First it was Toyota and their all-online marketing push for the Scion xB. Now, Big Real Estate is making its move. I frequently wonder why it is that despite the fact that 77% of real estate consumers start their search online, only 10% of real estate ad dollars are spent in that medium.
Yesterday, some of that wonder was answered on Bloomberg where Richard Smith announced that Realogy will start moving its ad money online. The dollars devoted to newspapers will shrink by as much as two thirds next year.
It’s been a long-time coming, but better late than never. As real estate begins to wake from its long hibernation to grab the brass ring of progress, the bombs it drops on its still-sleeping partners will leave huge craters (website vendors, run for cover!).
This is obviously bad news for newspapers, but great news for real estate.
- Davison
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This is definitely a step in the right direction, but can the big companies compete with Craig's list and other services that people have been using for years?
Good question James. I think the "BIG" companies like Realogy could nationally and certainly if they had buy-in and support from there agent masses.
Perhaps competing with Craig's list might not be the focus so much as offering consumers an alternative.
I think the play here is branding, recognition, and traffic driving which, as Scion has found could work really effectively.
This is definitely a step in the right direction, but can the big companies compete with Craig's list and other services that people have been using for years?