Now RE+AD This: June

A Welcome Message From Ed!

Advertising Rebound:

WITH CONSUMERS READY TO MOVE, TIME TO WIND UP YOUR RE MARKETING!

"US marketing has suffered. But, because real estate is driven by life events -- and Covid has accelerated the life events of so many Americans -- I believe real estate advertising spend will rebound starting in July, ahead of many other major US ad categories."  

- Audience Town CEO, Ed Carey

Update on US Marketing Trends:

First up, let's review how things got very bad for the state of US marketing. Forrester issued a COVID-19 crisis report:

QUICK TAKEAWAYS:

• 28% drop in US marketing (media, service, tech, heads) by end of 2021

• Mid-2021 recovery is most likely 

• Offline media will collapse, and move to digital by 2022

This all sounds bad, and it is, but this data represents a cross-section of industries that were more vulnerable to begin with. How does real estate compare? About the same short term, according to Zillow’s Q1 earnings, they expect YoY declines in media spend to be 25%. However, they also are seeing rising demand on their platform.

The Real Estate Rebound?

So far, real estate is down about 30-40%, but many indicators and pundits are predicting a rebound starting this summer.

THOUGHTS FROM THE INDUSTRY:

John Burns Real Estate Consultants are predicting “The Great American Move” meaning that “For safety reasons, financial prospects, life change improvements, personal comfort, and employment, we expect a surge in household and business relocations over the next few months that will provide new, strategic opportunities for the real estate market.”

Zillow economists suggest that the rebound is actually ahead of schedule: “Since initial publication, new data now lead us to believe that home sales are recovering more quickly, and that home prices will fall by less, than first expected."

Builders are focusing on user experience more than ever because consumers are more interested in new construction housing they can check-out with videos and digital experiences. 

And finally, Compass CEO, Robert Reffkin, is going as far as to say: Summer might be “the biggest summer in history...” 

New Ideas for Real Estate Marketers:

• Personalized marketing to consumers is better when you use “first-party” data. Guidelines on how to use your own data to be “responsible” with your home marketing this Summer. 
• Per ad tech leader MediaMath, media buying is shifting towards using data to personalize marketing & ConnectedTV based on an acceleration during Covid.

• Video: Home seekers are using online videos to narrow down their favorite properties to see in-person.

• BOPIS - “buy online, pick-up in store” is rapidly accelerating how retail stores are selling since Covid. We see the real estate version of BOPIS with some of the iBuyers that offer house hunter mobile apps for searching & attending house tours. 

EARLY ACCESS - Audience Town's TV & Video Solutions:

• Connected TV - LEARN MORE
• Virtual Tours - LEARN MORE