8 Steps to Writing Effective
Advertising Copy
To attract buyers with compelling
advertising, follow this simple, easy-to-remember process:By John D. Mayfield
Need to write snappier ad copy for your real estate
listings? Remember the phrase "G.E.T. C.A.L.L.S." This is key to
writing effective advertising copy and can get you results in eight easy steps.
I first talked about the acronym memory aid for writing
advertising copy in my book 5-Minutes to a Great Real Estate Ad (Cengage
Learning, 2006). Here's how you can use it.
G:
Grab the Reader's Attention
To perform this task, use a headline or phrase that will
cause the reader to stop and want to read more. Your local television station
is excellent at getting our attention and causing us to tune into the newscast
(e.g. “You won’t believe what this six-year-old boy did today at the zoo!”).
They’ve got your curiosity and make you want to know more.
E:
Entice the Reader With Information
Giving useful, interesting information about the property
is the next step. But you need to go beyond the basic info. For instance, if
you’re promoting a three-bedroom, two-bath bungalow for $159,900, you’re going
to need to distinguish it somehow. After all, there are lots of these kinds of
listings.
What’s especially appealing about this bungalow? How’s
the floor plan, the woodwork? What words can you use to paint a picture about
this home?
T:
Truth in Advertising
You may have heard the saying "Don't let the truth
interfere with a good story," but in advertising to the public, it's
bad business practice. Always paint an accurate picture in all of your
promotions. In the long run, misrepresenting a property or exaggerating features
will hurt you. Once the consumer visits the property or otherwise discovers the
misleading information, then the game is up.
C:
Close the Sale
It may seem odd to ask for consumers’ business in
classified ads, but it’s a smart practice. There are a number ways to ask for
the business: Tell them to contact you for more information about your services
or schedule a private showing, or to visit your Web site for a virtual tour.
Whatever method you decide, make sure you take steps to move the transaction to
its successful conclusion.
A:
Ask the Seller What They'll Miss About Their Home
This is often overlooked by many real estate
professionals, but one most sellers understand when asked. Think about your own
home for a moment: If you planned to sell your house today, what would you miss
the most? I’m sure you could come up with a lengthy list of positive features
you will be reluctant to leave behind.
The same is true for your clients. These are excellent
features to list in your advertising copy.
L:
List Key Features About the Home
For example, you'll want to point out bedrooms, baths,
central air-conditioning, location, school, price, and other important aspects
of the property that consumers need to know. There’s actually a debate on
whether to include area schools or location. Both have pros and cons—use your
judgment in every situation.
However, certain key features about the home are
essential to any promotion. Normally you would include this information
somewhere in the middle of an advertisement.
L:
Look at Other Ads
Whether you’re new to the real estate business or a
veteran practitioner trying to increase your sales, one good way to improve
your advertising copy is to watch and read what other “successful” real estate
professionals are doing. Just don’t copy what they’re doing!
Simply read and watch to help create new ideas for you
when developing classified ads in the future. It will make a huge difference in
the way you market yourself and your clients’ properties if you look at ads
that are producing results for other real estate pros.
S:
Spend Time Preparing and Writing Your Ads
Write several ads for each listing you have. This is an
overlooked practice in the real estate industry. We spend thousands of dollars
on marketing our listings, hours of time earning new business, and agree to
follow a strict fiduciary obligation with our clients. But then we only write
one or two ads in a brief 60-second drill to move on to our next “to do” item.
Avoid that pitfall by reminding yourself to devote a
significant amount of time and effort to developing multiple, quality ads.
By following the G.E.T. C.A.L.L.S. format, you will be
able to build effective ads and, most importantly, get calls from prospective
buyers!
These Words Can Help a Listing Sell Faster:Public comments
provided by listing agents can give information about the property amenities,
architecture, and neighborhood information, and they can also impact the days a
property is on the market, according to a new CoreLogic report.
CoreLogic researchers looked at more than 1 million
single-family transactions controlled for listing price, geographic variations,
and physical housing characteristics and found that certain phrases in public
comments helped sell a home faster.
Which words had the biggest impact? Researchers found that
words like “fenced backyard,” “open concept,” “natural light,” and “updated
kitchen” tended to reduce days on the market for a property.
“For those selling a home that happens to have these
features, they should make sure to ask their listing agent to include these
words and phrases in the public comments,” writes researchers Bin He and Matt
Cannon at CoreLogic’s Insights blog.
Fences appeared four times in the top word pairs – such
words that describe a backyard fence, full fence, or a fence in the yard. The
researchers note that may reflect privacy is a top priority for buyers.
On the other hand, researchers pinpointed some words that
seemed to make the listed property linger on the market, such as “golf course,”
“gourmet kitchen,” “ceramic tile,” and “granite countertop.”
“While granite countertop has been popular, there is a
recent surge in quartz’s popularity,” the researchers note at the blog. Also,
“it appears two-story homes are going off market slower than one-story homes
nationwide. Evidently, ‘two story’ is one of the word pairs that could increase
days on the market, and ‘single story’ is one of the word pairs that could
reduce days on the market for a listed property.”
Researchers were stumped on why properties with “gourmet kitchen”
would stay on the market longer. “One possibility is that this luxury feature
would lead to a higher property value,” He and Cannon posit. “Homes that have
higher prices relative to their neighbors may have less demand than
lower-priced, more affordable homes, and hence it takes a longer time to sell.”
Source: “Say What?! Public Listing Comments Can Have an Impact on Days on
Market?” CoreLogic Insights blog (Aug. 12, 2016)