Is newspaper advertising worthwhile these days?
- Thread starter wylie
- Start date
This has always annoyed me too. Marg, do you look in the newspaper, whether you are looking to buy, or just seeing what is for sale?
The only time I ever open the Saturday paper is when a landmark house is for sale on the cover. I used to always look in the local rag, but it has only just started being delivered to us again after about a year of not getting one. I used to look at the houses for sale because they are local to me, and of interest to me.
If I see anything I like, I turn to the net to see more. I also have on searches via re.com for any houses listed locally.
I agree, for most properties, especially ones that your younger buyer will be looking for, newspaper ads are not worth it.
But your 50+ buyers, and these are generally the buyers with bigger wallets, you would seriously have to consider newspaper also. There is still something about a big glossy colour photo in a newspaper that can get someone wanting your property. We are all emotional creatures, and emotion plays a part in every purchase....even savvy investors, whether you like to admit it, or not
But your 50+ buyers, and these are generally the buyers with bigger wallets, you would seriously have to consider newspaper also. There is still something about a big glossy colour photo in a newspaper that can get someone wanting your property. We are all emotional creatures, and emotion plays a part in every purchase....even savvy investors, whether you like to admit it, or not
Thanks for this insight. This could well be the buyer for this house. My parents bought it in their 60s. Mum was pretty internet savvy but only looked at the house because I dragged her along. She wasn't looking to buy, but she did use the newspaper as well as the internet.
I just don't want to risk losing even one potential buyer, so I think I'll look at taking out just one newspaper advert and not sign up for the package that seems to be overkill.
Newspapers can be useful to attract frustrated buyers who can't find what they want in your area to your home in a cheaper area.
You won't get many buyers is way, but if your home is a little overpriced for the local market then one buyer who thinks your price is good value can be the difference between a sale or not.
I always offer advertising packages with different prices and options so the vendor can choose the strategy they prefer. For most sellers internet, signboard, brochures etc is sufficient, but for prestige properties or unique properties(warehouse at back of property etc) then it is probably worth casting the net a wider even though it costs more.
Just make sure your newspaper budget is spent advertising the property and not the agent, you can talk to the agent about what the ad will look like and the cost first to make sure of that.
You won't get many buyers is way, but if your home is a little overpriced for the local market then one buyer who thinks your price is good value can be the difference between a sale or not.
I always offer advertising packages with different prices and options so the vendor can choose the strategy they prefer. For most sellers internet, signboard, brochures etc is sufficient, but for prestige properties or unique properties(warehouse at back of property etc) then it is probably worth casting the net a wider even though it costs more.
Just make sure your newspaper budget is spent advertising the property and not the agent, you can talk to the agent about what the ad will look like and the cost first to make sure of that.
I think by doing only what you do, may not be a good idea. I believe you have 2 types of buyers, the committed one's and the not committed one's. I believe a big enough percentage of the committed buyers, and I am saying more for PPOR, than say IP, will look at everything, to ensure they don't miss something.
The non committed (or say impulse) buyer is the one that spots some thing while they say having a coffee or just browsing. The papers do research, yes I realise that the outcomes are self serving, however their research does confirm that a sufficient percentage of buyers are still reading the newspaper to make it worth while.
Both web portals, have research which says that they have a certain number of "exclusive" viewers, ie people that only look at one site and not the other.
The other consideration, is price. Finding a buyer at a price that you are OK with is one thing, or even ecstatic about is one thing, however how do you find out, or know if there is not a buyer out there who may pay a bit more.
That is where the strategy and experience of the agent is worthy of consideration. Over the years, I have asked bank managers and finance brokers, who see the results of sales. "What do they think is the difference between a good agent and a not so good agent". The figure varies, and yes I appreciate that some may read these comments as biased. Why not ask your bank manager or finance broker that question.
The non committed (or say impulse) buyer is the one that spots some thing while they say having a coffee or just browsing. The papers do research, yes I realise that the outcomes are self serving, however their research does confirm that a sufficient percentage of buyers are still reading the newspaper to make it worth while.
Both web portals, have research which says that they have a certain number of "exclusive" viewers, ie people that only look at one site and not the other.
The other consideration, is price. Finding a buyer at a price that you are OK with is one thing, or even ecstatic about is one thing, however how do you find out, or know if there is not a buyer out there who may pay a bit more.
That is where the strategy and experience of the agent is worthy of consideration. Over the years, I have asked bank managers and finance brokers, who see the results of sales. "What do they think is the difference between a good agent and a not so good agent". The figure varies, and yes I appreciate that some may read these comments as biased. Why not ask your bank manager or finance broker that question.
Thanks Peter. In the end we thought we would go with newspaper advertising. We need to capture every person who might be interested, even those who don't know they are interested until they see a nice photo and hopefully think "Gee, I like the look of that. Hadn't considered that suburb. I'll take a look."
For this exact reason, we didn't bother with the one/eighth page ads. I find them annoying and too small to make sense of a photo. And the page is too busy with a rash of small photos, all competing for my eyes. If I do look in the paper, I tend to look at the quarter page or larger and the smaller ones just annoy me and clutter up my head.
This sale has a long tortured history, to end a legal stoush and if we left out newspaper advertising, we would always wonder "what if?". With the package, we also get into the Brisbane News, so we thought "what the heck - in for a penny, in for a pound - it's only money".
Had we not advertised in every place possible, we just would never know if the one buyer who would pay a bit more might simply not even know it is for sale.
I do appreciate your post and tend to agree with it.
For this exact reason, we didn't bother with the one/eighth page ads. I find them annoying and too small to make sense of a photo. And the page is too busy with a rash of small photos, all competing for my eyes. If I do look in the paper, I tend to look at the quarter page or larger and the smaller ones just annoy me and clutter up my head.
This sale has a long tortured history, to end a legal stoush and if we left out newspaper advertising, we would always wonder "what if?". With the package, we also get into the Brisbane News, so we thought "what the heck - in for a penny, in for a pound - it's only money".
Had we not advertised in every place possible, we just would never know if the one buyer who would pay a bit more might simply not even know it is for sale.
I do appreciate your post and tend to agree with it.
In the end you only need one person to see the ad.
My builder has advertised in our local paper, wanting to pick up a granny flat build. He doesn't want to pick up more than a couple of builds. He's gone for the paid version of the paper, even though it doesn't have a big circulation, as it is more likely to be read by the older people with established big blocks, perhaps needing to supplement their income.
My builder has advertised in our local paper, wanting to pick up a granny flat build. He doesn't want to pick up more than a couple of builds. He's gone for the paid version of the paper, even though it doesn't have a big circulation, as it is more likely to be read by the older people with established big blocks, perhaps needing to supplement their income.
The cost of newspaper advertising isn't that expensive when you consider the value of the property you're selling - do you really want to risk not capturing all the buyers whether by Internet or newspaper or signage??
If newspapers didn't work, why do people advertise in them? And I don't just mean real estate agents.
If newspapers didn't work, why do people advertise in them? And I don't just mean real estate agents.
