Advertising tips: be big, bold and back it up

My experience in marketing over the last 10 years has been an interesting journey, however I don’t want to bore you with that. 

As an agency or industry supplier, getting the most out of your marketing budget is essential. And in a highly competitive market, standing out from the pack is a necessity.

If your advertising campaigns are not targeted, trackable and attention-grabbing, your chances of generating the highest number of opportunities are compromised. Not only that, but you could be opening the door for your competitors to pick up new business from right under your nose.

Therefore, in the first part of my series on marketing and advertising, I want to give you the number one piece of advice that will help your advertising campaigns to perform. 

It’s a simple concept, but something simple done correctly will outperform something difficult done wrong every single time… 

Why being big, bold and backing it up is important:

If the statement in your advert doesn’t grab the attention of the audience your targeting, you might as well place an invisible advert. Have you ever remembered an advert that doesn’t stand out? 

You can grab attention and stand out to your target audience by staying true to the message in my title – just like I must have done as you’re reading this! 

Being big, bold and backing it up in practice: 

I have listed an example below to display this concept clearly:

Standard marketing messaging: 

‘We can sell your home for 1%’

Bold marketing messaging:

‘Claim your free guide with everything you need to know on buying and selling a property. 

Find all our expert hints and tips to make the best selling decisions.’ 

What I like about this messaging, albeit longer, is that it shows you're able to provide your home movers with useful information that they're looking for. Everyone wants to know they’re making the right decision in anything they do and your marketing can reinforce this message.

When I was selling my own property, this kind of expert advice was what I was looking for to help me on my journey. I would absolutely have downloaded a guide from the experts so I knew I was making the best and right decisions. Most agents I dealt with offered a similar fee and so I ended up choosing the one that was most knowledgeable and followed up with me promptly.

The number one rule to being bold is: 

You have to be able to back up your bold statement.  Delivering false hope to your marketplace will only result in unhappy customers and nobody wants that. 

For example, our ValPal Network members are able to use bold marketing messaging in their campaigns such as the following:

'Get an instant online valuation of your home in just 60 seconds'

Why this works so well for our members is because it’s bold and when someone is looking to sell, they want to know how much their property is worth. As an agent offering instant online valuations, you're able to give them this information immediately straight away. 

It’s important to remember, however, that this type of marketing isn’t intending to replace your service as a robot could never do that. It’s there to help you to capture more vendor or landlord details and literally get you in more front rooms. 

Some more examples of Big and Bold messaging using the latest technology: 

Here are some more recommendations for bold messaging. These examples showcase why it’s important to embrace the latest technology in the market to position yourself above the competition:

1. “I pay all my landlords the same day I receive the funds from the tenant.” 

When promoting product of PayProp 

2. “Why should you instruct us? We have 4.9 stars on Feefo – these reviews are independently verified vendors and landlords commenting on the service they received.” 

When promoting product of Feefo

3. “We use clever technology so your tenants can report problems to us 24/7, 365.” 

When promoting product of Fixflo

4. “We partner with leading home moving services to get you the best phone, broadband and TV deals available. We like to go above and beyond for our clients!”

When promoting product of Virgin Media 

5. “We provide all our vendors with 2d and 3d floorplans so that the people who view your property online can visualise its dimensions before booking a viewing.” 

Ask your current floor plan provider for more information on including this in your marketing, or I can recommend a supplier for you.

As you’re on the front line of the property industry, I’m confident that you’ll be able to put an even better spin on these marketing messages to promote your own brand and the technology you’re using.

The aim of the above is to give you a flavour of how promoting the technology you’re using can help to raise your profile, differentiate your brand and allow you to be bolder in your marketing campaigns. 

What’s more, when I refer to being ‘big’ in the title, I'm not referring to being a big company. I'm referring to being big with your marketing statements. You need to spark the consumer’s interest and you can’t do that with standard messaging that everyone else is using. 

I'm sharing my experience on what has worked for advising my clients over a number of years and our own marketing efforts, whether that is through the well-respected Today sites or The ValPal Network, which now has 25% market share. 

Utilising the three b’s in the title (big, bold and back it up) is the best way I have found to grab attention in the property market. I also like to advise complementing this messaging strategy with some educational and informative content. People want to know they're making the right decision and if you're able to provide them with expert guides and advice, that goes a long way. 

Until next time!  

*Lee Dahill is Director of Sales and Brand Management at Angels Media