Despite the real estate industry's focus on new media, real estate agents continue to use printed postcards and mailings among their top marketing choices, according to survey results released today by real estate marketing company HomeGain.
"While Realtors are increasingly moving their marketing activities online, it's interesting to see the continued strength and perceived effectiveness of print and mailer campaigns," said Louis Cammarosano, general manager at HomeGain, in a statement.
The surveys asked agents and brokers to rank on a 10-point scale (with 10 as the highest score) what they thought were their most effective strategies for attracting new clients and the methods they were most likely to use this year.
Referrals topped both lists by far, receiving an 8.7 rating for effectiveness and an 8.9 rating as a marketing objective. In terms of effectiveness, featured listings ranked second with a 4.8, followed by e-mail campaigns (4.7), postcards and mailers (4.6), blogging (4.1), online lead generation services (4), Facebook (4), LinkedIn (3.6), outdoor ads (3.6), and print ads (3.6).
The least effective strategies, according to respondents, were YouTube (3.5), Twitter (3.3), banner ads (3.2), pay-per-click advertising (3.2), and MySpace (3), the survey said.
In terms of marketing goals, agents and brokers ranked e-mail campaigns second with a 5.7, followed by posters and mailers (5.4), featured listings (5.2), Facebook (4.9), print ads (4.6), blogging (4.2), LinkedIn (4.1), online lead-generation services (4), and YouTube (3.5).
Realtors were less likely to market themselves on Twitter (3.4), outdoor advertising (2.7), banner ads (2.5), pay-per-click advertising (2.5), and MySpace (2.5).
The results are based on two surveys, conducted in December 2009 and February 2010, with combined responses by about 1,300 real estate agents and brokers.
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