News – The Property Writers

How to get attention in real estate marketing – light it up!

How long is the average person’s attention span?

This is what I found on Google:

How long is the average person’s attention span?

If your audience is still paying attention after the first 8 seconds, you have approximately 4 minutes and 52 seconds until their attention spans are exhausted. The average adult attention span has plummeted from 12 minutes a decade ago to just 5 minutes now, according to a Fortune.com article.

Wow, not long! And what has caused the plummet?

We could certainly take a wild guess. The (rising) influx of technology and tidal waves of services that are designed to make our lives easier are perhaps contributing factors. No one has any time any more.

From when we rise in the morning, until our heads hit the pillow at night, or even the early hours, we have information directed at us, choices to make and information to process.

It certainly is tiring.

When it comes to marketing, specifically real estate marketing, the key is standing out, while not demanding too much from weary home-seekers or investors.

My husband is an electrician. He has always said that lighting is everything. We’ve renovated numerous houses together and he has always done the lion’s share of the major changes, including lighting. I must say, his choices have been spot on.

Modern lighting has a way of evoking different vibes and moods, depending on the look you are going for. And is such a value-adder.

At The Property Writers, we just love fawning over a lot of the stunning lighting that we see in property photographs that come through our inboxes.

Indoor lighting, outdoor lighting – even candlelight! To be able to see anything, the first port of call for our eyeballs is processing light. Our eyes are drawn to light. It’s instinctive.

Perhaps one of the best examples of utilising lighting for advertising and marketing is Times Square in New York City. I remember I visited in 2006 (Ten years ago?! It’s been way too long between visits) and I felt just like a character in a movie. Cliche, but true. I was totally smitten as I took in the immense lit-up signs. I bet they’re even more spectacular ten years on.

So it was only a matter of time until these mammoth, illuminated billboards trickled down into real estate/realty marketing.

I know they’ve been popping up all over the country lately and have been showcased at trade shows. But I must say it was a real treat to recently spot an illuminated sign at night, out the front of a property.

I spotted it whilst driving, around a week ago. It was a listing for Ray White, in Largs Bay, South Australia. And it looked magnificent!

This lit-up sign made me slow and pull in to the curb to read it.

The image and words were perfectly and crisply illuminated, the darkened street around it providing the ultimate shadowy backdrop, much like a stage.

These solar powered and otherwise real estate signboards are only going to become more prevalent and accessible – that’s our prediction.

Fast forward a year from now and I’m thinking they will be absolutely everywhere.

An image from "Digital Central", a company offering illuminated signboards. Copywright lies with Digital Central Real Estate Signage Company. — *An image from “Digital Central”, a company offering illuminated signboards. Copyright lies with Digital Central Real Estate Signage Company.*

It’s awesome to see the industry utilising such technology to stand out and do the absolute best for their vendors. It would be great to see costing eventually become accessible across a spectrum of price ranges.

I think these signs should capture up to the 4 minutes and 52 seconds allotted for average adult – plenty of time to note the name and number of the agent and phone them!

Does anyone else have any thoughts on these innovative signboards? Or are you a business who offers them as a service? Let us know on Instagram or Twitter.

Note: this post is NOT sponsored or endorsed by any company or business, it is our expressed view on a product and service.

Why real estate is still exciting

You can’t swing a cat lately without reading about or hearing about the cold water potentially being thrown on negatively geared investments, here in Australia.

A hot news topic, like the weather here lately (hello, winter!), it’s cast a bit of a gloomy shadow over the industry.

In the build up to our Federal Election, property investment and some related tax breaks are being scrutinised more than ever.

While change is always inevitable, in any field and political climate, the headlines splashed around lately have tended to focus chiefly on the Labor Party’s intent to reform negative gearing.

But, as we know, there are so many other facets to property investment here in Australia. Positively geared investments, of course, being an alternative that shouldn’t be sniffed at.

But nitty gritties aside (as the debate is a whole other post in itself), we felt like we needed to bring a little cheer to the grim forecasting and the industry itself.

We’ve had a few clients, friends and family lately who have been frowning a bit too much for our liking.

So, in no particular order, reasons why real estate is so exciting:

1> Real estate will not, despite the ‘battening down the hatches’ attitude of late, go away. It simply will not. Like a bottle of wine, that itself is a living organism, it evolves, changes and can improve. Of course, it can oxidise too (read: you can lose money), but it is not going anywhere. There will always be land, there will always be property and there will be a demand for both.

2> People involved in the industry are tightening their connections and affiliations – technology has brought us closer than ever before. Kinships between agents and agencies and marketing professionals such as ourselves are formed daily and this community is a fast-paced, vibrant and exciting one. Although scheduling conflicts meant we weren’t at the recent AREC conference in Queensland, we loved the buzz that we saw from our clients who attended and the positive empowerment that they experienced while attending.

3> Real estate is an industry that you can undoubtedly make and create your own opportunities in. A multi-faceted industry, there is something for everyone, depending on your wheelhouse. We ourselves are constantly learning about different aspects of this powerhouse of an industry. Owning property isn’t necessarily permanent, but the choices you make once you do own something, be it a starter unit, a knock-down job, or a stake in a new development, can play a big part in your future, financial and otherwise. And how enthralling is that?

4> The support and wealths of information that we have access to, in our country, are seriously phenomenal. Whether you’re an agency, agent, vendor, or buyer – If you’re not sure about something, during any process, you can be certain you can FIND OUT. How great is that? Whether it is through your own research, or a service that you call upon, a book you read, a convention you attend, or a course you undertake – knowledge is EVERYWHERE and knowledge is POWER! Information doesn’t always come from the four walls of a training environment either. Sometimes all it takes is shouting someone you meet a cup of coffee and asking them some polite questions about their niche for ten minutes. Chances are you’ll walk away with plenty of food for thought.

Image copyright Jim Davis

5> As per the above point, the different services and niches that exist within real estate are seriously cause for excitement. We are thrilled every time we meet someone who has started their own vendor advocacy, mortgage broking, property staging or property photography company, to name a few examples. These businesses are opportunities for people to work hard and reap rewards, while providing invaluable services to buyers and sellers alike. It’s impossible not to get excited after having an in-depth conversation with someone who has found their feet while working in real estate and the enthusiasm is totally contagious.

So how was that for a little cheer!? It’s not all rainbows and unicorns, but we think it counts for something that real estate employs many people, creates plenty of opportunities and acts as an umbrella for plenty of sub-industries.

If you yourself own or run a business within our ever-changing, utterly exciting industry, do say hello on Facebook or Instagram, we would love to meet you.