Luxury real estate marketing is an important skill to have as a luxury real estate agent and it’s important for luxury homeowners to evaluate their potential agents based on their marketing methods.
Marketing, in general, is a large and diverse subject that changes constantly.
Luxury real estate marketing is no exception.
With advancements in technology and the vast amount of knowledge and resources home buyers and sellers have at their fingertips, it’s essential to the success of a luxury real estate agent to learn and develop proficiency in luxury real estate marketing.
This guide will be helpful to agents, as well as sellers.
Images are the Most Important
Images make or break home listings.
It’s quite simple and doesn’t need much justification. If an agent has bad photos of a home, as in blurry, poorly lit, or terribly positioned shots, then they will have a much harder time drawing in a buyer.
Plain and simple.
Images aren’t meant to sell homes. Rarely will buyers ever look at images and say, “let’s put an offer in”. That’s not the point of pictures.
The point of quality photography is to make the buyer say, “I want to get a closer look at this home”.
Think of them as the first impression. The hook to capture the buyer’s attention. Thus, allowing you to draw them in and give the property a chance of selling.
Bad Images Make Luxury Homes Look Like “Fixer-Uppers”
Luxury homes are not generally “fixer upper’s”. While you can find the occasional “million-dollar construction project”, it’s not likely.
Poor images can give that vibe though. Even for the best of homes.
In Asheville, North Carolina, my playground. There’s a town just North of Asheville called Woodfin.
Woodfin has two sides.
West Woodfin has a sewage plant that permeates such a foul aroma that it lowers the value of the properties around it.
East Woodfin, however, is prime soil for Asheville’s finest luxury homes.
A house was built in 1995 in this area and sold for $1.8 million in 2013. A premium price for the Asheville luxury market.
It’s currently on the market (Dec. 2019) for $3.8 million.
Why?
Besides renovating here and there and modernizing it.
Images.
Better. Images.
The pictures taken in 2013 made the luxury home look like a $250,000 investment property. The images taken in 2019 make the home look like a luxury home with a superb lifestyle and a spectacular view of the Blue Ridge Mountains to compliment it.
Pictures matter.
Video Marketing
Speaks More Than Words
We’ve all heard it before. “A picture speaks a thousand words”.
It turns out a video speaks 8,500 words.
They also found that videos will capture 66% more qualified leads per year, which is good news for you and your luxury real estate agent since a lead can mean a buyer for your property.
If the home is staged as well, it makes the video that much more engaging.
If a luxury real estate agent decides to lead the property tour on camera, then they can point out how the furnishings add to the lifestyle one could achieve or how the room flows really well with the furniture in it.
Whatever they come up with, staging the property will be extremely helpful.
I wrote this guide on the importance of staging luxury homes.
Better Distribution
Videos capture more attention, but they’re also easier to share.
Photos require buyers to scroll through and view each individual picture. That means when photos are shared via social media, the agent must distribute them by picking the most attractive image as the cover. Then hope the user clicks on it to see the other photos.
It’s a hit and miss system.
Videos, on the other hand, can capture the user quickly and more efficiently. Instead of the user having to click through photos, the video does it for them in a more entertaining format.
They Feel Better
Videos have a sense of prestige compared to images.
These days, anyone can take a good photo with their smartphone. We don’t even need expensive professional cameras anymore to capture the perfect moment.
However, video is still foreign to many and requires a lot more effort to create quality.
If an agent implements video into their luxury real estate marketing plan, they’ve separated themselves from millions of luxury real estate agents and have gone lengths to impress their clients and leads.
That’s a winning solution.
Direct Mail
A lot of people say direct mail marketing is dead. I’m not sure why.
Luxury real estate agents that aren’t using direct mail are missing out on a lot of opportunities.
Sure, there’s a higher expense involved versus online channels, but one transaction can easily pay for a whole year of direct mail, if not more.
Repetition is Necessary
Repetition is the key to direct mail marketing.
Listing a luxury home and sending out the standard “Just Listed” card to all the nearby homes needs to happen more than once. Plan to send out a round of mailers once a month or more.
For yearly campaigns, focus on offering value, not just asking for a sale.
A lot of real estate agents will send a postcard every month featuring the same simple message of “If you plan on selling your house, let me do it”.
In the luxury real estate market, this doesn’t work.
Luxury real estate marketing requires sending monthly updates, campaigns to bring prospects to your website for more info, market snapshots, price opinions, etc.
Put it all together correctly and direct mail can be a vital part of your luxury real estate marketing plan.
Social Media
It’s a complicated subject and there is a lot of science that goes into social media.
The point is that as a luxury real estate agent, were often hard-pressed to seek and get buyers for our listings.
Social media allows us to reach thousands upon thousands of people so that we can broadcast our business, listings, and ideas to all the people who care about what we offer.
It changes the landscape of luxury real estate. It allows us to advertise in other regions, states, and countries. Let’s us communicate faster and more effectively, and tears down borders.
Social media may be the greatest thing to happen to luxury real estate agents. The hard part is using it correctly.
In a later article, I’ll discuss social media marketing tips that an agent could implement into their luxury real estate marketing plan.
Website
You’re reading this article on a website that I made myself, fully customized to my desire.
In the modern age, a website is essentially an office.
Just like how you can walk into a real estate office in your local city, a website brings it to you.
Hopefully, as a client, you’ve found yourself a good luxury real estate agent with a quality website to show off your beautiful home.
As luxury real estate agents, it’s important to have a properties tab that allows users to visit listed properties and browse through the images or videos to go along with the luxury home.
This is a simple and great way to get leads and buyers. It’s also very cheap to do.
I recommend using WordPress.org to build your site. I use SiteGround for hosting.
Either build your own site or hire a web developer if you have the means.
Either way, it’s essential to have a quality, visually attractive website to serve your business and clients.
Luxury Real Estate Marketing is a Challenge
Just like any marketing, luxury real estate marketing can be a difficult task.
But with careful research and well-crafted content, there’s no reason why listed properties with the correct price wouldn’t sell, and there’s no reason that a luxury agent couldn’t find and secure more leads.
It takes a lot of time, testing, and money, but it can be very promising once the right formula is found.
