Redefining Real Estate E-Marketing Standards

Marketing strategies in the past

Marketing strategies for real estate lawyer Toronto were always the same: print tons of fliers, put out more newspaper ads - a typical numbers game. The more phone calls, fliers and newspaper ads you're doing, the more chances you have to pick up new clientele. However, in our 21st century, full of new technologies, these strategies are likely to fade away.

Based on the latest market analysis by the National Association of Realtors (N.A.R.), 80% of buyers used the Internet to help find a home. Amazingly, only 15 years ago that wasn't possible. Buyers didn't have any choice, but to get help from licensed agents. Back in those days, looking for properties took a lot of energy and required more than a regular "real estate" license. For example, agents needed to memorize that property type CONDO1 represents a condominium with 1 bedroom. In addition, agents were required to page through heavy hard cover MLS books. Both of the previously mentioned skills were often described as "dealer maker" qualities. Sellers and buyers were blind to these books and only agents had the power of knowledge. This all happened of course, before the WWW era.

Marketing strategies nowadays

Nowadays, the same information is found on thousands of real estate web sites. Customers are given the power of knowledge. According to the California Association of Realtors (C.A.R.), nearly half of the REALTORS® said that their business originates from Internet. In our "Google this" age, more consumers are spending their time online to do their own due-diligence prior to looking for a real estate professional. Real estate market customers ask for more information that is publicly available from anywhere and at any time.

Introduction of public Internet access greatly contributed to this change. Internet users started to ask for everything with the "click of a button". This eventually pushed local MLS companies to change their rules regarding sharing listing data. With MLS changing their rules, real estate professionals were given the opportunity to own their own listings portal - their own web site. In the beginning, the only adapters of the new technology were big brokerage firms. As the years went by, technological advancements and high demand reduced the cost of ownership. From this very moment, having a web site became a standard for every real estate agent. Furthermore, having a Web site became as much of a necessity as having a cell phone.

Benefits of today's tools/strategies

The major shift to "e-shopping", is benefiting all involved parties in a real estate transaction:

Buyers are spending less time to look for listed properties. They can find available properties on a user-friendly Listing Search web page that offers access to hundreds of listings based on search criteria. Select city, state and optional bedrooms and bathrooms and wait for the listings. Clicking on a particular listing that got your attention, will bring more detailed information about this property. Most of the time a regular listing information will be accompanied by:

1.      property photos

2.      virtual tours

3.      quick loan calculator

4.      community information

5.      comparable sales

6.      local schools

7.      property on the map

8.      send an email to the agent

9.      an option to schedule a showing with the listing agent

Sellers are benefiting from faster transactions, since every listed property transforms to a property that is visible on "every block". Since most of the web sites are taking their listing data from the same centralized data center, such as MLS, a listing that is uploaded to MLS will turn up on all sites that are sharing the same MLS data. More exposure, of course, means more prospects and a faster sale.

Agents are taking advantage of lower marketing costs. No longer do agents need to rely on expensive fliers and newspaper campaigns, since the cost of electronic media is much more affordable than its "hard-paper" rival.