WASHINGTON DC – Real estate sales and cable television have long been a match made in advertising heaven. Real estate marketing expert Greg Herder recommends cable as “a tremendous mass media opportunity” because it couples low price with increased credibility and prestige. But as more properties clutter the airwaves, agents face the problem confronting all marketers: how do they make their messages stand out in a crowd?
In the mid-1980s, when buying time on cable TV was still relatively rare for real estate, giving viewers a video walk through any property was deemed sufficient. But it’s no longer enough to simply show a house; to sell effectively, agents must tell the story of a house.
Among the chief proponents of real estate story-telling is the Washington DC-based National Association of REALTORS. During 2002 alone, Realty Times reports, NAR spent $20 million on six television and three radio spots that told the stories of agents who were hard at work selling clients’ properties while the clients themselves were out enjoying life.
“There’s no question that the (association’s) public awareness campaign is … generating heightened consumer awareness of the benefits of using a REALTOR,” then-NAR President Martin Edwards Jr. told the news service.
