Erica's 5 rules of print advertising pretty good stuff Erica

The Region

inShare Erica's 5 Rules of Real Estate Print Marketing I still use print advertising and marketing campaigns -- but the difference between now and when I started in 2000 is that I do it very carefully. Before I used a more scattered approach, running ads everywhere other agents ran ads, and doing what they did. Now I do it very differently. Here are my rules: 1. COLOR ONLY. Ever see those free print real estate journals with dozens of pages of black and white ads? Many many agents run their own ads in there, then you see the full page company ads. Agents will run half page or quarter page black and white ads, even when they are starting out. All the ads look similar: a box, with smaller boxes (one per house) inside the frame of the ad. All houses look similar from a distance. To get as many ads in as possible they'll use small type. I disagree. I only run COLOR ads and only FULL PAGE. My ads stand out. I design them myself, and don't use the magazine's format. 2. FULL PAGE ONLY. See above. If you cannot afford full page, full color, split the page with another agent but make it look like one solid page. Don't make it look like you're dividing the page, even if you truly are. 3. BE DIFFERENT. If other agents are all doing X you want to do Y. Zig when they zag. I have my pages designed by a professional print designer, not by the guy who runs the magazine. Not because I don't trust him -- he's great. But all the ads have similar layout and design -- all except for mine! Yes! When you turn those pages of similar ads, mine jump out at you. 4. BE CONSISTENT. It's better to run one full page 12x a year than 2 one month, zero the next. Be consistent. Use the same colors, same logo each time. You want people to see your page, and recognize your brand. Mixing up colors and styles only confuses people. Keep it simple. 5. GIVE IT TIME. Print is no different than any other marketing. You don't run one ad, get a dozen responses, and quit. Run it for a few months before judging if the print campaign works. You may not get results until the third or fourth run. But follow these rules -- be consistent, be different, and give it some time, and if it's a good media for you to advertise in, you'll know it in a few months. Good luck! -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------