Reaching Buyers

Gimmicks for marketing luxury homes are nothing new. Helicopter flyovers, massive billboards and other stunts have drawn attention in the past. But there are a number of innovations that are the exception, such the use of drones, which can help increase an agent’s reach by creating three-dimensional models of luxury homes that can be promoted across a variety of platforms and give consumers a more comprehensive look at the property.

Whether it utilizes drones or classic still photography, online marketing is as important in the luxury market as it is among other homebuyers. Among buyers, 94 percent of Millennials say they search websites as information sources in their home search, compared to 84 percent of Baby Boomers and 65 percent of the Silent Generation, according to NAR’s 2015 Home Buyer and Seller Generational Trends Report. Among buyers who used the Internet in their search, 83 percent find photos very useful.

But ultimately, nothing replaces the experience of a seasoned luxury agent. “My high-end buyers want me to show them the properties that I think are best,” says Wong. “They are typically very busy and don’t have time to be poring through the Internet. They seem to hire the best people to help so they do not have to do the work themselves.”

And there are still plenty of “analog” marketing methods that work very well to reach buyers. Ames uses a multi-pronged approach to market properties. She eschews three-dimensional layouts in favor of paper layouts that her clients can use to draw in their furniture. Quality photography and a crisp, clean design aesthetic that shows the property in the best possible light are critical, as is the work that goes into staging. She uses a combination of direct mailing, targeted ads and Web listings to reach her audience.

“You have to have great-looking property listings on the Internet,” Ames said. “We spend a lot of time focusing on our staging and the quality of our photography so that when things go out to the consumer websites and the real estate websites, we know that we’ve really nailed it. I had a unique listing over by River North that I thought would appeal to the young, single crowd. I used Facebook to advertise to a targeted audience of people who go to the East Side Club. I knew I’d have a good chance of reaching my audience that way, and we received many response.”

Ames reaches many of her off-site buyers through agent-to-agent marketing. That enables her to reach her out-of-town target audience and to bolster a mutually beneficial relationship with those agents, strengthening her network and ensuring more business in the future.

At CONLON, Slager says, success in luxury sales comes from working as a tightly knit team. “There’s a finesse in selling a property as an idea, getting someone excited to see it before they have an opportunitiy to view it on the Internet.”