It’s a pretty sure bet that you have a cell phone. What about text messaging, do you use it? If you don’t, consider yourself in a very small minority. Nielsen Mobile surveys shows that by the second quarter of 2008, text messages had exceeded the number of cell phone calls by an impressive margin.
And, if you think it’s all just teenagers who don’t buy or sell real estate, think again. The facts show that every age group up through 44 years old sent more text messages than they made cell phone voice calls. And it was close on the 45 to 54 group. The plain truth is that text messaging is becoming a wildly popular way to exchange information. And, huge marketers and retailers are now doing text message marketing to bring in consumers. You can actually get a coupon text message and show it in a restaurant for a discount.
That’s nice, but we’re not selling burgers you say. True, but we are in a service business that is very dependent on making contact with our prospects and clients. And, we market high dollar products. If a burger sale justifies expenditures on SMS text message advertising, then why wouldn’t a home listing? The good news is that there are uses in our business for this medium, and they can cost as little as nothing, zero, free.
All of this is currently available technology. The point is that SMS text messaging is widely popular, and it’s just getting more so. If you do not have a plan to implement it in your marketing, you’re falling behind already. And, it’s not just about texting out your listing data when they’re in front of the home. It’s about alerting your interested prospects of important market news or real estate statistics. You can place a box on your site where they can subscribe to get text alerts of price drops or other market news.
Start looking at how you might use SMS text messaging to bring your message to the new consumer. It is for all ages, and they appreciate the ability to tell you what they want and when they want it. And, if a buyer prospect is sitting in front of your listing and wants to know more, get the information to them in seconds as a text message and/or a link to full rich web content.
Peyman Aleagha
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