It’s true that most estate agents in Bishop’s Stortford are still advertising their properties in the newspaper, but every year more and more estate agents ditch the local newspaper in favour of the top online portals such as Rightmove, Zoopla and Primelocation. It’s certainly true that the property world has changed drastically in the last few years, so my question today is: is newspaper advertising dead? Should estate agents still be using the property section to advertise their properties? Or is it just a very costly exercise that won’t get you any more viewings? Should estate agents in Bishop’s Stortford move with the times and go for more online based advertising?
Let’s first look at the argument “for” newspaper advertising first of all. The theory goes that the more you advertise your property, the more people that will see it advertised and the more likely that someone will book a viewing and hopefully make that all important offer. I also hear lots of people mention that the older generation simply don’t use the internet and so would use their local newspaper to find their next property, so are we alienating them by NOT advertising in the local newspaper. You could also say that with a readership of say 50,000, that’s a huge audience that your property is reaching and surely a great way to market your property?
However, did you know that your property won’t necessarily reach any more people than you would on Rightmove.co.uk and Zoopla.co.uk? Here’s why: all buyers now are using the internet to find their next home! So yes buyers might see your property in the newspaper, but guess what? They’ll already have seen it on Rightmove anyway! Buyers do occasionally browse the property section of the newspaper but they’ll also be signed up to email alerts and checking Rightmove on a daily basis. As the newspaper is only printed once per week, buyers know that they need to be on Rightmove or Zoopla to make sure they’re up to date with the latest new properties. Our local newspaper enjoys a readership of over 50,000 people. But did you know that Rightmove has not thousands but MILLIONS of visitors every month to its website?
We’ll let you make your own decision about whether it’s worthwhile advertising in your local newspaper, but an interesting topic for today’s blog. I wonder what the property advertising world will look like in another 5 – 10 years’ time, will estate agents in Bishop’s Stortford use the local newspaper at all? Only time will tell!
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What to read next? “10 Steps to Conducting the Perfect Viewing”