Nice to know info.  Thanks!

Scott, sorry you had such a bad experience.  My company takes a full page ad out every month in Homes & Land.  I don't know what they pay for it, but we've not had any major problems that I'm aware of.  As a matter of fact, we recently did a local festival and had a booth.  We requested extra copies to have on hand for the festival and they immediately delivered an entire box to our office.

I don't know about this lead generation thing with them.  As far as I was aware, they just print your ad and hopefully you get calls off of it.

Thanks Scott for refreshing our memory with print advertising taking $$ and hardly giving back.  Seems that it is used more for SELLERS to show another form of marketing their home and getting the listing.  The Internet is where it's at and P2 is GREAT!

"...They just print your ad and hopefully you get calls off of it."

So, are you getting calls?  I'm curious as we have opted to no longer do the print ads (beginning this month) in the listing magazines because we were NOT getting calls.  Our broker is going to continue with her full page ad but Susan and I aren't... of course, our listings will still be presented in the brokerage ad but not with our personal phone number.  We also are no longer running ads on the Real Estate Channel... not that they are very expensive but, again... no calls.

In my opinion Homes and Land, The Real Estate Book and the like are ONLY good when used as a listing tool.  Customers like to see their homes in print.  I challenge anyone to prove to me that advertising in this type of book helps you SELL your listing... It can be used as a listing tool but I don't think it helps sell your listing. You might even get a few leads, but at what cost per lead.  

Good thing for me, our broker Kevin Levent has built the company big enough (3000  agents) that we have our own full color magazine published that is very similiar to TREB.  Our mag is distributed in all Krogers and Publix around Atlanta.  Our listings used to run until sold, but then he changed the format and each new listing only runs one month.  The mag is called Hot Properties.  Even though the effectiveness for us individually may not be as good as it was but we still have a great looking magazine to present in listing presentations.  Thanks Kevin!!!!  

Kevin actually diverted more money to internet systems and some really kick butt billboards with bright red LED screens that show how many homes are for sale in Atlanta, there are five of them at strategic entrances into metro Atlanta and everyone we talk to has seen them!  We have a really cool sign mascot named Metro Mike and he is on the billboards.  Millions of drivers and travellers around Atlanta everyday, Great branding for us!

Anyway, our broker is sharp and even he thought that diverting funds from print advertising was the way to go.

I have not run ads in TREB or any other print medium for several years now, I don't think it has hurt me any.

However, I think that the problem with a lot of these print magazines is the ad design.  They all look the same, if you were to hire someone to make you really, really stand out you might be able to drive traffic to your site, which is the only thing print advertising should be used for today.

Has anyone tried hiring an ad agency to create a good pulling ad for them?

Hello,

Great POST.  I to tried their magazine. Never even got leads from them.  Out of the 10 calls I got over 4 months, none had a computer, and only called about a very low priced listing.  I cancelled.    

MY COMPANY GETS LEADS FROM HOMES & LAND.  ALL THE AGENTS ARE GIVEN THE LEADS AS THEY COME IN.  NOT ONE HAS EVER CONTACTED US BACK.

What a great post. I had recently been having thoughts about Homes and Land and was draging my feet but print advertising has not been good, costly but not good. This post has been a real eye opener anyone have information on internet sites that might proove more wearthy or my advertising dollars?

Lucia said "Anyway, our broker is sharp and even he thought that diverting funds from print advertising was the way to go."

I have a very sharp broker and we did the same thing 6 months ago diverting from print to Internet and our web leads have skyrocketed. The buyers are online and we have to make our sellers aware that marketing shouldn't be the same as before.

Danny is absolutely correct, the ads are a listing tool, not a selling tool.

I advertise in Homes and Land for 2 reasons, and neither reasoon has anything to do with great marketing homes.

One, I like to contribute to the advertising within my office, and my broker always takes a page in Homes and Land.

Second, Homes and Land mails a copy of the magazine to the sellers whose homes are advertised that month.

Homes and Land provides me with a rudimentary web site that occasionally drives a visit that sends the lookers to my site. I spend about $70.00 per month on these ads. ($33.00 for my photo and $33.00 for the photo of my listing.)

In general, I agree with the assessment that print advertising is not the most effective use of our advertising dollar.  If you are going to conduct print advertising, a few things should be kept in mind:

1)  Which venue is best to use (i.e. Homes and Land, Home Connection, your local newspaper) will vary by area.  As you mentioned in your post, Homes and Land is a franchise and readership and service levels vary widely from area to area.  In our area, Homes and Land is by far the most read, has the longest shelf life, and has the best POS distribution.

2) Any print advertising is enhanced (in my opinion) by direct response type advertising such as a call capture system (Proquest or similar) that allows you to track the specific number of calls that particular ad in that particular publication generated.  Most importantly, they capture the number of the caller allowing you to be proactive with lead follow-up.

3) Ad placement may be more important than the publication or even the quality of the ad itself.  A mediocre ad in a mid level distribution publication that is in a premium location (front/back cover, inside front cover, center) will usually generate a better response than a dynamite ad in the leading publication but with poor placement.

I am fortunate that my company generally commands the first 10 pages of each Homes and Land issue so that is where my print ad dollar goes first.  That being said, my print ad dollar may be the last dollar I spend in any given month.

One problem I have with many of these print ads is that thay are not up to date. Before getting my RE license I invested in income properties (still do). Most of the time when I called about a magazine type print ad the listing was already sold. That is when I began using the Internet for more up to date listings. I like having full MLS access now. I tell people this in my listing presentation. I tell them that the Interent is a better way to market properties but we will do whatever they want.

Lucia, you are my newest hero. I read all your posts and take notes on many of them. You are making me a better Realtor.

The First Broker I worked for always ran a full page ad in TRB and Homes and Land. Still does as far as I know.The Listings were all HUD homes and had been sold years ago.

He advertised ridiculously low mortgage payments. You had to read the really tiny print to see that "these prices are based on a 40% down payment". His only reasoning was to make the phone ring.

He didn't particularly care that most of the people calling couldn't qualify for any kind of financing, but he was providing "leads" for the agents. This was one of his big marketing points to prospective agents.

I never got one lead that was able to actually buy a house from his marketing. I've never received even any phone calls or identifiable web traffic from any ads I've run in these magazines.

I get more viable leads from my web site from syndication click throughs than I ever got from any kind of print.

I'm about to buy my first print ad in a long time as an experiment. Another agent in my office managed to reserve a 2/3 page ad in the summer edition of the Chamber of Commerce Relocation Guide, right side of the page with the table of contents on the left. We're going to split it among 4 agents. They say they get around 4000 requests per month for copies of this publication so we'll see.

Spend your money in the internet, since 83% of new buyers and sellers go to the internet.  I also invested in the same magazine and paid the high monthly fee and received nothing in return on the investment.  I have focused all my advertising on the internet and I have had a hugh return on the investment already this year.  Paper ads are a sellers appeasement.

Lucia is right. Our broker Kevin Levent is very sharp at Marketing.  I am also one of the 3000 agents that work there and our "Hot Properties" Maginzine is a good tool for Sellers. I've noticed when I'm out that people see my magnets and comment on the billboards we have. They are huge. People driving anywhere around Atlanta can see them.

I've started running a 1/2 page ad of my listing in the RE Book and I have my website on it. I've been getting alot of visitors to my site and when I respond to them I ask how they found me and alot are saying the RE Book. I can say that 2 of my recent sells were from the RE Book. Print so far has paid for its self.

Great post and I think the day of print advertising is gone. Newpapers and Magazine subscriptions across the US are down. Most everything can now be found on the net and that is where people are going!

Todd

I switched to the real estate book years ago because the pricing at Homes and Land was going through the roof.  I also get internet leads from them, they are not great leads but I do convert a couple every month.  For 500 bucks go to one of your favorite restaurants and discuss a menu ad.  I split menu printing costs with them and I am the only advertisment there.  I've also gotten one client from the menu ad, it took 4 months.   Good Luck!

Realtor, Columbus Ga

Thanks I know not to trust anyone for leads!

Homes and Land is .......

Thanks for the info

Mary