International Listings, a search portal for global luxury properties, has put together a very clever marketing device they’re calling their Real Estate Marketing Report Card.
The idea is pretty simple: A seller can punch in his or her address and listing price and the system will quickly check a handful of real estate search destinations to make sure the home is displayed and the price is accurate.
It’s a great promotional tool — one that’s clearly designed to encourage people toward listing their home on the site (a $299 one-time fee).
The proliferation of consumer search portals has given rise to all kinds of syndication tools like International Listings — as well as Listhub, Postlets, vFlyer, Point2 and others — that do the heavy lifting for agents and brokers to get their listings out across the Web.
Savvy sellers, who in this market are going to want to see that their agent is doing all they can to move their home, are likely going to be checking the various search sites to make sure that they find their house. A tool like this one, while clearly a gimmick, helps make that possible.
What I’d really love to see is a big brokerage implement something similar on their site — it would be a fantastic way to build engagement with consumers by letting them come to your corporate site and see how their listing is doing.
Even better, find a way to "white-label" the technology and brand it for every single one of your agents to deliver to their clients a monthly report of where the home is listed and activity on each of the sites.
In this market, consumers are starting to demand accountability. Best get ahead of the curve and figure out ways to support them.
Originally posted on the Future of Real Estate Marketing blog. Joel Burslem is vice president of content at Inman News.
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