by Rob Wicker

For a slogan to be effective, it must be concise and it must be true. One of my favorite slogans is heard frequently around Christmas and Valentines Day: Diamonds Are Forever. The reason this works for De Beers is that as much as anything, diamonds really are forever, and the implication is that whatever romance is being celebrated will last forever too.

I recently received an email from EJ and Lenny Cason, the publishers of Homes & Land of Greater Austin (TX). At the bottom of the email was a slogan that, to my mind, is true and important: Out of Sight, Out of Mind…Print Does Matter. For any company or individual with a goal of creating top of mind awareness among consumers, these nine words should be strongly considered.

Top producer Zaida Harris shares her philosophy on working with home sellers. Zaida also shows us how she uses Homes & Land’s print and online products to win listings.
Watch Zaida’s Video

Many pundits and bloggers believe that the future of magazines belongs to e-readers like the Kindle, Nook and iPad. As football commentator Lee Corso likes to say, “Not so fast my friend.”

As reported by Deliver Magazine, the CMO Council released a study showing that consumers prefer print over e-readers, and the score isn’t even close. Ninety percent of consumers surveyed said that they will continue to read printed magazines even with the option of an e-reader or online edition.

In addition, in its most recent issue Advertising Age reports that magazine advertising is up for the first seven months of 2010 compared to the same period in 2009.  Admittedly, 2009 was a rough year, but the uptick means that ad agencies and marketing departments are nowhere near abandoning printed magazines.

Why should they? Magazines are portable, accessible, focused, engaging and fun to read; most importantly, magazine advertising delivers a strong return on investment.

Go to delivermagazine.com to read the full story.

One of my favorite quotes about advertising is from editor and novelist Edgar Watson Howe: ”Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing but nobody else does.”

As a real estate agent, you already know that listings need to be advertised to be seen by home shoppers. The hard part is determining how to market both your listings and your services.

AllBusiness.com published a Top Ten Tips for Effective Advertising below. (Notes in parentheses are mine.)

1. Go after your target audience
2. Highlight your competitive advantage
3. Establish an image (brand yourself)
4. You have to spend money to make money (advertising effects sales)
5. Advertise in the right places (see tip #1)
6. Don’t allow your budget to run your advertising campaign
7. Diversify (put your listings everywhere homebuyers look)
8. Don’t try to be everything to everyone (specialize)
9. Test your ads in advance
10. Monitor your ads (ask “How did you hear about me?” or “Where did you see this listing advertised?”)

The good news is that advertising with Homes & Land already does most of this for you.

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