Pets are People Too
Have you seen the new Progressive promotion that offers free auto insurance for your pets with your human and hardware coverage? Well, I have and it got me thinking. ‘Progressive is all about being, well, progressive.’ Real estate is not. There are plenty of good ideas we can take from other industries to come current with the times. And why not, theft is the highest form of flattery, right?!
Think of the possibilities. Wouldn’t it be great if all our insurers threw in a little something for our furry friends? If our homes get hit by a flash flood, hail storm, earthquake or arson, we don’t want our best buddies to go without some relief too. If we become homeless so do they. What about life insurance. For Pete’s sake, if I kick the bucket what will happen to poor Rex. I gasp to think he could be left to fend for himself. Which reminds me, I need to re-write my will. I want Rex and Ringo to get my grandmother’s jewelry when I’m gone.
How about bogo. Now that’s a great marketing concept we can take from the retail industry. You might be thinking, ‘how could you possibly apply buy one, get one to housing?’ It’s all about a creative outlook. Instead of $500,000 for a two bedroom, two bath home, sell it as $500,000 for a one bed, one bath and throw in the extra rooms as a bonus. Oh sure, that would raise the square footage price, but there are plenty of foolish buyers out there who don’t look at stuff like that.
Then there’s my absolute favorite marketing tool of all time, Ding! If you buy a home, between the second Thursday of April through the sixth day of June, have a household size of 2.5 and are willing to resell on the fourth day of February in the year 2021, then we’ll give you a great deal on a one and a half bedroom home in an urban enterprise zone. We’ll even throw in some ‘free’ walls to boot, but you have to bring your own roof.
There’s a new airline flying out of Burbank called Sky Bus. They have really cheap fares but you have to pay an add-on for anything but your seat. You pay a certain fee per bag, extra for snacks, pillows, etc. Think of that same application in housing. Why not ask a bare bones price for the structure, then add a little for the options. A toilet seat will cost you another $25, tile floors $3750, fire proof shingles $1800 and so on. Be prepared to pay a premium if you want the yard. Oh, wait a minute, that sounds like a condo development. Never mind.
In February, Kimpton Hotels was running a special called ‘28 Days of Fish.’ Appealing, eh? The concept was to promote their food and beverage operations by featuring a different seafood dish each day of the month. Now, apply that to real estate. Take a new listing and for the first month, feature a different room in the house. When you run out of rooms, highlight something else like the great ceiling fan in the bedroom or French doors leading to the garage. The possibilities are endless!
Have creative ideas for new marketing strategies in real estate? Stumbled across something really ingenious? Share them with us here.
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