Did you know the Kobe beef burger from the Park Hyatt in Tokyo has been voted the most popular burger in the world? But it is not the most consumed. No, that honour belongs to the classic McDonald’s Big Mac. Now, by all accounts the Big Mac isn’t the best tasting burger, but because of the marketing prowess of the machine that is McDonald’s, it is consumed more than any other. In fact, in the US alone, one Big Mac is sold every 17 seconds totalling over 550 million Big Mac’s per year!
When marketing a home for sale, that kind of consumption is exactly what we are trying to achieve. The property that gets viewed the most attracts the most buyers through the door. This in turn creates the most competition. It is competition amongst buyers which drives a premium result. That is why marketing campaigns that use a strategy such as ‘Tender’ and ‘Auction’ will often have big dollar, highly visible marketing campaigns. Without competition, these ‘no price’ methods which are designed to pit buyers against one another are fundamentally flawed.
There are various media channels via which you can advertise a property for sale. They include radio, newspaper, magazines and online. The latter has become the most popular source for potential buyers but is dependent on the target market of the property. Using this medium alone will not guarantee the best end result. When we develop a marketing campaign and suggest an advertising package we first consider the target market for the property. It is essential that your property is marketed using the channel or channels most familiar to them. This can be based on those which have proven most effective in attracting buyers to similar properties. For example: a large, high value family home in a premium suburb is best marketed using a mix of strong, highly visible print and online media. Many of the target market will be used to searching in more traditional avenues first and are not quite up to speed with the benefits of online advertising. This is in stark contrast to a low value, first home where buyers are tech savvy and receive alerts of new properties meeting their criteria immediately. At this level of the market, print media is almost redundant. Once you have decided on where you will advertise it’s all about presenting your property for the target market, selecting the perfect lead photo, developing an attention grabbing headline and selling the benefits through an engaging script. The overall aim is to encourage buyers through your door. It is only once they have viewed your property they can start thinking of it as not just another listing, but their future home.
On a final note we are very excited to have picked up the title of Trade Me’s ‘Top Property Marketers’ award. This means our property ads were seen as the cleverest and most effective overall on Trade Me. We were singled out for this award from hundreds of agents and we feel very proud of it as we know how important good marketing is. In the words of Trade Me our ads‘consistently hit the right mix of quality photography, maximum exposure and enticing copywriting which means your vendors can be assured that more buyers will engage with the listing above other listings on Trade Me Property.’ Karl Stafford – Trade Me Property.
When you are considering which agent to market your home, make sure they have the skills and experience to give your advertising the consideration it deserves. A few thousand dollars saved on commission or an advertising package could end up costing you thousands when it really matters.
Wellington Market
Now we are well and truly in the winter phase of the property market, properties listed for sale are sitting around or just below one thousand. As always, the good winter homes will attract strong interest and competition which leads to good prices for the owners. With interest rates steady or falling we see little movement in price at this stage.
Wellington Property Sales Statistics
| April 2014 | April 2015 | |
| Northern Wellington | $520,000 | $472,500 |
| Western Wellington | $605,500 | $571,000 |
| Southern Wellington | $507,500 | $538,550 |
| Eastern Wellington | $568,500 | $545,600 |
| Central Wellington | $535,500 | $397,500 |
| Average days on the market | 29.5 | 37.5 |
Big Mac Fun Facts
1. The Big Mac had two previous names, both of which failed in the marketplace: the Aristocrat, which consumers found difficult to pronounce and understand, and Blue Ribbon Burger.
2. The Big Mac is known worldwide and is often used as a symbol of American capitalism. The Economist has used it as a reference point for comparing the cost of living in different countries – the Big Mac Index — as it is so widely available and is comparable across markets. This index is sometimes referred to as ‘Burgernomics.’
3. In 2012, McDonald’s admitted that “the special sauce ingredients were not really a secret” The recipe had been available online for years and consists of store-bought mayonnaise, sweet pickle relish and yellow mustard whisked together with vinegar, garlic powder, onion powder and paprika.
If you or anyone you know could benefit from some free and friendly property advice, please do not hesitate to call.
