A Difference – And A Distinction

It has taken me thirty years in the real estate business to figure out what real estate marketing is actually for. And over the years the notion of marketing has continued to evolve, so just when I thought I had caught it, it squirmed away. But here is what I believe today, with a little historical perspective thrown in.

When I started in real estate in the early 80s, it was ALL about the New York Times classified section. There were no giant firms then, and we all vied to see who had the largest number of columns of classifieds in the Sunday Times. Depending on how much money you were earning as an agent, you got one, two, three or more ads per week. And since there were only open listings in those days, no exclusives, you had to go hunt down the properties you were going to advertise. Then, come Sunday, you would see that other people had hunted them down too: you could always tell when someone else had an ad for the same apartment as you. Sometimes, with a newer listing, three or four people at different firms had it in the paper the same day. We knew that because every Monday the entire office sat with the Classified section to figure out what properties we DIDN’T have, so we could go get them.  But it didn’t really matter because, despite what the seller thought, the point of that ad was NOT to sell that apartment. The point was to get buyers to call you.

During the 90s we became an exclusive marketplace. Gradually, open listings went the way of the dinosaur and with them the  columns in the Times began to seem less important. The Times Magazine gained in favor. Glossies containing only social gossip and real estate ads came and went, each claiming to be indispensable before disappearing forever. And I became increasingly disenchanted with print advertising. It was all, to quote the wonderful Evelin Corsey who ran Albert Ashforth for  many years, a “sea of sameness.” How could I, who ran a smaller company, hope to distinguish Warburg or stand out in venue after venue in which all my competitors appeared as well? I realized that I needed to start thinking like a marketer, not an advertiser. Advertising properties was a means to a series of ends. For the seller, it meant their property received exposure. For the agent, it meant access to buyers. But  I was increasingly concerned with how to build the Warburg brand!

Then, as with so many things, the Internet transformed the world. We had to spend a fortune building a website, but then all of our properties appeared on it, 24/7, for minimal ongoing cost. Posting on nytimes.com was less then half the price of a classified ad. So 6 years ago I made a commitment to myself to get out of the classifieds altogether. I had never liked  them, and they seemed increasingly like a  waste of money. I wanted to spend that money on search engine optimization to drive as many people as possible to our website.  (Some things, of course haven’t changed. Agents are more inclined than ever to write ads which are too long and give too much detail. They forget that selling the property on line is not the point: the goal of advertising is to MAKE BUYERS CONTACT YOU!) And we focused in earnest on branding activities. Instead of classifieds, we take a monthly full page in the Times. It boosts our web traffic 25% on the day it appears and makes a big statement about Warburg. We found print venues (Playbill, New York Magazine) which were uncluttered with other real estate ads. And when our competitors discovered them, we moved on. And more of our marketing dollars and time went to, and go to, PR. I and many of my agents are quoted often in the media. Warburg has its gig on “Selling New York” on HGTV, which is watched by more people than I could ever even imagine. And, as you know all too well if you are reading this right now, I blog every week. In 2011, 100,000 people per month have entered our website through the blog.

One of my competitors was recently quoted saying that no one will buy a $10 million apartment because they saw it on HGTV. I agree. And this blog doesn’t sell property either. That is not the point. The point is marketing, not advertising. As we engage in more unique activities, the brand gets more widely known. It becomes more top of mind. As it becomes more top of mind, more people associate to it when they are considering their own, or a friend’s, real estate needs. And then they e-mail us. And THAT is the point!