Tony Brazier

www.braziers.co.nz

Tony Brazier

The Press - Wednesday 4 November 2009

Web vs Print

Part of your property sales decision will be whether to place emphasis on internet based marketing or on more traditional methods like print media. Not so very long ago the biggest problem for real estate agents in marketing your property came from not being able to adequately cover all available print media options that were available. Whether this was the era that started vendor paid advertising to solve this problem or not is worth reflection. But the industry itself was not clear on which media was best and therefore tried to cover it all. From company booklets, classified ads in daily’s to surburban rags, we tried to cover it all. What resulted was frustration among the buyers to have to buy, order or pick up several print media just to get an overall reflection of the market’s offerings.

Eventually, by design or by accident, the industry leaders cried enough and a few chosen media enjoyed the bulk of the orders. Among these were The Press, the Realtor and as Harcourts grew, the Bluebook. The public was happy.

And then came the internet. When a new innovation like the printing press or Henry Ford’s assembly line comes in, it takes about seven years to get 10% acceptance by its public but after another seven years it can get up to 90%. Today 88% of people have access to the internet but not all of them use it to look up property.

Gone are the days that a self respecting agency thinks it can survive without displaying its wares on the net. A recent (2008) Lincoln University Property Group survey compiled by John McDonagh, showed that 27.27% of buyers felt that the internet was the most preferred source to locate properties. With the growth of totally property dedicates sites like www.realestate.co.nz it is possible to source and pinpoint the geography position, with drive-by, of any property in New Zealand.

But does this mean that print media is dead. Not by a long shot. The survey shows that although growing, the Internet still is slightly behind combined print media at 29.26% as a preferred source. Could it be that the internet now has too much choice? After all it has grown in 1996 from 26 million web pages to 1 billion in 1998 and last year to 1 trillion different web pages. Most agents have one. Most countries have several, claiming to cover the majority of real estate listings. But are we not at a stage similar to before where the buyers are crying out “Give me just one to refer to”.

What is it about print that defies this juggernant of web based marketing? Is it the shelf-life or the transportability of a magazine. Maybe it is easier to curl up with than a laptop. The survey shows that 53.26% of sellers asked their salesperson to advertise in particular publications. Of these 31.25% requested the Realtor as their first choice. 18.75% the Bluebook, 14.58% The Press and 16.67% the internet.

When it came to buyers using print media, to find the property they actually purchased, the Realtor remains the most popular with 49.43%, the Bluebook 29.39%, the Press 11.25% and all other 10.1%. Therefore both buyers and sellers are showing that although threatening, the web certainly doesn’t have it all its own way.

The smart money would say that the internet will take over in the future but whilst we have the demographic forecast that we do, that may be a way off yet. In the meantime ensure your agent has access to an impressive choice of both website(s) and print media that you can check on as to the effectiveness. Google the request your buyer might make to find your property and ensure their chosen site(s) is/are present. For print media, ask them to show you the statistics to say that it works. After all you will probably be paying for the privilege of having your property in it. You want to know that it will reap rewards.

Print and web based marketing are comfortable bed fellows for now. You just have to get the mix right.