Luxury Real Estate

By Courtney Jackson

I was reading Shelby Morris’ blog the other day about Print vs. Online advertising and I saw this great entry, entitled Internet Marketing vs. Print Ads, so I thought I would share it. The question this author posed was whether agents should do online or print advertising. One of the agents writing had decided to do just online. Below is a response by Matt Grohe that I thought was very telling:

“Shelby, I enjoy driving, but that doesn’t mean that I won’t ride a bike, walk, or take a bus or a train. In my estimation, a strategy based entirely on the Internet is a lopsided one.

“While sitting at my open house today reading Think Like a Winner by Walter Doyle Staples, the phone rang. The caller was asking about a listing I had closed more than a month ago. I asked her where she’d seen it, Homes and Land Magazine, and an old one at that. Turns out her computer was broken and she’s in transition. I schmoozed her a bit and got out of her what type of property she was looking for. She’s willing to go out looking tomorrow if I can find some homes that suit her. She’s reputedly pre-approved and has a letter (we’ll see).

“There’s a Long John Silver’s commercial that I find amusing and apt: A man is on a dock fishing with a single pole, he turns to the guy fishing next to him and asks ‘What’re you fishing for?’ The shot pans wider to show the second fisherman has about fifty different kinds of poles and lines, the second man remarks ‘Everything!’

”How many lines do you have in the water? You can’t catch all fish by the same method, some swim at different depths and some hit on different lines and lures.”


Editor’s Note:
Courtney Jackson is the Print Director for LuxuryRealEstate.com. She works closely with The Wall Street Journal, Unique Homes and a variety of other publications to help luxury brokers gain domestic and international exposure for their properties. Indeed, this is a fascinating and relevant topic for all of us to ponder. Print advertising has not been replaced by online advertising, but these media forms have distinct strengths and weaknesses that can be used to reach different audiences. Use them wisely.