New School and Old School Equal Success

by Sharon Van Poperin

Let me share an anecdotal story with you. Before I go into the office each morning, I take our chocolate Lab for a walk. On one of our regular routes, I’ve passed by this particular house that has been for sale for months. MONTHS. Now, San Antonio is one of, if not the, healthiest real estate markets in the country, so maybe the owners have purple carpet, and that’s why it hasn’t sold. The house in question has been for sale with the same agent for a good nine months, at least.

Pick a method, any method

The agent in question has used different marketing techniques with their yard sign. Here’s a timeline of what I’ve observed:

– First, the agent had a sign rider with a QR code and a number to text for more information.

– Those went away, and out came the color flyers.

– Now, the agent has black and white flyers with no QR code.

Raises some questions

Observing this timeline made me think about the strategy of this agent and the effectiveness of these various techniques.

– Were the QR codes not resulting in traffic to the embedded link?

– Was that link a very distinct one, where traffic would be easy to quantify, i.e., a landing page on the agent’s own website, rather than the Realtor.com listing?

– Was no one texting for more information?

– Why not employ multiple tactics—QR code, texting, flyers?

I stepped back, as well, and looked at the issue from a prospect’s point of view. Would I want to text a real estate agent I don’t know for more information, where my phone number would be captured, and all of a sudden I’ve opted into someone’s list? I personally wouldn’t do that. I’d probably scan a QR code or take a flyer and look it up on Realtor.com. Or, if in a hurry, I’d take down the address and look it up online.

Playing to the crowd

Have you made it easy for various types of prospects to find information about your listing? There is innovative technology coming out almost every day, it seems, but are you staking your success on one type of marketing, i.e., ignoring the offline component? People gather and absorb information in different ways via different means. If you are relying only on QR codes and texting, you may be alienating buyers who would have picked up a flyer, and vice-versa.

An integrated marketing solution will cover your bases and give you multiple touch points to reach interested buyers. How has your traffic with QR codes and texting been?