Monday, June 14, 2010

Put people in your photos

Put people in your photos - Tip #4

As we established in my last post, photos and headlines should work together, always keeping HOODOO in mind. Choosing a photo that is not the front of the house, as the main photograph in your ad, is a paradigm shift for most Realtors, as the industry has been doing the same old thing for so long.


However, once we make that bold step, then we can take photographs that will complement and work with the headlines and the results can be quite amazing -- very often, just like clicking on a light switch, from bad, dull, boring ads to great ads that instantly produce fabulous results for your sellers.


Living there -- as we said previously, that is what property ads should be selling and what better way to show potential buyers what it would be like to live there once they purchase the home, than by putting people in the photos, enjoying themselves?


So now we take the next bold step, by putting people and/or pets in your photos. It's a great way to show people what they will be able to DO when they live there.


Remember our personal home we sold?

See how easy it is for the prospective buyer to project themselves into that picture, visualising themselves relaxing after a hard day, once they are living there?

When the buyer (who lived a 2 hour plane flight away) phoned me on the 4th day of our advertising campaign, he only had two questions for me -- "do you get any noise from the highway" (which he saw from Google Earth, was about 1 km away) and "is that you and your wife in the spa?" It was!

As you can see, I practice what I preach.

Another example of the main photo not being the front of the property and showing people, is when we worked with a local Realtor to sell an investment property of ours.


Watch the waves... and the $$$’s roll in!

Once again, see how the photo complements the headline and specifically targets the investor market? We wanted an investor to buy it as a going concern, including all furniture and that was exactly who we attracted, achieving $6000 more than the price in the ad after the campaign had only been running for six days.

Remember John McKenna, the Pennsylvania Realtor who hasn't missed a listing for over 22 months since he began putting this advertising system into place?

Well, to demonstrate how a great ad campaign can make an immediate dramatic difference in results -- John picked up the listing for a property that had been on the market almost 3 years. The previous Realtor couldn't sell the home for $259,000. With a very different ad campaign, John had the property sold in just a few weeks, for a staggering $289,000 -- yes, that's right, $30,000 more than the previous Realtor couldn't sell it for -- how is that for results?!

The headline:

Ron and Janet recall the many family barbecues and
get-togethers enjoyed on this patio

The photo:
I'm sure you've guessed it -- a photo of a smiling Ron and Janet on their patio, next to the barbecue. Imagine how that ad stood out amongst all the other usual boring real estate ads showing nothing but fronts of houses -- and the same with the other two ads shown above. They give life to the properties for sale and the prospective buyers can match it to the picture they already have in their own minds, of what it will be like to live in their new home.

Testimonial
Obviously, John uses this example as a very powerful testimonial, showing that photo and headline. Other sellers love the very different advertising approach, look forward to achieving similar results and happily list with him.


Use people's names in your ads - Tip # 5

The ad above brings up another powerful element you can use in your ads to "humanize" and personalize the ads and the properties for sale -- people's names. When you use the sellers’ first or last names (with their permission, of course), it immediately creates a picture, that real people actually live in and love in the property -- and isn't that what buying a home, then living in it, is all about?
The O'Neales are moving

-- was the headline from another successful ad campaign, with the main photo showing the O'Neales with their suitcases packed, then leading into the story about how much they have enjoyed living in the home, the neighbourhood and the surrounding area and everything it had to offer. The inference being of course that the buyer of the home can look forward to the same enjoyment.

Another property that had been on the market for five months, was sold in two weeks with a new advertising campaign -- the headline:-

Tony and Gai will miss the garden

-- with the photo (yes, you guessed it) showing them sitting relaxed in their garden, with the wording talking about how much they have enjoyed it. The potential buyer can visualize themselves relaxing there in exactly the same way, once they have purchased the property and are living there.

Your name - when you use your name in the ad, make sure it is in full and put one powerful little word ahead of it -- that word is "me" e.g. Phone me, John Smith at........

The minute you do that it changes the communication. "Phone John Smith at..." is a direction, not an invitation. "Phone me, John Smith at...." is an invitation that says "I have viewed the property, I have written the ad, I am talking directly to you and I am inviting you to phone me.

Following the HOODOO concept, you probably realize by now that powerful advertising is a direct personal communication and the readers feel as if you're talking directly to them, when they read the ad.

Most real estate advertising is impersonal, merely talking about the thing for sale -- in this case, the property. Powerful advertising first establishes WHO is the best possible prospect, who will see the most value in the property for them and therefore pay the highest price. Powerful advertising then talks directly to that audience, showing them and telling them what they will be able to DO as a direct result of their purchase -- living there!

I don't wish to make this post too long, so don't miss my next post, where we will talk about something that is vitally important -- putting a media mix advertising CAMPAIGN together and understanding the synergistic effect of getting all your media to work with and complement each other, rather than viewing them in isolation - powerful stuff!

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