Melbourne real estate agent Philip Webb deserts ‘jurassic’ local newspapers
“Once upon a time dinosaurs ruled the planet, much like newspapers ruled real estate advertising,” a real estate agent is claiming in a campaign to inform house buyers that it is turning its back on local newspapers to buy and sell property entirely online.
Philip Webb, a 41-year old Melbourne real estate agency, claims that local newspapers in the area are being kept alive by real estate agents, “who use your money to promote themselves instead of what should be the star attraction – your property.”
A YouTube video produced by Webb points out that a marketing campaign with a newspaper costs between $5000 to $12,000 – “most of it spent on an advertising dinosaur, which is lucky to attract 0.5 per cent of your target audience. That’s not great return on investment for any vendor.”
Webb is offering a suite of services including photography, copywriting, mobile apps, an online magazine, photo board and five websites bundled into a $2,800 deal including GST.
Philip Webb marketing executive Maddison Rawson told Mumbrella that while Melburnians still enjoy reading the property sections of local newspapers, they view it as “house porn” and consume the content like they would on Pinterest, without seriously considering buying a property.
“Committed house buyers go online,” she said, “where it is much easier to search for the property you want.”
News Limited and Fairfax have both been invited to comment.
Surprising that an agency would want customers to spend less with them, but their comments are 100% spot on.
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I am looking forward to the extinction of infographic styled ads 🙂
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This ad has as much in common with dinosaurs as any newspaper. A good point terribly executed — I’m sure they could have shot a better ad with a clear voice stating the facts, without blowing the budget…or are they trying to show how far they’re willing to go to save ‘your money’?
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Um , because the newspapers (even in their declining years) can find more people than this agent? is that the right answer?
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Shame on you, Mumbrella. This is a beat up.
So someone is producing video ads cheaper than a page in the Age. What’s the big deal?
Lars makes an interesting point, though. Maybe this says more about Mr Webb’s business than that of newspapers…
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Kudos! Brilliant ad!
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Two issues here.
Short term – client wants house sold, agent wants commission, so drive out middlemen costs to increase profit for both.
Buyer is not always online, so transition period to 100% digital is longer than agent thinks.
Long term – print [not necessarily local newspaper] is still important to keep refilling the pool of potential buyers.
We always read the local real estate glossies to get ideas, compare prices with what different properties offer, make comparisons, and this is still easier turning a paper page.
If we were in the market to buy/sell, we would use combination paper agents glossy to start the process, and drill down onto internet listings and background on the stuff that can make or break a better deal.
Use newspapers?
If selling, no way. Too much wasted $.
Only read newspapers online, only some news headlines and sections, never the advertising anyway.
Never the advertising.
Never the advertising.
Wasted time, money and effort for all concerned.
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And out of that tiny weeny budget, are they going to get any improvement in the illiterate, inarticulate, cliche-ridden dross that passes for real estate copy? With all of around $20 allocated to the copywriter, I suspect not. More of the same, just harder to read.
What will make a difference in real estate advertising is the content, dammit, not the colour or cut of the message stick.
Roseanna Donovan
Redwords Pty. Ltd.
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Perhaps the real reason is that the real estate agents have a vested interest with these rags ,wern’t they all seen smoking cigars and getting big fat chqs at Rockpool last yr when fairfax bought out the competition
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Well done Philip Webb.
Our stats tell us the majority of our buyers are from the net.
Our newspaper enquiry is reducing continually.
Gone are the days of chest beating and which agent looks the largest in the newspaper.
Bottom line is; effective sales for clients in the shortest possible time. The net does that for us far more efficiently now.
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I think this may have been mentioned before, newspapers are dieing… the nationals first, the dailys second and the locals last.
the realestate ads are still pumping air into them, but its purely keeping them alive, they arent going to recover.
Anyone who is buying a house in this country now.. is using digital ahead of newspapers.
if you are selling and you are spending your dollars in the papers, you are selling the agent not your house.
Its over..let it go.
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I read the real estate insert in my local paper. I’m 32. I did so when I was in the housing market – and still continue despite not looking. It’s interesting to see what the property market is going through in your local area. Not unless you have email alerts set up with a real estate site, you miss this. Not sure it’s dead as an advertising medium.
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Roseanna – “What will make a difference in real estate advertising is the content….” yep as in, 3 bed, 2 bath, 1 car, deck, garden, close to schools….. all I need to read in content is that, look at the pretty pictures – having already used the website to define that search and Bob’s yer mother’s brother, ta very much. Wouldn’t waste the $20 on copywriting m’self, house purchase being visually stimulated and not some fancy prose warbling on about evoking imagery when the pictures do it all for me.
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watch his business shrink with less buyers and listings coming through the door.
People a lot of the time use both mediums to reference each other. Once seen in a weekly magazine it will be searched first creating false numbers that internet has the answers.
I noticed on his website they do editorial submissions – why ? who runs them ? oh thats right print does. Good luck getting any editorial coverage again in Melbourne from the press.
An ignorant man not understanding the true meaning of marketing.
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Digital is the way of the future for real estate marketing, I think. Giving people that point of contact where they can ‘see’ a property, nicely shot, with some great, compelling copy. There’s more emotion in that than a few pics on a newsprint.
Roseanna nails it tho – you have to get the content right! $20 for a piece of generic copy won’t cut the mustard.
One of the more interesting and compelling real estate videos (OK, this was probably higher budget than most) I have ever seen is below. Well worth a quick look.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8aMMPkhvhU
So realestate.com let slip in London 18 months ago they want to bypass the agent and go direct to the vendor and then link in the sales by passing the agent in the sales process. And guess who is helping them along the way ? He should be up for a darwin award.
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Agree with Michael. The agent thinks newspapers are ripping him off but most sellers think real estate agents are ripping them off…
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I always read my local paper – never go online to look at it.
Local papers are probably the most relevant to people
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We are agents in SA, online is massive but if I were selling MY OWN home right now, I would go very hard online, and also in the press. The press picks up the more casual looker, while online is perfect for more information once there has been a spark of interest. It is too soon to dump print, especially for prestige property. Personally I feel print will survive in the prestige real estate market. Mobile devices, Smart phones, and Smart TV’s will further change the marketing mix. Check out http://www.insidestory.toop.com.au or this weeks edition (today) of http://www.toop.tv and my exclusive interview with Greg Ellis CEO Realestate.com.au REA.
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A cheap stunt. The “List with me with a cheap marketing campaign and low commission” is the easiest sell job in the business. It’s only after the sale that the Vendor realises the mistake they’ve made. You can do it even cheaper and sell it yourself…then see what happens!
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Completely agree with Mark, have alreday heard this guys business has been declining for two years and is a desperate attempt to kick start his business again.
Instant coffee did not kill cafes. Nor did DVD kill cinemas. It will be a combined world.
Ill look forward to seeing how old mates business decline.
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In reply to John Sharples: you’re probably right, John. In fact, let’s revert to making hand-prints on cave walls and grunting at each other and save a lot of time and energy with this communications nonsense.
However, if we use words to communicate (and most of us do) let’s at least make sure they’re interesting, informative and relevant. I’m not talking about ‘fancy prose’, John, but at least let’s eliminate “only footsteps to shops and transport” (I always wonder whose footsteps we’ll be hearing). Not to mention ‘sun-drenched’ and “there are a kitchen ….” and countless other cringe-making cliches and illiterate blunders.
Re which message stick people use: I agree with the proposition that we use both.
Online doesn’t mean the instant demise of everything else any more than the invention of the printing press meant we all stopped talking to each other and just read books. There’ll be a place for all kinds of communication, once everyone is over the breathless excitement of a new one.
Does anyone remember a frequent brief from clients to agencies to ‘raise awareness’ for their product, service or brand? You need the broad spectrum of
mass media (TV, print, radio, outdoor) to let people know that a product exists in the first place, before the buyer narrows it down to chase it online.
The danger in the survey of one, John (I only want this or that) is that not everyone is you.
Roseanna
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i enjoy browsing the real estate sections of my local newspapers too. but that’s all i’m doing, browsing. any time i’m actually seriously in the market to purchase a property, i’ll exclusively look online.
if i was a vendor, sure, i’d like as many sets of eyes on it as possible. but in terms of bang-for-your-buck, online has to be infinitely superior.
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Newspapers are on the way down, no doubt about it. We just have to look at the recent troubles of APN to see that things are about to end for the newspaper industry…
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@Michael and some others, can you declare your interest in this piece. There’s a lot of passion behind your arguments so be transparent.
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@Mark and @Michael sound like a couple of real estate agents… the ones still keen on using this dead medium… I’m selling this year. If my agent wants profile, no probs. He/she can get it from the result and sold sign on the board. Why not? But there ain’t no way I’m going to pay money for a paper that every neighbour on my street transits straight to the big yellow-lidded bin. That’s reality guys. I mean – why on earth would I even bother looking for my next house in a freakin’ local rag? What year is this again? Sheesh.
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Adam,
8 out 10 buyers are local bacuase of social connections and a paper goes to every house and picks up the people who are not looking but then buy. Not every house buyer sits there every week and looks over the net. Sorry Adam i am not a real estate agent i just understand te connection. SOunds like you work for Domain or realestate.com. Real estate.com has increased it rates of 5 years by 2000% and more than likely has a cut through profit of 90% – who is being conned ?
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@Michael… I work in Information Technology – specifically intranet design. So, you’re right, there is a “paperless” agenda of sorts; albeit, nothing to do with advertising or the property market. But if, as you say, realestate.com has increased its rates by 2000% over a 5 year period with a cut-through profit of 90%, then, crap, you’re right: I should be working for them 🙂
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@Adam. I’m actually not an agent, just someone who’s been in advertising for a while. Unfortunately for you, you’ll never really know how much you’ll miss out on when your agent sells your place. Good luck to you…if you can afford to throw away the dollars, that’s your call. One thing I will ask, though, how much is your car worth and what percentage of the value do you pay every year keeping it insured? How much is your home worth and how much are you prepared to pay to insure you get in front of as many buyers as you can? Doesn’t bother me mate…it’s your money.
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You’re damned right it’s my money. And I think the analogy between instant coffee and cafes is just lame. And maybe do your homework on the health of the movie business. It too is heading down the toilet. The studios are in a tailspin trying to figure out how to counter the decline in profitibility due to online downloads. It is in serious trouble. And as for you would-be marketers – does cost-benefit analysis even come into your thinking? Oh sure I’ll just fork out a few thousand dollars for papers in the serendipitous hope that some passive local reader happens to flick by my house ad… on the way to the yellow-lidded bin. Yeah right. Rationality looks like its becoming a dinosaur too. I am sure papers have their place. But charging a fortune for the off chance that someone might buy my house? I mean, the paper sometimes doesn’t ecen get delivered. Not that I’d notice 🙂
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