What Makes A Good Real Estate Advertisement?

Marketing your home is one of the most (if not the most) important components of your sale. The thought and care in marketing a property will have a direct impact on the outcome. This does not only relate to where the property is marketed and by what means, but importantly who you are marketing to. The advertising text used in real estate marketing needs to be created, crafted, and finalised with great care.

All too frequently I see many agents write an ad for a property missing key features of a home or not aiming the ad at the right target market, or filling it with meaningless information not even related to the property. Sadly in a busy market many owners will be oblivious to this as buyers will still look if there are no other opportunities in the market. However, crafting the right ad for your home can be the difference between a fair price and a great price. It can also mean the difference between selling and not selling. Writing an advert text for a property takes skill, structure, and strong knowledge of the property.

There are a number of effective structures commonly used, but the text should highlight the key features of the property, the location, and create some emotion in a buyer so they want to inspect. It makes the most sense to prompt a buyer to look. Phrases like ‘too good an opportunity to miss’, ‘unbelievable chance’, ‘worthy of your prompt attention’ will also evoke emotions that make buyers act. Of course these statements need to be credible, no point in saying that it’s a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ if there are numerous others like it for sale. The good use of adjectives is also important in describing the ‘feel’ of an aspect of a home. For example, an outdoor living space could be described well by saying ‘private and impressive alfresco space catering for easy entertainment’ rather than ‘big private outdoor living’.

These subtle enhancements can improve enquiry rates on properties and if written well should be inviting, accurate, and evoke emotion to act. The ad should be concise, informative on the property and location, and have a call to action encouraging enquiry. Of course this is one small part of marketing real estate. Where the ad goes, photography, photo order online, media used, presentation, launching the property to market at an appropriate time (when all the marketing is ready – not in dribs and drabs), and many other components need to be considered.