Should You Advertise Your Listings or Yourself?

Which is more important to advertise: your listings or yourself?

This question occurred to us while researching AdWerx for an upcoming profile. Their first advertising product for real estate failed. The idea--ad retargeting technology (those ads that follow you around the web) powered by behavioral data--seemed solid. No one else offered anything like it in the real estate vertical yet, but consumer response was still lackluster.

What was wrong? It wasn't the technology, it was what was being advertised--or rather, who wasn't. That early product served ads for individual listings. When the company pivoted and began advertising the agents themselves, with barely more than a headshot and a phone number, the success rate of the ads skyrocketed.

So what's the takeaway here? Is it a waste of time and money to advertise individual listings? We suspect that the answer is complex, like many things in real estate. Certainly advertising listings has its place, but perhaps the above anecdote suggests that agents should concentrate more on building their brand.

After all, you are more than just your listings--you offer a certain style of service, a particular skill set and expertise. And ads for individual listings appeal to a very narrow audience--those who are interested in the home displayed, not sellers or those early in the search process. To catch a wider array of real estate consumers, get your brand out there. Repeated exposure ups the likelihood of you being top of mind at that moment when a consumer decides to contact a real estate agent.