If you appreciate research, you will enjoy some of these statistics. They point to the prioritization of tools that agents and brokers are seeking to improve the effectiveness of their marketing. The survey conducted by Imprev was presented to agents and brokers attending the Leading Real Estate Companies of the World conference.
Keynote: They want iPad Listing Presentation Apps. With Apple selling more than 250,000 iPads a week – it is clearly a game changer that professional real estate agents are adopting. RE/MAX in concert with Imprev is the first company to launch a franchise-wide listing presentation tool for the iPad (RE/MAX seems to always be the first franchise to do anything)
The iPad Presentation App topped a list of 25 different marketing products, from which respondents chose up to five different products they would like to have. The next most popular marketing product was automated (or “Drip”) eMarketing campaigns (35 percent), followed by single property websites (29 percent), a personal blog (28 percent) and video (25 percent). If you are putting together your product offerings for agents, you should be considering these items in addition to websites and IDX. RE Technology will be featuring these items in many of the eCommerce stores being launched this year for MLSs.
It is interesting to note that video has fallen to 5th on this list. Blogging and Video have been the marketing darlings of the real estate industry of late. Blogging engages consumers in conversation and improves search engine optimization. Video increases consumer connections with properties and neighborhoods.
The Smartphone was picked as agents’ and brokers’ current favorite technology, with a little more than half those surveyed saying it was their top choice (52 percent), followed by the iPad/tablet (26 percent), laptop/notebook/netbook (16 percent), desktop computer (5 percent) and other (1 percent). The nation’s MLS are tragically behind in supporting agnets and brokers on mobile. Perhaps this data will ring a bell.
Email marketing ranked number one as the most effective marketing product used today (51 percent), followed closely by an agent website (50 percent), virtual tours (42 percent), printed postcards (36 percent) and Facebook (32 percent). MLSs do more email marketing than they think. For every 15,000 members, and MLS sends about 6 Million email alerts. Perhaps it is time to make some significant improvements in the design of these emails.
Those surveyed by Imprev said the most effective marketing products for agents 10 years ago were newspaper display ads (69 percent), followed by postcards and flyers (tied at 66 percent each), newspaper classified ads (58 percent) and magazine display ads (48 percent). Today, just 12 percent of agents picked newspaper display ads as one of their effective marketing products, with 10 percent selecting magazine display ads and just 8 percent selecting newspaper classified ads. WAV Group has written numerous articles about the newspapers are like nursing homes. Its days may be numbered, but consumers are still begging for them.
It is interesting to note that online advertising did not enter into the list of top marketing products. It would seem that online advertising is delivering more of a vitamin than a painkiller to the marketing efforts of agents and brokers. Given all of the emotional turmoil, its days may be numbered if publishers cannot repair their relationship with the industry. Here is some research on this issue.
The number one reason more than one-in-four agents still place a newspaper display advertising for every single listing: their seller expects or requests the ad, according to 79 percent of the respondents surveyed.
The Imprev survey also showed the marketing clout of Leading Real Estate Companies of the World® members, as nearly one-out-of-three (31 percent) conference registrants surveyed spent more than $5,000 for marketing per agent in the last 12 months. They also were significantly more active in selling homes than the average REALTOR®, with two-thirds (66 percent) of those surveyed completing 10 or more transaction sides in the last 12 months, compared to the latest National Association of REALTORS® research, which shows just half of all agents completed 10 or more transaction sides.
As a side note. The Imprev iPad app is currently only available to RE/MAX agents under the brand name RE/MAX Presenter. It can be downloaded from the iTunes App Store, but a RE/MAX id number is needed to unlock the app. I was unable to find out if Imprev plans to release the App to their other franchise accounts or out into the open world for everyone. If you are at the Leading RE Show – you may want to stop by their booth. Ask for Renwick Cogdon (CEO), Kevin Hawikins (Commuications), or Curt Schooling (VP). You may also call Imprev at 1-800-809-3356.
A note about RE/MAX – they seem to pick great technology partners. Their relationship with Imprev and Homes.com keeps yielding impressive results. Here is a recent update to the Homes.com relationship which was renewed.
Disclosure: Imprev is not a WAV Group Client, but we are fans.
