Copywriting Lessons from a Real Estate Agent

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Know how they run those ads before the movies? The ones for local businesses? Haircuts, casual restaurants, real estate agents…

Captive audience, bad message

There was one the other day that stuck in my head, but for the wrong reasons. It promised XYZ Real Estate was a “cutting edge” company, a leader in real estate since _____ with innovative solutions.

I’m not in the market for a house (don’t have the $4,000,000 it takes to buy one around here), but if I were, this company would not be at the top of my list.

They’re trying to build themselves up, rather than tell me how they can help me.

No differentiation. No niche. No message that matters to a client.

A better idea

Why not skip the gobbledygook and offer something that does matter.

For instance, help getting a loan. Or a list of 10 things I need to know before I buy a house.

Relocation assistance (what’s in my new neighborhood, getting kids enrolled in school, local grocery stores). A specialty in townhouses or condos or large families needing a home (space is at a premium in New York).

All things that would have made this real estate agent really stand out. And get more clients.

What do you think?

Do you pay any attention to those ads? Do you like them? Hate them? Do you want some popcorn? ;-)

Image: Chris Griffith

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3 thoughts on “Copywriting Lessons from a Real Estate Agent”

  1. I like this post.

    I work with a few real estate agents and many have trouble doing things differently from the way agents have done them in the past.

    We would always sit down and discuss the message. I’d say – explain the house to me and it would sound just like the typical classified ad (2 bedroom, 2 bath, new fireplace, big backyard, great for kids)

    fail.

    I’d then say, OK now explain it to me like I was your son buying my first home. Eventually, we’d start to make some progress and build the human connection.

    It was a struggle for a few of the clients to move away from the typical big company provided real estate website to something more like a personal blog where ideas that matter could be shared. Even once we got there, sharing and spreading those ideas was a whole other issue.

    Ian Watt is a guy who’s killing it in real estate. He gets it.

    Thanks
    .-= Noah Fleming´s last blog ..Stupid Ideas? =-.

    • Thanks Noah! I really like your “tell it to me like I’m your son” approach. Brian Clark of Copyblogger was once in real estate and was very successful by being personal and building connections, rather than acting like an automaton.

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