simple in your idea
Choose a typeface that fits your image
New venues open up for ads
New York’s top residential real estate broker, Dolly Lenz, sees tremendous potential for companies to advertise in magazines and newspapers that may have been previously overlooked.
“When I went into the business 20 years ago, you only had one choice the New York Times,” she says. “Now you can flirt with an Architectural Digest or trade publications like The Real Deal. You can try different things.”
She points to the Saturday pull-out section in the New York Post, which launched on Sept. 6, 2003, as a prime example of the potential of new venues in advertising.
“I’m getting actual calls from ads we have in the Post and I think it’s a direct result of the New York Post being interesting to read,” she said.
Lenz explains what Prudential Douglas Elliman looks for when it considers ways to spend its estimated $25 million annual advertising budget. “We are first looking at distribution I’m looking for a market name. We look to put dollars behind what works.”
Lenz says Homes magazine the monthly 80- to 100-page supplement to the New York Times Thursday edition is a top choice. “It’s glossy, it’s pretty, it’s done very intelligently, you can tailor your advertising, so you can hit your high-end buyer,” says Lenz.
In order to increase its brand identity, Bellmarc Realty has also invested some of its advertising budget into the New York Times Homes magazine securing the much coveted inside front cover position eight times a year.
“It just happened to be available and we grabbed it,” says Janice Silver, executive vice president of sales and marketing at Bellmarc. “The inside front cover is the best place you could possibly be. We usually do nine listings per page and we have lots of high-quality photographs.”
Silver says ad placement within the New York Times Sunday real estate section, which has a circulation of 1.7 million readers has also given the company an impressive return on its advertising investment.
Bellmarc Realty often places so called “island” ads to help further brand the company. Doug Latino, managing director of residential real estate at the New York Times explains, “Island ads are display ad positions that run on the center of the page in the classified listings. We offer only select island positions and right now they are sold out in Manhattan for the rest of 2005.”
Lenz also says she sees value in quality web advertising.
“Six years ago, I was told the Internet would be the wave of the future in real estate,” she says. “A well-executed website is incredibly important. I have made $15 million deals off the web.”