I think the present and future advertising method should be to look for unique ways to promote your website. Get people to your website and you can provide so much more information, pictures and virtual tours, etc.

Currently, I am working out the fine points of a contract with a big fat guy who will tatoo my web address across his belly, then attend NFL games with his shirt off.

I have another deal going with a rap group. The lead rapper has my web address in large gold letters hanging from a large gold chain around around his neck. There latest hit song will be "Homeboy gona get you in da house...Word!" They will point to my URL/jewelry while saying the tag line.

A couple of other ideas I am considering are those little airplains that write stuff in the sky with smoke, street gangs that could spray paint my URL on over passes, etc.

Think outside the box, you get the idea ;-)

Bill you are a genius and I want to see tearsheets of those brilliant ideas . . . you will post pics, n'est ce pas?  Especially the tattoo guy, that is very exciting!

LOLOL!

David, I don't think that mags and newspaper are dead in the water . . . they're still good for image ads. They just don't do all that much for selling properties except if they bring the brokerage to the forefront of the buyer's mind.

I love to use a hybrid . . . LA Times Online. VERY inexpensive and several different packages that reach a huge demographic with good income.

http://smarteradsla.databasedads.com/LoginLat.aspx

Of course there are others like it in your area . . . I would think.

Vancepinion for you David....

Newspapers are for news and after the Sundays get into the trash on Monday so goes $$$ bucks

The net is 24/7 365 days a year

Throw a few dollars into e Bay real estate for $150 you get 30 days of world wide exposure around the clock, pick out one of your best listings copy and past your front page into your ad and your off and running with 193 million members with millions of e Bayer shoppers.

Trust me it works.....Have a look  >--->  http://tinyurl.com/2ud49n

Good luck David

I don't do any newspaper advertising ... never had any results from it so why spend the money there. I do however advertise in the RealEstateBook and get calls off of it quite a lot ... plus, it is that ONE piece that I show the sellers during my listing presentations and they are a lot happier than if their home was to be in a newspaper.

I spent about $300 on newspaper this year, gearing most of my advertising budget to internet and signage and pro-active marketing.

I saved about $10,000. My business increased as a result. The Real Estate Book in this part of the country is very pricy. I would rather spend the time online or hire someone to do my online ads.

I got the following email today!

The next time a client requests an ad in the Asbury Park Press, please let them know that this is the very paper which is constantly writing damaging real estate stories.

We all know it is no longer a seller's market, but we also know that the media is making things a lot worse. Buyers are not taking advantage of the record low interest rates, because the media is scaring the you know what out of them.

I was called by a writer at the Asbury Park Press for a quote several weeks ago, and when it was not negative, the guy nicely told me he could not use my quote. We went on to discuss how media is affecting the market and he told me that he was given the story and then told to get quotes and facts to back it up. Not the other way around - to get the story from the facts and quotes.

In addition I was talking recently to Carin Henderson - manager of Rumson Weichert Realtors, and she was telling me how Weichert has sent (several times) some very powerful facts and figures of a positive nature to the Asbury P.P. They have never printed it.

Why then I ask myself do real estate companies keep giving them our advertising dollars. We should educate our sellers not to request the APP, as it is hurting their own home values.

To be honest the major APP advertisers are realtors and car sales. Therefore, if enough realtors stopped using the Asbury it would a big difference to their revenue stream. Let us consider making a difference as a group to the largest real estate bashing paper.

Please pass this along to other agents and your brokers and managers.

Regards,

Carolynn Ozar-Diakon

Thanks for posting that, Gregory.  Excellent points!

I was interviewed several weeks ago by a national newspaper.  They told me they were writing a 'positive' story about successful transactions in real estate.  They actually interviewed me 3 times in which I gave them numerous positive statements and also gave them the contact info for several customers who where very happy with their selling transactions.

When the article came out, it was not a positive story.  They did not use anything from my customers and they only attributed one quote to me which was something I DID NOT say to them.... what they attributed to me didn't even make sense and was nothing even close to anything I said or even would have ever said.  

The media has a set agenda and then goes fishing for 'anything' they can get to support that agenda.  Looking back on the interviews with me I can see where they were trying to get me to talk negatively about the market but I didn't.  I see so much that is positive about it that the 'negative' isn't even a part of my thinking or vocabulary.

If, in fact, the paper is simply reporting factual info then I don't think they should be 'punished' by not advertising with them.  However, if they are guilty of sensationalizing the negative and ignoring the positive then it makes perfect sense, to me, to withhold advertising dollars.  Why feed the hand that bites you?!

I have decided to STOP advertising in the newspaper.  It is to expensive for the response I get.  Also, EVERY other Realtor advertises in there so my listing gets lost in the shuffle.

I have decided I am no longer going to advertise my listings in the Real Estate Magazine.  I don't get calls from it.  It is also so thick that my homes get lost.  I decided I am just going to run a page about me and my website and that they can search EVERY home in the MLS on my website.  

For my generation, we DO NOT read the newspaper on a consistent basis.  The newspaper is a dieing media and I no longer wish to support it.  The internet is where it is at.

VANCE,

Do you advertise on Ebay?  Can you send me a link to one of your listings??  Is it worth your time?

[Joe sez: It is also so thick that my homes get lost.]

Agree.  All you have to do is watch a buyer browse thru the mags and watch their eyes glaze over. Mine sure do!

[I decided I am just going to run a page about me and my website and that they can search EVERY home in the MLS on my website.]

Agree agree.  :)

It's only good as a promotional tool any more . . . imo

Tim, I don't know what is going on with the media. I think we need to be very selective on where we spend our marketing dollars. The Asbury Park Press charges $90 for a 3X3 inch block on the Sunday newspaper. There are so many ads that I could not find my clients house in that mess if I stuck a picture of a dinosaur on it instead of the home. News is not news any more. It's entertainment by sensationalism (is that word?).

Joe, you can't just dump a venue. I always fall back to how I did my house hunting. What made me look in one community or another and what tools I used to find the place where I live. But, maybe that picture of a dinosaur is me.

Candice, I do beleive your web site pays off. It looks like a fun place to check out the area and home prices. If the ad you place in the "free" home magazines directs me there is in a good hearted fun way - I'd take the magazine home and log in to your site.

I think, if I advertise one house on the page and use the message to direct buyers to see more on my web site - everyone wins.

How does your print ad work, Candice?

I'm not depending on the newspaper or the picture books to promote my business.  I'm developing a local marketing area built around my website, www.83616.com.  I'm also trying to build a national referral list with agents throughout the nation.  I'm building the following websites to help grow my business by helping other agents build theirs.

Moving2Alabama.com

Moving-2-Alaska.com

Moving2Arkansas.com

Relocating2Arizona.com

Moving2California.com

Moving-2-Colorado.com

Moving2Connecticut.com

Moving2DistrictofColumbia.com

Moving2Delaware.com

Moving-2-Florida.com

Relocating2Georgia.com

Moving2Hawaii.net

Moving2Idaho.com

Moving2Illinois.com

Moving2Indiana.com

Moving2Iowa.com

Moving2Kansas.com

Moving2Kentucky.com

Moving2Louisiana.com

Moving2Maine.com

Moving-2-Maryland.com

Moving2Massachusetts.com

Moving2Michigan.com

Relocating2Minnesota.com

Relocating2Mississippi.com

Moving2Missouri.com

Relocating2Montana.com

Moving2Nebraska.com

Moving2Nevada.com

Moving2NewHampshire.com

Moving-2-NewJersey.com

Moving2NewMexico.com

Moving2NewYork.com

Moving2NorthCarolina.com

Moving2NorthDakota.com

Moving2Oklahoma.com

Moving-2-Ohio.com

Relocating2Oregon.com

Relocating2Pennsylvania.com

Moving2SouthDakota.com

Moving-2-SouthCarolina.com

Moving2RhodeIsland.com

Moving2Texas.com

Relocating2Tennessee.com

Relocating2Utah.com

Moving2Vermont.com

Moving-2-Virginia.com

Moving2Washington.com

Moving2WestVirginia.com

Moving2Wisconsin.com

Moving2Wyoming.com

Have a great real estate day.

Dennis Jonas

Joe

I don't have a copy of my e bays adds,

I am getting ready to do one soon as the snowbirds leave for Florida

What I do have is this. http://tinyurl.com/yqhnht look at number 3

I have since then sold MUCH more before that story had come out.

The secret it to get your web site on e bay for the exposure and that is priceless.

I was running all new construction ocean front/river front in

Titusville FL.  http://tinyurl.com/2y4f9z

Hutchinson Island FL. http://tinyurl.com/yqm8wo

For the most part pick your best listing and as I stated earlier, be sure to copy and past your home page

( The center Part of the page is what I used) in the add, you will have to fool with but its the web site advertising and of course sales

Do the math $150 /30 days only $5 bucks a day  .......best deal out there.

Good luck with it Joe

Oh Remember this Joe there are what I call super states ie, FL.CA,TX AZ, look at those states first and you will see they should have the most adds, but that does not mean MI may work the same or it could.

Feel it out ok

Vancebay

[Gregory sez: If the ad you place in the "free" home magazines directs me there is in a good hearted fun way - I'd take the magazine home and log in to your site]

And that is EXACTLY what I'm after.

I'll upload a couple of the recent cool ads in a bit and show you. We are known for sillyfunny ads . . .

This just in! Words from my boss:

The Death of Print Real Estate Advertising?

           Don't get nervous, we're going to continue to advertise, but in ever-increasing numbers, the newspaper, magazine industries are heralding their own demise. Advertising revenues are down precipitously and consumer survey after consumer survey is confirming that buyers' noses aren't in print media, they're in front of a monitor. Big surprise to anyone with a pulse (sarcasm). To the extent real estate industry pundits advocate print advertising at all, they preach advertising your website, not houses.

           Notwithstanding conventional wisdom, sellers continue to hound you about print advertising and the need for you to get their home in print early and often. We feel your pain and will, for a time, continue to indulge the madness. It would be remiss of us all, however, to fail to have and to deliver to any prospective listing the facts regarding what is effective in getting homes sold. Each of you should be able to recite the percentages of people who find homes on the internet versus print media, through other agents in the MLS versus print media, through yard signs versus print media, through a dozen other means versus print media. We all know that in the short run the demand for use of print media will remain, but that does not absolve us from the professional obligation to educate our clients. In the long run, sellers will come around and acknowledge what we already know. And some of you may be surprised: An owner may actually take your advice and take the demand for print advertising off the table.

           We're one-sixth of the way through the fourth quarter of 2007. How is everyone coming in completing a written, specific plan for 2008? Remember Alice in Wonderland when the Mad Hatter came to fork in the road and asked the Cheshire cat which way to go? The cat asked "Where are you going?" to which the Mad Hatter replied "I don't know". The cat then sagely observed: "Then what's the difference?" If you don't have goals and a specific plan as to how you're going to achieve them, then opportunities will prove as mystifying to you as the fork appears to the Mad Hatter.            

Kevin Thomas

Chief Executive Officer

Since he owns 11 of these franchises, I guess I'll go with it.

That is GOOD stuff, Gregory.... GOOD STUFF!!!!

Tim

Lemmings march over a cliff, apparently to appease some unreasonable desire to do what "should" be done.

Realtors, on the other hand, educate sellers and they both climb the mountain of success by doing what WORKS instead of what SHOULD be done according to amateurs : )

I quit print a year ago, except for a couple full page personal promotion pages in the homes magazine.  Each time it ran I got a buyer in tow... but the buyers using print were flakes so I quit.