John,
Your question is a valid one. Trulia is a great platform.
My answer has nothing to do with me, or listing with an agent, or even Trulia specifically. It goes more to marketing which is the essence of getting anything sold.
Whether you are selling semi-conductors, or breakfast cereal or real estate, your goal is to tell your story to as many people as possible and in multiple iterations.
Does McDonalds tell you just once that "You are Lovin It"? For that matter, do they tell you from only one source? They tell you how hungry you are and how you are lovin it many many many times a day, and from a special menu for a buck that might even be carb smart or Atkins approved depending on which diet trend is vogue. And they tell you from different mediums.
You will see it on billboards, hear it on radio, bus stop benches, tv, little side ads on web landing pages, In fact John you will see two trends in marketing. The first is multiple exposures. You see the same commercial two or three or more times in one pro football, basketball or golf telecast. Even in a 1/2 hour sitcom there will be multiple interations of the same commercial. Do you see a trend here?
The second common thread is positioning. The top marketers will be in the first position after the station break rather than the last one prior to the normal broadcast resuming. Another example is, French's is at eye level in the store but the store brand is way down low on the bottom shelf. Why do you suppose that is?
Carry these two basic principals into the product you wish to sell, your home. Most agents do not spend money on print ads anymore. A few will because they think it keeps the client happy. Most agents have found that calls, showings, and offers will keep that Seller happy. There are good reasons for that. There is no prominent positioning and repetition is way to expensive.
If you sell it yourself, you should keep that in mind. If an agent is trying to pitch a marketing plan where print advertising is the highlight, be cautious.
You should research yourself, which real estate platforms get to most traffic, and more importantly, how long that traffic lingers. Naturally, agents try to get top positioning in a given price range on the various platforms. Then believe it or not, once we have a click from one of the major platforms, we do everything in our power to lure the viewer away.
The idea being we want that viewer as far away from all the other lisings (measured by clicks) as is possible. There is some art to it, some science, a lot of theory, and even some measurable results.
So John, almost every agent has a web site. You can have one too for that matter. Whether you use an agent or do it yourself, remember the two core principals of repetition and placement. Be sure to analyze all your options from that point of view.
To answer yourquestion directly, you can get coverage on Trulia, but, based on the principals of marketing for repititon and positioning, would you want to stop there?
Please let me know if you need any other marketing or real estate info.
Sincerely,
Tom Bernardo
239-425-4900
tombernardo@earthlink.net - Mon Feb 18 2008, 03:02