internet vs. print media?

[katom34]

Hello.

We just got our new site through real estate web design and now we are struggling with which way to market the site.

Which way have you guys seen better ROI, internet or newspaper?

Thank you

[BrandonSternfield]

There are many threads debating this (try searching for 'is print media dead' on these forums).

It comes down to both being good, and either could have better ROI depending on how you design and implement them.

[Jeff Casterline]

I have never had much luck with print advertising. Just makes my sellers happy. I am starting to do more internet advertising and I feel like in the long run I will definitely see more ROI from that.

[RESteve]

I tend to focus on what I do best; this happens to be online lead generation. On the other hand, you can totally leverage on print advertising (hire an assistant, setup a system, put it on autopilot) so I'll probably dive into this side of lead generation in the near future.

[BrandonSternfield]

With any advertising, the best one for you, is the better one that YOU can do. If you have no eye or knowledge with print media, I'd say go internet.

If you know about pounds whether to print on cotton or what not, go with paper.

Both are designed completely different (not just RGB and CMYK ;D), so they both have the same potential. It also depends on the area. If you want to market to senior citizens, I'd go with print media, and with bigger words. If I wanted to market to 20 somethings, I'd do internet, with small mailers.

[Morristown]

In my area, if you want to go after the listings, you have to send out the mailers, although many of the people will only do things on referral or on a letter of endorsement as my neighbor a commercial Realtor recently told me. He basically said that the trick is that you have to impress one of the neighbors with your performance, and then get them to recommend you to a few others who are thinking of selling. If you can't get that, you have to bombard them with mailers.

Buyers around here you ether get them from referals, doing open houses or through the Internet. Getting them from open houses is fine when the housing market is very strong, but these days you could starve trying to do it that way. The average number of people coming to open houses these days seems to be about 3 or 4 per open. The average conversion from open houses seems to be more like 1 in 20 are actual buyers, then about 2/3 of them are already with a Realtor. I gather lots of info from the people who come to my open house. It seems that more then half come because of finding the house online someplace. and the other half come, for the following reasons, realtor sent then, neighbor sent them, passing by, and always last is News Paper Ad.

Do what you do best, but work on your weaknesses.

Jim

[REM Consultant]

Hello All

As a Real Estate Marketing Consultant, I would recommend doing a balance of both, but leaning more heavily towards internet media. The reason is something running in print gets out of date very quickly and not only that to print items is extremely expensive. However, before you lean on one side versus the other you need to think about your target market. If you are targeting 55 and over, print media would probably stick better since this generation is not all that saavy on the Internet, but if you are hitting young working professionals I would lean towards internet media.

I hope this helps

Karen
Real Estate Marketing Consultant
www.remcommunications.com

[rew Kathleen]

I am not a real estate agent but I am a designer, trained in Print media and some web.
I would say in my experience if someone has there sights set on something and they want to find it, they go to the Internet.
If someone is thinking about something and needs some persuasion, than Print can come in very handy.

I think in the advertising world, both print and Internet have there place.

I know that personally a while ago when I was looking for a gym to join, I went to the Internet first to gather information and find a gym that intrigued me, and of course I got all the info I needed.

But next I still went to the gym to grab some printed documents (class schedules, payment plans, etc) all of which was available on the website as well.
I think if you catch someones attention over the net and they come to your office or to an open house, its nice to give the client the option to take home something printed that is very imformative, and if its something thats well designed and professional, they will be happier (whether they realize it or not, people are simply attracted to pretty things )

well I hope that is something to think about at least. Just thought id put in my two cents

[JennSellsFast]

Like clockwork, all of my listings come from mailings, and my buyers come from the internet. I guess thats the way it is.

[flick_mao]

I think both... It depend on how you manage you website... maybe it just lack priority and links... A good website could take both the newspaper and internet advertising job just in one...