Stepping Up Your Marketing Strategy: Looking Beyond Typical Real Estate Signage

AUGUST 20, 2018| SpeedPro

Most homeowners today have now had several decades of practice when it comes to tuning out traditional marketing and advertising. With all the content being thrown at them on a daily basis, it’s no wonder people are spending more on their advertising strategies in exchange for ever-dwindling returns.

For real estate agents who haven’t been seeing the success they want from their current methods, it may be time to start venturing outside those standard four-square walls.

Trends in Wide Format Advertising

There are plenty of recent breakthroughs in wide-format advertising, and marketers are definitely responding to all the new options. Single-pass water-based inkjets have started seeing a major spike due to their fast production rates and reasonable prices.

Latex has also seen steady growth, even if the original surge in popularity has leveled off a bit. Marketers appreciate latex for many of the same reasons they use single-pass — it’s faster and improves workflow productivity. Agents won’t have to sacrifice quality if they have to attend a last-minute trade show.

Rethinking Wide Format

Wide format advertising has seen an increase in demand as of late as the options decline in price and increase in quality. Marketers are slowly discovering just how effective non-traditional signage can really be. And while these trends reflect marketing as a whole rather than real estate specifically, the recent developments present a huge opportunity for agents.

For example, wall coverings or vehicle wraps are quickly becoming some of the fastest ways to get noticed. While every real estate agent will have their own unique perspective on how they want to come across to the public, there are ways to adapt this type of printing to their advantage.

Unconventional Signage

Most people have an image in their mind about what a real estate sign looks like. From the phone number to the smiling picture of a competent-looking agent featured front and center, these signs can become just another piece of the landscape after a while.

But it doesn’t take much to change the colors or tweak the style just a bit to challenge people’s expectations and get them to notice that the home of their dreams is for sale, or that the right agent to work with is staring back at them. For the many limitations and recommendations, there are ways to break all the rules and still come out on top. Consider an incredibly busy sign featuring a huge dog. Noticeable? Definitely. 

Major Events

From trade shows to community get-togethers, real estate agents can use wide-format advertising to stand out from the crowd. While it’s true that there will be plenty of competition attempting to do the same, major events are some of the best places to implement a big, eye-catching strategy.

It can be difficult for people to really get the recognition they want when they’re standing in a sea of competitors. A colorful sign that defines the agent can make the right first impression. It ultimately gives a professional the chance to start making connections and relationships that can catapult their career to the next level.

Tips for Putting It Together

The first step is to decide the exact type of medium an agent wants. The biggest tip an agent can receive for picking a medium is that people notice quality. They may not be able to define exactly what it is they like about the sign, but they can subconsciously tell if the agent put time and effort into it or if it’s being used mainly for shock-value.

A real estate agent who gets too pushy with their potential clients may soon find they don’t have a business before too long. So for agents who choose to do a vehicle wrap-around, they need to ensure that the text is limited and that the images match the format of the vehicle. Agents who do a wall covering may want to spring for quality fabric to give their sign the heft and weight it needs to be noticed.

Real estate agents who are interested in shaking up their marketing strategy need to consider exactly how they want to utilize wide format. The exact sign will be different not just based on the agent’s personal preferences, but also the neighborhood they work in, the clients they serve, and the types of homes they sell. The good news is that agents can adapt their branding image to work with even the most extravagant of wide-format advertising strategies. All it takes is a little research and a lot of ingenuity.