Episode 31: Marketing Plans – What To Expect from A Top Agent

Scott: Sweet home, Santa Barbara, where the skies are so blue, Sweet Home Santa Barbara, what’s worked for me can work for you.

Jonathan: Welcome back, friends to Sweet Homes Santa Barbara. I’m Jonathan Robinson, your co-host, and with my friend realtor and co-host.

Scott: Scott Williams.

Jonathan: How you doing, Scott?

Scott: Things are good, Jonathan.

Jonathan: I agree. And we have a special guest today, Sharan, hopefully I said that correct. She’s a regional marketing manager for Ventura and Santa Barbara, for Berkshire Hathaway Home Services. She has a lot of knowledge about marketing houses, and we have a lot of questions to ask her. So why don’t we jump right in. When I heard your title, I was curious about a bunch of things Sharon, and one of them was is there a place for print marketing nowadays or has everything gone digital?

Sharan: That’s a great question. And firstly, thank you so much Scott and Jonathan for having me here. It’s an honor and a pleasure. I hope I can answer these questions and give some insight to people. Yeah that’s a very interesting question in terms of print, and it really depends where you are located. For our Santa Barbara area, print seems to still be very relevant very important, very widely read. That’s not the same for other areas. So if we focus in on Santa Barbara, yes, it’s still relevant. 

There are a lot of people out there that would like it not to be sewn to go to completely a digital age, but on the other hand, there is something to be said for having something tangible in your hands and the flick of a book or the flick of a newspaper still is a luring and appealing. So I think we can have a bridge between the modern world and print medias it stands. So yes, the short answer is in Santa Barbara, there’s still a place for print marketing.

Jonathan: That’s interesting.

Scott: Okay. Well, let’s talk about marketing plans in general. if you’re a seller and you decide I’m going to put my home up for sale, whether it’s 2 million or 20 million, you’re going to get some sort of a marketing plan put to you by your real estate agent. How much is it just the real estate agent that’s making that decisions? Or are you, as a homeowner, how much input do you have? How does that go?

Sharan: I think if this goes really well, in my mind it should be a collaboration. It’s a teamwork, you and your realtor working in conjunction to maximize the exposure for your home, to get you the right buyer, to pay the right price. Right? That’s basically what everyone’s goal is. So I think when you are talking to your real estate agent, you should be asking these questions like, how are you going to market my home? if there is something specific that you’ve seen someone else do or you like the looks of, by all means bring it up to your realtor. 

They may have a plan for that. They may have some systems in place. I know for us at Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, we cover a wide array of digital ads, print media all kinds of international reach as well. So yeah, absolutely in my mind, it should be a collaboration. Bring your ideas. If you’re a homeowner and you wanna sell, your agent is open to them. I think with collaboration, you can come up with an even better plan. 

Then I think as a homeowner, it’s important to feel that you’re a part of the process. This is your home after all. This is somewhere where you’ve lived and created memories. So you should have a somewhat of a say, although to all my realtor friends out there, yes, you are the experts and, you lead the way for sure.

Jonathan: Does that ever create a problem where the realtor says, this is what needs to be done and the seller is not so sure of that?

Sharan: Sometimes, yes. But I think homeowners have chosen their realtor for a reason, and so part of that reason should be a trust in their knowledge and experience. And I think one thing that, our industry doesn’t do a great job of saying really is the amount of education and training that realtors have to go through. It is extensive, not just for contracts, negotiation skills, but marketing is a huge part of that also. So just know that the person that you’re talking to, you’ve, you’ve chosen them for a reason. They’ve had to go through an immense amount of training and education so they know what they’re talking about.

Scott: Well, let’s take that stay in that situation for just a second here. There’s going to be some feedback from the marketing that’s going to come through the real estate agent to the seller. What sort of thing should a seller expect to get as feedback about how it’s going?

Sharan: Yes, great question. I think you should be updated, you should expect to get updated at the beginning of when your home goes live, at least once a week with the exposure of your home. where is it being seen? Have you seen it in the local print media or on digital ads or streaming or whatever it may be? 

So you should expect to get some kind of updates. Obviously, the longer the home stays on the market, the marketing plan is going to level out and kind of become a little bit more robust at certain points when you can refresh the marketing. But certainly at the beginning, you should get an update of where your home is being shown, the kind of exposure and what kind of traffic is being directed towards that particular platform.

Scott: And that’s something at Berkshire Hathaway that we’re well prepared to provide.

Sharan: Yes. We have a lot of analytics like for everything ranging from digital social media to the PR that we cover, to how any digital ads that we put out there are performing. So we have all of that because marketing is great, but if you don’t know the analytics of how it’s performing, you can’t pivot. You can’t adjust, you can’t capitalize on what’s doing well. So that’s a huge part of marketing.

Jonathan: I just came out with a book Sharan and I hired a PR person, and they said, we should start your PR launch like six to 10 months before your book comes out. Which I thought was like ridiculous, but interesting. And I’m wondering how much time prior to the launch of a house is a marketing required for, like an agent to get ready for all that?

Sharan: Yeah, that’s a tough one to give a definitive answer for because each homeowner has a unique situation. Some people need to sound really quickly and some have a large time to kind of get prepared. We also have the constraints of rules and regulations that are put on us as realtors in what we can and cannot do. if you can create some birds and some excitement before actually the home is what we call live, meaning that’s when it hits the market, that’s always a positive thing because you’re creating some interest, you’re creating that excitement.

Like I said, we are constrained within the real estate industry of how we can do that. So we can’t advertise too much to the public before the property becomes live. We’re fortunate in Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, California properties that we are extensive from San Diego all the way up to Northern Santa Barbara. And so we have about 3000 agents that we can actually get the word out to before your home becomes live. So we’re in a fortunate position for that. So yes, we don’t have the luxury, unfortunately, like a book launch to do that much prep. That would be pretty amazing.

Scott: Well, let’s make at least suggest to people who might not have sold a home in the last 10 or 15 years. What are some of the essentials of a digital marketing plan, at least some of the basics, and how it might be different between a 2 million house or a 10 million house or a 20 million plus, give us a quick rundown on what, what a homeowner might expect.

Sharan: Yeah. So digital is becoming a much larger part of our marketing plans and, and is becoming a lot more dominant in some areas. It’s a lot more far reaching than print, and we can target specific areas. So your buyer for a lower priced home may not be coming from the same place as a very expensive home, let’s say 17 million, 20 millions plus. So your agent is taking into consideration where the buyer for that particular home might come from, let’s say, on the lower end of the scale, that buyer could most likely be local. So your digital ads, you’d be targeting specific zip codes around the neighborhood. When we go to the higher end of the market, more affluent homes, now you are talking about a much larger reach. 

The home buyer could come from within the same community, most likely they’re going to come from somewhere within the state, somewhere across the country or even internationally. So then your marketing plan and specifically your digital plan, takes on a different aspect. Now we have to think about targeting in different regions, different countries. So that is the main difference that you really need to think about. It’s one of the main differences. You can go really creative with digital ads, you can do streaming TV ads now as well, which it brings a whole new array and new platform for homeowners and exposure to their homes. But I think that’s something where we really kind of need to drill down and think, where is the buyer coming from? And then target those areas specifically.

Jonathan: Are there situations where a homeowner or home seller contributes to pay for any of this marketing? Or is that always part of the commission?

Sharan: Traditionally, the agent will expense all of the marketing out of their own pocket. And I’m not sure if most people know, but agents don’t get paid until your home gets sold. So all of this work, all of this prep, all of the beautiful marketing that you see is literally coming out of their pockets until they get paid their professional fee at the close of escrow. 

So if you can imagine, to your point, Jonathan, if there’s any prep that’s being done before the home goes live, which there usually is, then the whole process of getting the word out for the, what we call the coming soon period, if there is one, then when the property is live, which is involves man hours in terms of showing the home and follow up to the eventual hopefully escrow period and whatever that may be, 30 to 60 to 90 days, all of that time, your agent is essentially working out of pocket. Which were unique as an industry for doing that. So yes, it’s not typical for a homeowner to contribute to that, although in some particular circumstances where the marketing plan is going to be so extensive and far reaching, and there may be a time constraint, it might be something that the SA home seller might be willing to work with the agent on for that.

Scott: I can think specifically of big video productions. I’ve seen some pretty high numbers for video productions where sellers wanted something pretty spectacular with a pretty high price tag involved then, then that, that seems to me like the, you’re talking about a negotiation between the seller and the real estate agent and those really do happen. Some sellers do help pay for some of that.

Sharan: Yeah, because the big production videos , it’s like creating a, a mini movie, right? And we’ve all heard of the costs that these big movies have. It’s like that, but just on a slightly smaller scale for, for real estate, especially if you are considering a lifestyle video, which usually contains actors, storyboarding different cameramen, drone footage, drivers, catering, I mean, it goes on and on. So yes, Scott, you’re absolutely right, for the affluent homes, the more expensive homes, those videos sometimes are a must in your marketing plan, and they can get that up there in price.

Scott: Okay. Well, we benefit in, in Montecito Santa Barbara from still being in quite a good real estate market in early 2023 as we make this recording and the market may change. Any of your suggestions would they change as the market changes?

Sharan: I think there’s a difference in terms of marketing and advertising. We just came through a period where homes were selling so incredibly quickly. There wasn’t actually time to put some of this marketing into place, right? And we were just doing advertising and before you could even get that up off the ground, the home already had 15 offers on it and was already off the market. my advice to agents is actually never skim upon your marketing. No matter what the market conditions are, they will always stand you in good stead. I think the most successful people in this industry understand that, and they don’t let off on their marketing. 

On the flip side, advertising a home that can change with the market conditions because you need to be either quicker or you need to make sure that your plan is sustainable for a longer time, once if a market slows down as well. But in terms of the market changing, as for your own personal business, make sure your marketing is consistent. That is what will keep you going through these market shifts and make sure you have some degree of consistency and for homeowners out there. Yes, we do have to adjust our marketing advertising plan depending on how quickly homes are selling, and your agent will go through average time a market view and make sure that their marketing plan fits accordingly.

Jonathan: Yeah. I’m wondering when I sold the home last 10 years ago or whatever, video wasn’t necessary, is that something that’s necessary now or what price do you like? You need to have a video for this house.

Sharan: Practically every price point these days, Jonathan. Things have changed radically in the last 10 years. Video has become so all important. If you are a social media, you’ll know the Instagram even has changed from being a platform for still photography to now reels and video are what they value above anything else. It’s no different in our industry. And I think if you can bring the essence of the home, no matter what it is to life for a potential buyer, it gives you a better aspect. It gives you a better chance of really selling that home to the correct buyer. 

So it, I think it’s something that we can embrace and actually a piece of technology that is really helpful these days in terms of showcasing the house in ways that just weren’t available to us before. They run the gamut according to the home price. So you could do a pretty basic home video and you could do a 3D tour to the hi homes, which we’ve already discussed with Scott. You can do a full-on mini-movie production too. So there’s quite an array that’s available to us, and the right product should be chosen according to location, price, and availability of what’s out there. And as we just discussed, market conditions. You may not have time to make a a full-on movie in some cases, but for the most affluent homes, you’ll see there’s some quite incredible examples out there, and I think that is worthwhile doing to reach that international buyer.

Scott: Well, Sharon, if we have a marketing plan that’s ongoing and the property stays on the market for a while, and we face a situation where a seller of a property goes you’re telling me you’re marketing it. And there’s a discussion going on about that, but there’s a couple of sort of a choice that comes up for the seller is do they need to do a price reduction? Do they need a different marketing plan? And of course, in their own mind, they may think, do I need a different real estate agent? Let’s talk about this conundrum that where the sellers and the realtors are hopefully on the same team, but this is moment does arrive in some listings.

Sharan: Yes, and, it’s a difficult one to navigate because on the one hand, as a homeowner, you are invested in your home, you’ve made memories there, and, and to you it holds a certain value. It may not be the same value that the market is telling the agent that you’ve chosen, that those two things may not match, right? Because the agent is looking at data and facts and the homeowner is thinking, well, my neighbor’s home sold for x amount six months ago, but your agent knows that lot has changed in the market in the last six months. I think really you need to kind of break it down into going back to the marketing plan, that price is a factor in marketing. It’s not a standalone issue.

It’s part and parcel of the marketing plan. So if all other phases of the marketing plan seem to be operational and working, and they, you are getting views, you’re getting showings and so forth and that starts to dwindle out, but the marketing is staying robust, then by process of elimination, you have to arrive at the next factor in marketing, which is price. And so the agent and the home seller do really need to have that discussion. I’m sure an agent will bring all the market data relevant to prove their point. So that really needs to be a discussion once the seller has seen all the marketing, seen everything that’s been going on, and can also recognize that I’m not getting showings, I’m not, the phone’s not ringing off the hook anymore and nothing seems to be happening, and yet the marketing plan still seems to be in place. I’m seeing my home advertised everywhere. It looks good, the photography looks good, the videos look good.

My agent is communicating to me that all of these things are happening. So really then it really comes down to that. And I know that’s a difficult conversation for a lot of people to have. They may need to sell it at a certain price point. I can tell you for a fact that all agents know if they could sell it for a higher price, they absolutely would. That’s not something that they wanna skimp on at all. But selling a home in the first place is better than just having it sit on the market. And really that’s where our expertise comes in to crunch those numbers, look at those analytics and go, this is really what we should be aiming for.

Jonathan: Great information Sharon. Is there anything that we maybe should have asked that we didn’t ask or any final words that you have for people who are marketing their home?

Sharan: Wow, marketing is such a huge topic. There are so many things I could talk about. I think for homeowners out there that are listening, it’s really important to get as much information as possible. Look at the materials that your agent provides. I know from my standpoint, we spend a lot of time and effort developing those and making sure they’re hitting the right notes and making sure that we’re capitalizing on all the data that we receive so that we can market your home most effectively. 

So take time to look over those. Don’t be rushed in that process, ask for examples, ask for materials. We can provide all of that for you. Quality really is important. Design and style are important because if it catches your eye, most likely it will catch an of the buyer as well. So your home deserves that. For agents that are generic there, pay attention to your marketing plan. It’s really, really important to have that. Yes, you’ve got all your facts and figures, yes, you know, everything there is to know about the neighborhood but really marketing is what is going to set you apart from your competition and really elevate the exposure, reach of that home. And you have a great brand behind you in Berkshire Hathaway. 

Home Services, we really do extensively research. What’s the latest and greatest out there. We have great PR. That’s another thing. I mean, going back to print as we were talking about earlier, Jonathan .Print media is important in different aspects so in specialized media particularly, so for that I’m talking about Wall Street Journal, mansion Global the Hollywood Reporter variety, things like that, that do get read by a certain sect of professionals. We have a very robust PR team that can help get exposure into those established and very respected print publications who also have digital versions. So we’re hitting both mediums at the same time. So that’s an important aspect as well. We didn’t really touch on social media. I know that is a love-hate relationship for a lot of people. 

But it is a tool that is available to us. So social media is also part and parcel of marketing these days, as is video as well. And digital ads are going to be a much bigger part in our marketing plans. There are amazing things we can do with digital ads in terms of targeting, in terms of really targeting the specific buyer that would genuinely be interested in your property, rather than kind of just throwing it out there to anyone and hoping something will stick. That’s a few things that we didn’t touch on, but it still should be part and parcel of a marketing plan.

Jonathan: Great answers and a lot to know in this area. That’s why you’re there, Sharon and I guess people can get hold of you through Berkshire Hathaway or through Scott.

Sharan: Yes. You can get through to me through Berkshire Hathaway. I am based in the Montecito office, or you can contact me through Scott as well. Hopefully all the agents that are part of Berkshire Hathaway Home Services, California properties know how to reach me. if you don’t, hey, Scott’s your man, talk to him and he’ll get you in touch with me.

Scott: Well, this Sharon, thank you very much for being with us today. And I’ve been selling real estate for decades in Santa Barbara and Montecito and to have you in your role who helps agents to like run the marketing machine that you have available for us, this is new and not every real estate agency in this town has somebody like you to help make this work. And that’s a real blessing for Berkshire Hathaway. Wow.

Sharan: Wow. I thank you for that Scott, as well. For me, this is a very rewarding job in which I get to help people like you and other agents and then help the community because, if you can get what you need from your home and move on to the next phase of your life and be happy and healthy it’s essentially what we want as well. So thank you, Scott. I appreciate that.

Jonathan: And Scott, how do people get ahold of you?

Scott: I’m Scott. It’s Scott williams.com

Jonathan: And I’m Jonathan of, Jonathan Robinson. Anyways, it’s a pleasure to have another session of Sweet Home Santa Barbara with such useful information. We’ll catch you next time, folks. Thanks for listening.

Scott: Thank you for listening. Please subscribe to our podcast on your favorite app. If you know someone preparing to sell their home, please tell them about the podcast. 

Visit scottwilliams.com to contact me and download the two free e booklets. “Is my house saleable now” and “how not to buy a money pit” Thank you for listening.