Just last week Nielsen Research Company released its annual study on the real estate market borne of an online intercept survey. It detailed very clearly the trend of the polarisation of media preference amongst property buyers and sellers. The ascendancy of the web versus the demise of printed publications – specifically specialist real estate magazines and metropolitan newspapers.
How strange then to be the recipient of this tweet from Matthew Harman:
Latest issue of Property Press says there’s 56% ‘future intention’ to advertise in this mag. Ahead of online. Course it is 2007 research
I was fairly staggered that this could be the case, so I went to search the local Property Press. I found the Central Property Press for Auckland and on page 32a I found this advert.
In the small font below the headline of NRB: Future Advertising Intentions I found the reference of “National Research Bureau 2007″ – so yes the Property Press is trying to encourage advertisers using research data that is 3 years out of date.
Still in shock from this attempt by the Property Press to persuade the buyers and sellers of the merits of Property Press over “internet websites” (as opposed to ‘other’ websites!!), I was knocked off my chair on Saturday when reviewing the NZ Herald weekly supplement “Herald Homes” – on page G47 was this advert.
So the NZ Herald recommends that you use their publication based on readership survey from July 2007 to June 2008 – another 3 year old research survey!
Clearly the property market was a lot healthier 3 years ago – however people are still buying and selling homes and are using all forms of media to advertise – the fact is that in 2010, 8 out of 10 people indicated in the latest Nielsen survey that they had used a specialist real estate website in the past week, compared to less than 1 in 2 using a specialist magazine and less than 1 in 4 using a metropolitan newspaper – this data is right up to date – undertaken in May 2010.
Exceedingly good point Alistair. I’ve long wondered about the accuracy of these statistics bandied about on the continuing popularity of print media for real estate advertising.
In the US which is suffering huge drops in real estate activity at the moment there is a large, measurable upswing in traffic to real estate websites. (see http://tinyurl.com/2anceoy )
Of course, the other vital component of online advertsing is the ability of an advertiser to prove the effectiveness of online activity by monitoring click-throught to relevant response mechanisms…something that you’d be hard-pressed to do when the ad you saw was simply wrapped around your Friday fish and chips.
Yes, very funny, both references by the Herald and the Property Press and quite sad at the same time… a shame that the pressure felt must have been a large shift in their viability for future gain and sustainability however, when it comes to branding, now we are 2 years on from these comments, Stature Building which is the way to build Brand imagery in ones mind and also Thematic campaigning (reinforce or modify your brand sucessfully) it is without a doubt, Tangible advertisings reinforces your brand, complimenting other advertising mediums… the net is a ‘one page for all’ advertisement, far too easy to get lost inamongst it all. Your local and national publications are still a favourite pasttime along with a good coffee or beverage.