Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices announced Tuesday that it has teamed up with Adwerx for a program that will create internet ads targeting people who visit agent websites.
The program will be free to the nearly 50,000 agents who are part of the Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices network. According to a statement from HomeServices, Adwerx technology will generate ads that appear on social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram, as well as on various other sites around the web. The ads will start popping up for people after they visit an agent’s website.
The ads will include listing photos and other property details, as well as agents’ contact information. Would-be homebuyers within a 15-mile radius of any given property could end up seeing the ads.
Chris Stuart
Every Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices listing will be subject to one week of free advertising thanks to the program. And because the process is automated, agents themselves won’t have to do anything to make the ads show up. They will, however, be able to customize the ads if they so choose.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices CEO Chris Stuart said in a statement that the program is designed to “help our network agents win more listings, drive more referrals and stay in front of the people who matter most to their business.”
The Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices statement also described the marketing program as “unprecedented” and “brilliantly simple.”
The financial arrangements between Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices and Adwerx were not publicly disclosed. A spokesperson for BHHS did not immediately respond to Inman’s request for additional information about the program.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices, based in Irvine, California, is a network of franchises. The company is owned by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway and describes its franchisees as “down to earth, nimble and local experts.”
North Carolina-based Adwerx offers a variety of real estate-oriented marketing services and earlier this year teamed up with Luxury Portfolio International to create marketing for high-end properties.
In a statement, Adwerx CEO Jed Carlson said that the new partnership with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices is “the first time we’ve created a complete suite of services to satisfy all the needs of brokerages and their agents.”
“It takes all of the techniques and technology we’ve developed and distills them into a single program,” Carlson also said.
A Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices spokesperson told Inman that the program is also already compliant with Facebook’s new limitations on housing ads both because of its 15-mile radius limitation, and because it doesn’t target consumers based on age, gender or ethnicity on Facebook.
Update: This post was updated after publication with additional information about how the program works.
