Graig Ponthier

Last month Bernice Ross, a Realtor and one of Inman.com’s best columnists, declared that Micromarketing is the hot real estate marketing trend for 2012. Ms. Ross described micromarketing as “old-fashioned farming with a 21^st Century twist.”

Micromarketing means marketing to an area where the residents’ demographics, lifestyle, and recreational pursuits match your own interests and expertise. Perhaps you target residences around a large recreational lake where people buy second homes or retire. This appeals to you because you are an agent who a. lives on the lake and b. owns a boat and likes to fish.

Ms. Ross uses AustinLakefrontProperties.com as an example of a micromarketing website, as opposed to a more common and generic URL like www.Realtorsname.com. You should also use micromarketing to enhance Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and promote your social media efforts.

Ms. Ross reports that “agents who are having the best luck with this approach have integrated their print marketing efforts with their online marketing efforts.”

If micromarketing intrigues you, consider using Homes & Land’s Integrated Marketing Package. Your Homes & Land Publisher can help you reach a micromarket using direct mail. A Homes & Land ad is also a great place to promote your Facebook page and blog. In addition, we feature QR codes that can be linked to a video promoting your micromarket.

You probably have a website, but with the Homes & Land package you receive an additional website that can be branded as a micromarket (e.g., AustinLakeFrontProperties.com). You can also backlink your Homes & Land site to your primary website for enhanced SEO.

As usual, Homes & Land is ahead of the marketing curve.

San Antonio ranked #1 on the 2011 Milken Institute “Best-Performing Cities Index” among 200 of the largest metropolitan cities. This respected index ranks cities by how well they are creating and sustaining jobs and economic growth. The components of the index include job, wage and technology growth. We are fortunate that our leaders have built an economy with a diverse job market to include tourism, medical & healthcare, military and recent strides in the manufacturing and technology sectors. Very few cities have such a diversified job market like San Antonio. Congratulations San Antonio!

People often ask me to summarize the San Antonio real estate market. The best way to summarize our market is this: Homes are still selling. Sellers are getting close to their asking price. Buyers have plenty of inventory to chose from. The main difference in today’s market is that it just takes longer for a home to sell.

Home sellers often wonder if keeping their home on the market during the Holidays is worth the effort. In a recent interview with RealtyTimes, top-selling Realtor Jennie Ling says it may be one of the best times to sell:

• Buyer activity may appear to slow down, those who are actively looking during the holidays are that much more serious.
• Many buyers deliberately choose to shop for a home after the busy spring and summer rush. They know that it will be easier to look, and that negotiations will be less stressful.
• Relocating families often don’t have a choice in when they can leave for their new destination and can be that much more motivated to get settled in before school resumes.
• With reduced inventories and motivated buyers, you may find that you have more showings than you would if your marketed your home during a busier time of the year.

“The holidays are my best-selling period,” says Ling. “Most people take off work sometime during the season. So buyers have more time, and they can look at homes together.”

“The market is no more affected at Christmas than during other ‘busy’ periods like spring weddings, summer vacations, and autumn back-to-school activities,” Ling added. “Plus, when is a home ever more beautiful and inviting? Home owners have cleaned and decorated for family and friends, so homes will surely be good enough to impress buyers.”

And if the thought of having to move during the holidays discourages your sellers, Ling recommends including that in the contract negotiation: “Most people can close 30 to 60 days after a contract is written, so there is plenty of time. Possession and closings are very negotiable.”

RealtyTimes article

The California State Library recently asked publisher Peggy Lawyer-Gregg for a guest subscription to Homes & Land of Malibu to Beverly Hills to be added to the Library archive documenting "The California Lifestyle in the 21st century."

The magazines will be preserved for future generations to enjoy. "This shows that the magazine has value and sustainability that the Internet can’t have," said Peggy. "It also proves that the magazine is read far beyond state lines. Print is truly alive and well."

USA Today Columnist Steve Strauss discussed the benefits of print advertising in a recent “Ask the Expert” column. Even though the medium is changing, Strauss believes print offers a tremendous opportunity for businesses to brand themselves, drive traffic to their website and keep their message in front of consumers longer.

Here are the highlights:

“One of the main things you want from your advertising is the chance to STAND OUT…Print advertising continues to offer some great benefits not shared by its online counterparts:

It is highly targeted: Print advertising offers you the chance to catch people by their interests, or religion, hobbies, work, age, etc. Targeting your marketing to the right demographic is fairly easy by advertising in the right place, and it can be highly profitable.

It does not evaporate: Magazines stay in homes for months. Newspapers may be around for days. Web pages come and go. In addition, people reading web pages digest information far quicker – and move on – than do people reading print content.

It is great for branding: A print ad is a physical thing; it can be copied and placed in your store, or even on your website, for years. Electronic ads do not have the same cachet.

Print ads can and should empower your online ads. Research indicates that a not insignificant portion of online searches stem from offline ads – people see and ad in a newspaper or magazine and then search that topic on the Internet.

Bottom line: Print ads are not only a smart offline tool right now, but can become an effective part of your online strategy as well.”

USA Today Article