A luxury home surely demands high quality campaigns. Whether they feature a great view in Palmer, the mountain views around it, some local ski areas, perhaps in Anchorage, the photos should be magnificent, and the video should be able to show the benefits of living in that particular area, and the beautiful details of the space with an amazing walkthrough. As said by an agent with LIV Sotheby’s International Realty, David McHugh:
“Affluent consumers today are focused not just on a great property, but on the lifestyle that the property will provide their family. How do they see their family using the property? Will this property be a draw for their immediate and extended family to use for family gatherings?”
To show you what we mean, here’s an exciting walkthrough of a home featuring its vast surroundings and truly amazing interior:
And any real estate marketing campaign of a luxury home won’t be complete without a floor plan, especially if it’s a huge house or has a distinct layout. So that should be in the list as well.
Any agent would take it as a great opportunity to showcase a million-dollar listing. The views and the wonderful photos attached to their name and their company’s logo will surely push them up to people’s preferences through the great advertisement.
But what about selling average homes? How would they be able to compete with the top dollar?
The commission after the sale won’t be as high as in selling a luxury home and the budget won’t be as huge as well. But good real estate agents should still be able to find their way around with what they have. One must be able to create an amazing real estate marketing campaign for a lower tier home on a budget.
First and foremost, the expenses. How much should an agent spend on photography and marketing?
Real Estate Marketing expert, Laura Ure, says:
“If the home being sold is for $2,000,000 could easily have $20,000 go into marketing it.”
Therefore, the cost for marketing should just be about 1% of the sale price. Figures may look fine with the example given, but it is actually harder when you’re selling a home in lower price brackets.
The author of ‘Dog Eat Dog & Vice Versa: 9 Secrets to Put the Bite Into Your Marketing’, Jerry Rossi, suggests:
“A good rule of thumb for real estate practitioners is that marketing budgets should equal about 10 percent of their commission income …”
So if an agent will earn 3% commission on a sale, the marketing budget should be around 0.3% of the price. So, in this way, marketing costs would be fair, even for those that are at the bottom end of the market. Let’s look at a few more examples:
If the property costs $700,000 with a marketing budget at .5%, the commission would be $2100.
This is already good for a marketing budget. An agent should be able to afford 20 high-quality photos, a video tour of the home and surrounding area, a floorplan, flyers and other marketing kit. Heck, the costs will even be lower with DMD Real Estate Photography, Alaska’s premier Real Estate Photographer. Checkout their photography packages here: dmdrealestatephotography.com.
There will be more funds left for an online campaign and other necessary services for real estate marketing.
To do a real estate marketing campaign on a house that costs $200,000 with a marketing budget at 0.3%, it would be $600. It could get tight, but the agent should be able to provide 10 high-quality photos and a short video tour of the home.
Therefore, a good agent will still be able to come up with a real estate marketing campaign that can make the listing stand out among its competitors.
What if the house costs lower than $100,000? Say, perhaps, at $85,000?
With the same pattern, the marketing budget at 0.3% of the sale price, we would only have $255. This is a really low-priced home, in this case, and what usually happens is that agents would go for low quality images, the not-so-immaculate ones.
Although there is not much room for extravagance, the agents should still be able to provide 5-10 high-quality photos with this budget. As said before, there are photography packages that cost lower, you just have to check them out.
Not many agents go the extra mile when faced with a low budget. Thus, if you put in the effort to provide high-quality images for a listing, it will surely stand out. While investors and buyers scroll down their search results in sub-$100K range, a property that has been exceptionally advertised with great images will surely get their attention.
Average and low-cost homes also deserve good visual marketing. If one could spend thousands to market a million-dollar property, then he or she should be able to spend a few hundreds on any listing at any price. As an agent, the photos that you use to market any listing will impact your audience, the number of buyers that you attract, the sale price, and subsequently, your brand. Thus, every home deserves to be showcased at its best light.
DMD Real Estate Photography can surely offer you the best solutions for your next real estate marketing campaign. Check us out here or give us a call: (907) 268-7701.