If there is one thing we have learned over the course of this election, its that Clive Palmer had plenty of money to spend! Whether you’ve picked up a paper, tuned into radio, turned on the tv or even tried to stream your favourite reality renovation show you would have seen (and heard) either him or his candidates pitching for your votes this weekend. Over and over and over.
Now why on earth would someone spend so much money in so many places? Well, when it comes to an election, when you are marketing to literally everyone over 18 in the country, you want to be everywhere that your target audience is going to look. And when you have the funds to back it up, you can. When it comes to selling a home however, we tend to be working with a more realistic budget, so we need to be a lot more selective about where that money is spent and WHO we are targeting.
How do you work out your target market? Well here is where your chosen agent should start to show their worth by using their experience and market knowledge. The best buyer is your “ideal” buyer, someone that has a real need for the property and who is most likely to pay a premium accordingly. Large 4 bedroom home in good school catchment? Well, odds are that’s likely to suit a family over a single professional, so you can start to refine your target market from there, adjusting your marketing mix to whether buyers are older or younger, more comfortable with print and the Saturday paper with a coffee or happy thumbing through listings at a breakneck pace on their iphone during ad breaks, lunch breaks and any time in between.
When you know who your likely buyer is, and where they are going to look, and what they are going to be comfortable with, well that’s when you are several steps ahead of the competition.
Doing all this might sound daunting, but its not as hard as you might think. Most agents should be keeping track of where their enquiries come from at a minimum, and with the rise of digital we have access to some incredible data on buyer behaviour. Agents might not always get it right (and even experienced agents can be pleasantly surprised by buyers sometimes) but every little bit helps when it comes to making the most of your investment and getting the most out of your home.