Look:

• Sample Half Page Ad
• Sample Full Page Ad

Listen: Marketing Call April 30, 2001 (50.5 mins)

Learn:

A Powerful Homes Magazine Template

Does your advertising bring you measurable, predictable returns of at least $30 in commissions for every dollar you spend?

Your homes magazines are begging to do more, a lot more, than just show pictures of your listings. They’re the perfect opportunity to drive a ton of business to you and to your strategic alliance partner Lender (who would gladly pay for half or all of the ad, depending on results).

To understand the power of “being different” in your marketing, let’s take a step back and look at the whole process of buying and selling a home.

A consumer “in the process” of thinking about moving will often pick up a homes magazine from the supermarket.

After paging through the first five pages of the magazine, the pages blur – they all begin to look alike. Every page has a picture of the agent, a franchise or company logo, some empty claims echoing those made by the competition, “Serving Grand Rapids For 12 Years!” “For All Your Real Estate Needs!” “Putting You First!” or “Service Is My Business!” and perhaps a clever slogan, “Let’s Talk Real Estate” or “The Team That Works.”

Marketing experts call this puffery. Dean Jackson asks, “Would you rather be famous – or rich?” What he means is that consumers don’t respond to photos, logos, empty claims or clever slogans. While you may like to see your photo in print (“Look ma! I’m famous!”), it’s a very weak strategy for obtaining new clients or proactively marketing your listings (making you rich).

The ads below are designed to stop the reader in his tracks; compel action; convey several unique service offers; highlight your services (or services of your strategic alliance partner); produce results for your listings; compel the reader to call a free recorded message; and let technology do the work for you, all while allowing the reader to form his own conclusion that you’re far different from “all the rest.”

How it Works:

Here’s a marketing challenge from Dean and Terry. Do the following test to measure the results of “daring to be different”:

1. This month, run an ad in your homes magazine that looks exactly like every ad placed by your competition.
    
   
2. Track your results.
    
   
3. Listen to the Click-Training that explains step-by-step how to generate at least three times the results you’re currently obtaining.
    
   
4. Download the ad template, insert your information, change nothing else.
    
   
5. Next month, run the ad exactly as shown, without changing a thing except your name, company, phone number and listings.
    
   
6. Track your results:

• Which ad generates the most activity on your listings?
• Which ad brings you the most calls inquiring about your services?
• Which ad generates the most appointments?
• Which ad results in selling more of your listings yourself, instead of giving away half of your profits to your competitors?
• Most importantly, which ad produces the lowest transaction cost?

You be the judge. Which works the best?

Download These Templates:

• Publisher Document — Sample Half Page Ad
• Publisher Document — Sample Full Page Ad

Samples/Templates:

Sample Half Page Ad

Sample Full Page Ad