As we’ve stated in the past couple weeks, it’s important to find new ways to reach our consumers and one aspect of this is focusing on our content. The most powerful item we have as marketers is the ability to tell a story and is there a more compelling story to tell then of home ownership. Last week we focused on sustainability and how to market this to our consumers, but it’s only effective if our content is relevant.

As I think about the importance of relevant content, it makes me think of the house I grew up in as a kid. The family dinners, Christmas morning, and all the other memories over the years give me a sense of home. Yet when I go online to read about a potential home purchase, I get a dry description that doesn’t give me any emotional connection. Here is one example of a million dollar home for sale in Denver with a description that doesn’t even begin to tell a story.

“ABSOLUTELY AMAZING HOME. EVERY AMENITY YOU COULD EVER HOPE FOR. MASTER BDRM IS A DREAM. 500K DOLLAR ADDITION TO THE HOUSE WITH POOL ENCLOSED RV STORAGE ON THE PROPERTY. UNBELIEVABLE MOUNTAIN VIEW FROM THE UPPER LEVEL PATIO DECK. A MUST SEE!”

What about the neighborhood? What makes having this indoor pool so amazing?  There are so many different directions this company could have gone to tell a compelling story, but it requires more than just a couple vague sentences.

This reminds me of one of my favorite movies, Rounders, when Teddy so elegantly describes what it’s like to play poker with Mike McDermott. “Just like a young man, coming in for a quickie. I feel so unsatisfied…”  This is how I feel after reading some of the dry property descriptions.

After thinking about this for some time, I found a link for a blog that did an incredible job telling a story about a home and the story behind a zero energy home.  Check out the blog article here.

Notice when you read this post that there are over 33 comments at the time I posted this blog.  That’s over thirty people engaging in a discussion over this property listing. I am sure any seller would love to see this kind of activity. As I dug further, it wasn’t just one post but a series of posts that left me with a feeling that, as marketers, we need to work with our agents and sellers to capture more of the essence of the homes we represent.

I think it’s time that, as an industry, we think more about the conversation we can build around the property. With a good story we can engage our potential customers and get them talking which is so important in online marketing.
So let’s all get creative and think how we can create good content that people are much more likely to read, link to, and share with friends and family. If we do this, we can create a true viral effect which is where the real search engine magic is found.

Here are a couple blog links I follow. Each of these blog’s focus is different, but you’ll notice the content is alive and engaging.

www.apartmenttherapy.com
www.littlediggs.com