PROPERTY MARKETING
Listing a home and marketing one are not the same thing.
Photography captures the space. Marketing gives the right buyer a reason to care about it.
Before the photographer is booked, I want to know what we’re actually selling: what makes the property different, what a buyer needs to understand about it, and how the whole launch should make that value obvious.
20 years of marketing strategy · 100+ personal real estate transactions
DISTRIBUTION ≠ STRATEGY
Most listing packages start with the deliverables. I start with the property.
THE STANDARD PACKAGE
- Professional photography
- Zillow and MLS syndication
- A yard sign
- An open house
- A price reduction if nothing happens
That’s a distribution plan. It isn’t a marketing strategy.
THE STRATEGY UNDERNEATH IT
- Position
- What makes this property worth attention, relative to everything else for sale.
- Audience
- Which needs and use cases the property answers, based on the property, not on who the buyer is.
- Message
- The one or two ideas every asset has to reinforce.
- Presentation
- Photography direction, copy and visual hierarchy built around that message.
- Sequence
- What goes out when, where and in what order.
- Response
- What the market says back, and what should or shouldn’t change.
WHAT BUYERS ARE BUYING
Before we market the house, we need to understand what buyers are actually buying.
Two homes with the same bedroom count can be selling completely different things. One is selling a dock and the evening light. Another is selling one-level living ten minutes from the bridge. Another is selling land, privacy and room to build.
A property might be selling:
- waterfront access
- privacy
- acreage
- architecture
- one-level living
- proximity
- a view
- a dock
- land
- entertaining space
- community amenities
- renovation quality
- development potential
- simplicity
- convenience
01
What matters
The features and circumstances that actually separate this property from the competition.
02
Why it matters
The need, use case or problem those features solve for a buyer.
03
How to make it legible to the market
Photography, copy and presentation that make that value obvious before anyone has to ask.
Not every home needs drone video. Every home needs a strategy.
More content isn’t automatically better marketing. A waterfront property, an acreage home, a downtown cottage and a Canterwood listing shouldn’t all get the same launch with a different address pasted onto the materials.
The tools change. The process doesn’t:
- 01Understand the property.
- 02Determine what matters.
- 03Build the story around it.
- 04Put that story where buyers will actually see it.
THE TOOLKIT
The deliverables follow the strategy. Not the other way around.
Depending on the property and the strategy, a launch may include:
Presentation
- Professional photography
- Photography creative direction
- Staging and presentation guidance
- Floor plans
- Video
- Drone where it adds something
Message
- MLS positioning
- Listing copy
- Property-specific landing pages
- Editorial and print materials
Distribution
- Email marketing
- Broker outreach
- Social distribution
- Short-form social video
- Paid digital distribution where appropriate and compliant
Launch and response
- Open house strategy
- Launch events where appropriate
- Follow-up and remarketing
Not every listing gets every tool. Every listing gets the thinking.
THE WORK
What “market the property” actually looks like.
Community campaign
I Heart Gig Harbor
Community brand creative built to express a real connection to the place. A campaign about Gig Harbor itself, not listing marketing.
Community campaign
I Heart Fox Island
Companion community creative for Fox Island, part of the same place-based brand campaign. Not a listing asset.
Seller education
Consumer education article and graphic explaining a new listing option, and how that choice affects launch timing and messaging.
THE LAUNCH FRAMEWORK
Position. Presentation. Sequence. Response.
1. POSITION
Who needs to understand this property, and what specifically makes it worth their attention.
2. PRESENTATION
Photography, copy, visual hierarchy and the property experience, all built around the position.
3. SEQUENCE
What launches when, where and in what order.
4. RESPONSE
What showings, buyer feedback, competing inventory and market response are telling us, and what should or shouldn’t change.
POSITIONING
Marketing can make value clear. It can’t make the market ignore the price.
Price, presentation and marketing work as one position. Strong marketing helps buyers understand what a home is worth. It can’t permanently overcome a price the market has already rejected. And a weak launch followed by a string of reductions tells buyers a very different story than a home that entered the market intentionally.
EXPERIENCE BEFORE REAL ESTATE
Twenty years in marketing before a single real estate listing.
Before I was licensed, I spent roughly 20 years in marketing: campaigns, brand strategy, messaging, audience research, content and product launches. That work is all about one question: what does this person need to understand, and how do we make sure they do?
Over the same stretch, I was buying and selling real estate of my own: more than 100 transactions since 2011, across investing, renovation, creative finance and traditional sales.
That’s the combination I bring to a listing. A marketing brain that knows how to make people pay attention, and a property brain that knows what buyers, inspectors and appraisers will actually look at.
BEFORE YOU LIST
Build the launch before the listing goes live.
The best time to make decisions about preparation, positioning, photography, pricing and launch strategy is before buyers see the property for the first time.