Active buyers are in-market, doing active research - often using the major property portals. They come to open homes, do research and have an objective in mind or are doing serious research into their purchasing power. Passive buyers, which many agents have sold property to, are another thing entirely.
Passive buyers are not actively looking for property, but if they happen to see a property that interests them they can become active buyers for that property. Passive buyers are often emotional buyers, because they may have seen a property they would love to own, and emotional buyers often will pay over the odds to ensure they secure their new desire. You won’t find a passive buyer by using a website listing because they simply aren't looking online for property - you need to find other ways to get your property noticed.
For this reason, it makes perfect sense for your vendor to specifically invest in marketing items that reach passive buyers, as well as active buyers. Here is a list of things that will reach passive & active buyers - AND don’t forget if you get a passive buyer you may well get a listing too, because most people will need to sell in order to buy. That's a win-win for you. So, how can you reach passive buyers?
Especially multi-channel (ie: not just Social Media) is, without doubt, the best way to reach a massive local audience at a very low cost per person. As an example, whilst a substantial part of the ad budget on AIM campaigns is targeted to people whose actions indicate they are active buyers, we set aside a portion for what is called an awareness campaign. This is a broader communique to the local area (and other targeted areas) to let many more people know about your listing. When a passive buyer sees an ad for a listing that piques their interest they’re likely to click on the ad - and they will be retargeted with more ads to remind them about that listing and the selling agent/agency too.
These remain a highly effective source of passive buyers, but clearly need to be driven or walked past to be seen.
Whilst many papers have closed, and some agents or vendors may have abandoned print ads, they still have a place in terms of specific engagement for certain demographics. Newspapers & magazines are read for entertainment, so it stands to reason that amongst those readers will be people who may stumble across a property that engages with them - even if they weren’t actually looking for property.
The main message of this short article is this:
If you’re already using multi-channel digital marketing on every listing, congratulations you are in the vanguard. If not, perhaps now is the time to rethink what marketing looks like nowadays. We’d love to help you take the next step with a simple, short, chat.
Happy selling!