The marketing plan is the process by which I communicate with targeted networks of agents and buyers, so they understand the value of your home and recognize why it stands out from comparable homes in the present market.
The first part of the marketing plan is to form a clear description of the value proposition of your home: the reason your home stands out for value. The second part of the marketing plan focuses on producing and distributing clear communications that demonstrate that value. The third part of the marketing plan is to bring these communications to the attention of targeted networks of buyers and agents.
1. Price strategy: half the journey
2. The value story in pictures and words
1. Websites
2. Glossy magazine advertisements
3. City and community print advertisements
4. Professional quality feature sheets & flyers
5. Quality, visible signage
1. MLxchange: the network of professional realtors
2. MLS.ca: public access to the multiple listing service
3. Vaughan Mealey & Associates network of agents and buyers
4. Vaughan Mealey & Associate websites: www.mealey.ca; www.varsityrealestate.ca
5. Community-specific networks of buyers and agents: reach the people looking in your area
6. Targeted-audience networks of buyers and agents: reach the people looking for homes comparable to yours
7. Open houses and scheduled showings for qualified buyersPrice strategy is crucial to make your home stand out in the competition for that limited group of buyers who will be attracted to your home and to other homes like it. We base our price strategy recommendations on the strongest and most varied research of competition and price comparables you will find anywhere.
1. Since every market has homes that do not sell, it is crucial to price by competition in the current market, not just by a quick historical search of comparable homes.
2. The bulk of showings occur between the 2nd and 5th weeks after listing. As we get later in the process bargain hunters perceive vulnerability and show up with unreasonably low offers. The right price finds a good buyer, in good time.
3. We research the homes that your home will compete against in the present market, to catch the attention of the limited group of buyers with the criteria that would make them consider your home. This helps us determine the best price that will make a viable value proposition to those buyers.
4. We study recent sales of homes with a similar profile, location and amenities, in your community and surrounding communities.
5. We determine the historical maximum prices that have been achieved for comparable homes.
6. We evaluate the average trading price per ft2 for recently sold comparable homes.
7. We track the ratio between current sale prices and city property assessments. City of Calgary property assessments are only rarely accurate statements of the market value of your home. But it is informative to chart sale prices for comparable homes in a given area in comparison with property assessment values. Sometimes we can recognize clear trends.
After careful analysis, we lay out our findings for you. Together we determine a price strategy that accurately represents the value of your home in the present market.
After determining price strategy we frame a concise value proposition that will quickly communicate to prospective buyers and their agents why this home stands out from the competition.
We don’t just take snap shots of your home. We assemble high quality images and arrange them so they clearly and accurately tell the story of your home’s value.
We produce high quality text and images and publish them on our own targeted websites and on MLS.ca. Almost every prospective buyer opens MLS.ca many times during their search. Several area realtors pick up this content and re-publish it on their own websites. Every time they do, they help us broadcast our value proposition.
We frequently advertise in several different full-colour glossy magazines that are targeted to a range of markets. These include such publications as Homes and Land. Every home we list is featured in CRENews which is widely distributed across the city. But we don’t just throw ads in the wind. We target our print advertising carefully so the buyers who are looking at homes comparable to yours see your home and recognize its value.
There are a variety of black & white, newsprint newspapers and newsletters in the city. They can provide an excellent venue to communicate with targeted groups of prospective buyers
I produce a professional quality feature sheet that highlights the features that make your home attractive, through words and pictures. This sheet is distributed to a targeted group of agents and to all buyers who are given a showing of your home, whether by me or some other agent. We also send flyers by direct mail to specific areas where we believe we can find prospective buyers.
We want people moving through the neighbourhood to know your home is for sale. We make sure to use quality signage that points them in the right direction.
This is the listing service directly used by the whole network of professional realtors.
This is the public website that gives anyone on the web access to every listing on the multiple listing service in Canada, including a text description, essential information about your home, and photographs.
The network of buyers and sellers directly connected to Vaughan Mealey & Associates. This is where an intentional network of agents is an advantage. Every realtor associated with me has an existing network of relationships—with buyers who are already shopping, with prospective buyers, and with other realtors. This whole network receives a feature sheet and other communications that highlight your home. Vaughan Mealey & Associates agents are all members of the RE/MAX network of agents. Through us you have city-wide, national and international connections to the whole RE/MAX network.
These include Vaughan’s own sites: www.mealey.ca, a site with a wider intended audience; and www.varsityrealestate.ca, a site that targets buyers who are interested in homes in the community of Varsity in NW Calgary. Another targeted website is under development. In addition to these websites, your home will be highlighted on the other websites within the network of Vaughan Mealey & Associates.
Every agent who specializes in your area or who has done significant recent business in your area will receive a feature sheet on your home. This way you will have not just one local specialist working for you, but every local specialist, to reach the people who are already looking in your area.
We make sure to reach the people looking for homes comparable to yours, wherever they are, through targeted print and web advertising.
