Section Of Paper To Place "We Buy Houses" Ad
Wondering if there has been any discussion on this.... Most, it not all people including myself put their ad in the homes for sale section of the classifieds. I am really inclined to think there is a creative place to put this besides the home for sale section.
Anyone try the financing section? The apartments for rent section? The legal section? I am just trying to think like a motivated seller.... Why would a motivated seller be looking in the homes for sale section? Seems to me they would be more apt to be looking for a second mortgage, legal advice or starting to look for an apartment....
Any thoughts?
fordecan,
I used to advertise in the Los Angeles Times in the Real Estate Classified and I put in an ad stating that I was representing a private investor who made all his money in real estate and now wanted to help others get rich. Accordingly he will lend at the lowest rates and I the Broker was not greedy.
I led the ad with an increase in type size of the telephone number. I closed the add with a repeat of the same telephone number in a larger type style.
What occured because of the large type style at the beginning and end which displayed just the telephone number, that many people called thinking they were calling the ad in front of mine or the one behind mine.
This is called "Pick Up" It is fun because all the advertisements in front of you and behind you funnel calls to your two big numbers why? Well a lot of people are holding the paper in one hand and dialing a phone with the other. Their glance goes on the paper and what sticks are your big numbers. then there are the checkers, they put check marks on the paper on the ad they want to call on. Once again from paper to telephone they lose their place and the big numbers pull their eyes and they dial you.
I increased the call volume of the Mortgage Company that employed me by over 50% just by that one little goody.
But then I had been a busy practicioner of PsyWar in the military for over 10 years so I brought an entirely different background to the area of advertising.
If you think thats fun, you should have seen what happened when I talked them into putting live commercials on the television.
There are other teck's you can use. The whole theory is to utilize the other ads to your advantage and you can do that with little games such as the above.
In todays market the time has come to be super creative and in that section of Money Wanted Real Estate to Private Lender Real Estate, is a playground. Watch the ads that are placed and come up with a draw, you can do it with blank spaces, larger and different type styles and best of all crazy copy.
I enjoyed it. Lucius
The name of the (advertising) game is keep on experimenting and do not hesitate to be diferent and get "out of line". In words of the recent Apple adcampaign, mesage: Think Different ! say it all.
Because NO ONE can really tell what would work best for the particular ad in your particular aria you have to experiment. Never the less, keep in mind another very important rule in marketing that requires from you to focus on target aria. If this is the good rule, and it is, it is interesting to see how advertising in the unrelated arias would work in your case. Let us know how it goes. [ Edited by omega1 on Date 02/02/2004 ]
Thank you for your responses. I just placed my first vanilla ad last week and have yet to get a call.... I have read some other posts and it seems that @ 1-2 calls a week is a decent payback from the thrifty nickel.
I had a box put around the ad - which I think is a necessity. I know when I look at the ads, my eyes are drawn to the ones with the boxes around them...
I will play around with the words and see what happends.
fordecan - advertising doesn't have to be some dark mysterious black hole you pour money down without ever know what is working other than by trial and error.
There are simple, scientific and best of all tried-and-true methods of developing superior ads.
One of the best ones, which you can use right now is the simple technique of dual ad testing.
The technique is used to build the best ad possible or to discover the best placement.
Simply place 2 ads at the same time in the paper you are using. If you want to test placement, place the exact same ad in 2 places, the industry method is to use 2 phone numbers so you instantly know what ad is pulling in the responses, however you can just ask the people when they call questions about the ad, (where is it located in the paper)
Using this method you will know for certain and mathematically what your return on investment is depending on where you ad is in regard to placement.
The second use is to build the perfect ad. The technique is to run 2 versions of your ad. The first time you do it you find out which of the 2 ads is pulling the best.
The next time you run your ads you discard the worst of the first 2 ads, running your better ad and a new one. You just keep doing this, discarding the ad that does worse over time. Eventually you will have a portfolio of ads that you can draw from that are going to give you measurable results.
Good luck.
I put my ads in the for rent section. I get my best results there. The first time in was in there by accident now it is my usual place to advertise.
lori
[addsig]
Hey Tinman.
Thanks- that is exactly what I was looking for..... I suspected that the for rent section might be a winner.
Fordeacon, Don't over look what you initially brainstormed, also. Individuals looking for "a way out" will definitely read the Financial/Loan type ads.
Whatever YOUR "niche" is, crafting an ad to engender responces for HELP should be fun, as well.
"Behind on Payments ? I can Help."
"Equity or None- We Loan."
"Business Partner Available for Homeowners."
These ads will be treated by the publication as Business Ads, so you may not be able to get by with any FSBO/Personal ad type rates.
Once you get a responce from your ad, you do what's called,"turn them around."
Example: "Oh,hades,from what you've just disclosed to me, Mr. or Mrs. Homeowner, it sounds as if your a little in arears and no lenders going to be comfortable with that, as you might understand, HOWEVER, my partner and I........"
Get the picture ? Something along the lines of, "here I am to save the day."
You got it. Go take what these gentleman have shared and Rock.
YOU had the creative unction to start with.
That kindred spirit thing jazzes us, my brother man.
Alan