How the Four P’s of Marketing Relate to Real Estate

Anyone who has taken a marketing course or even read a book on the topic has heard of the 4 P’s of Marketing – Product, Place, Promotion and Price.  It’s amazing how applicable these are to so many facets of our lives, real estate being one of them.

As most of you have heard or experienced firsthand, the real estate marketing has changed significantly over the past few years. Luckily for those of us in the Midwest, we have not experienced the extreme highs and lows that have affected Florida and Nevada, for example.

Getting back to the point, regardless of the market, people are still moving, getting married, etc and there are still homes to be bought and sold.  So let’s dive into the P’s and see how applying them to your home can help with the sale.

Product  

Your home is your product and you want to make a good first impression.  Research shows that the curb appeal of your home can affect the price by as much as 14%.  Simply by weeding and adding some plants can help increase the value of your home. 

You know you’ve been meaning to do it – get rid of all the useless clutter!  Don’t rearrange, remove!  Many times we walk into homes where the closets are filled to the brim and the countertops are loaded with appliances.  If you aren’t using it, store it, or better yet, give it away. 

This one may be a hard one to imagine, but potential buyers don’t to see you and your kids on the walls of their prospective home.  We want potential buyers to envision themselves in your home and often pictures can often be distracting. 

Place

Unfortunately we can’t just pick up a property and move it, though it has been done before.  Figure out what your community offers that others don’t.  Is there a recreation center for residences?  Are there parks nearby?  Community pool?  Does your block have a party annually?  Think outside the box and see why you fell in love with the house and the neighborhood, and convey that to the potential buyers.

Promotion

The world of marketing and promotion is significantly changed over the past 12 months (not to mention the past few years).  Social media is a huge force that cannot be ignored, you can’t just “do things the way you used to” and purchase ad space in your local newspapers.  Now your agent needs a website, a blog, a Facebook page.  You can’t just post a few pictures of the property; now you need a video to capture the buyer’s attention.  Everyone is so busy and you have to think of creative ways to grab your audience’s attention and if anyone of these items takes too long to access/load, forget about it, they are onto another site.

Price 

We know that your house is different from the others on the market and that the Smith’s doesn’t have the upgrades that you do, but if you want to get traffic into your property (and get buyers interested) you need to make sure that you price your home competitively with the current market.  This does mean that sometimes you are pricing your home for less than the purchase price.  In fact, in today’s economy and real estate market, this is more often the rule than the exception.  Your real estate agent should review different pricing strategies with you based upon your urgency to sell.  We have all seen houses listed only to do a drastic price reduction in the first few weeks because they are not getting any traffic.  It is best to be realistic from the beginning and get people in.

In summary, in preparing your house or condo to be placed on the market, always be cognizant of the Four P’s of Marketing.

Liz Rainey

Bookmark and Share