New Report by media experts Borrell Associates Inc.forecast the demise of newspaper advertising as one of the staples for Real Estate listings.
“Real estate brokers and agents will continue to devote more marketing budgets to online media. This year they will spend $2.6 billion on online media and by 2012 online will topple newspapers share“.
This is indeed interesting and backs- up what many of us in the NEW Media segment have been preaching to the old guard. There is a change in the wind and it is happening much sooner and faster than Real Estate Agents and Brokers will be happy with.
I have posted several articles over the last few weeks discussing the merits or the lack thereof, pertaining to Web 2.0 adoption by the Real Estate industry as a whole, and in particular how NAR has responded at their recent convention in Vegas. (NAR members with Ostrich syndrome on Web 2.0 ) (National Association of Realtors details 10 Year Plan)
Many in the Real Estate industry still fight this notion as one recent commenter said, “The Internet is a a powerful tool as we all know, but I don?t think we can completely discount the amount of buyers that search the newspapers still these days. The paper in my market has an excellent real estate section every Sunday. I generate a lot of calls from classified ads so I know they are still reading. You have to keep things diversified.”
While this may be true today, the statistics show a rapidly declining market for newspapers and an incremental rise in-online advertising. As the Baby Boom generation completes their last home purchases, the next generation, X, Y and ?? will be accustomed to using the Internet.
Borrell’s report also forecasts; that online advertising revenue will grow by 12.4 % in 2008 and print ad spending will continue to decline at an accelerated pace. The print advertising medium is expected to shrink by as much as 16% in 2009 increasing to 13% in 2010. Online real estate advertising will have surpassed print by 2011.
The writing is on the wall and as Zillow makes agreements with Newspaper companies for add sharing revenue it is apparent they know this too is coming.
So if you are one of the ones still sitting on the fence and wondering why you should even bother with taking your advertising online, or investing the time to learn about blogs ? I think this is your call. If this pans out, that means that you would have about 3 years to get up to speed. Meantime the early adopters will be taking valuable market share that you knowingly gave away.
Technology can be daunting, but their is a lot of help in the market with more on the horizon. If you approach the inevitable change with openness and embrace it, you will find yourself much better able to handle the questions you will surely get from prospective clients inquiring about your approach to media advertising and your online presence.
I think the days are fast approaching when simply being an expert in your area of the Real Estate community is not enough. You also have to know how to market yourself and your expertise in the new medium. Not because I or any other media pundit says you should. The real drivers for adoption will be your customers, who will demand it.
