Real Estate magazines that promote one or two homes in each suburb across an entire metropolitan area are the ultimate example of hit and miss advertising. A buyer that wants to buy in Moonee Ponds is not considering Sunshine as an alternative and vice versa. Whenever you see mass wastage taking place, it’s always good to examine the motive and identify the person who carries the burden of the waste.
Agents will tell you that their in-house marketing is all powerful and has massive reach. Printing 15,000 copies of the magazine each week gives the magazine a potential circulation (mainly via cafes and shops) of 15,000. Paying hard earned money to advertise in one of these magazines does not give you access to a database of 15,000 buyers as is often claimed. A database is where the real estate agent has the full contact details of the potential buyer on file. Trying to advertise your home to Joe Nobody in a cafe whilst he drinks coffee is not marketing your home to a home buyer. It’s all about advertising the agent’s brand with the client’s money.
The agents have so little conviction in their own magazine that they need the home seller to carry the cost and risk of advertising in the agent’s magazine. An agent asking for advertising money to find a buyer is an admission that they don’t have a buyer. If they really had a database of buyers, why do they need $5,000 to fund an advertising campaign looking for a buyer? Who really believes that the break even cost of a page in the magazine is $350? No, it’s $350 per page because there is profit built into the magazine for the agent. Nothing wrong with profit if it adds genuine value to the customer. But to spend thousands of dollars advertising Essendon real estate to a Northcote home buyer adds no value to the home seller forking out good money to be in the magazine. To spend thousands advertising in print when buyers look on the internet defies logic.
Sorry, but in-house property magazines are nothing but a profit centre for the agent.