Cost-effective, high impact digital marketing programs for your listing proposals can set you apart from your competition. But, sinking a ton of money into advertising that you’re unsure of, like banner ads, is risky.

Banner advertising, if properly planned and monitored, can bring a ton of exposure to your listings. You can easily leverage the power of the internet to effectively use your marketing and advertising dollars. Your clients will benefit and so will you.

Luxury print magazines and high-end newspapers are tried-and-true advertising opportunities for multimillion dollar listings. Print ads have been around for a long time and they’ve been reliable. It’s your go-to.

I get it. We create a lot of print advertising for our clients. They rely on it too.

We also create a lot of banner advertising for our clients. Some were reluctant to take the leap into digital because of a fear of the unknown, but once they stuck their big toe into the pool of banner advertising, they quickly went all-in. Now, they’re swimming in delight with measurable results.

Going digital has its benefits

According to the Google Display Benchmarks Tool, average click through rates (CTR) across all industries are 0.05 percent. But, for real estate, the average CTR is slightly higher at 0.08 percent. That suggests the internet offers a receptive and captive audience for real estate advertising.

Generating interest in a luxury property is about creating a visual experience that sparks the home ownership desires of potential buyers. The internet is all about visual experiences. It’s one of the reasons luxury real estate is particularly poised for banner ad success.

Think about it: Your multimillion dollar listings offer luxurious picturesque images. Ocean or mountain views, meticulously manicured lawns and interiors decorated to suit even the most discriminating tastes conjure up a desire for that high-end lifestyle in luxury real estate buyers.
Unlike other forms of advertising, banner ads are easily changeable, which means that if you don’t see the results you’re looking for, you can optimize your campaign to improve the performance of your ads. That can mean something as simple as swapping out photos or changing copy. It can also mean doing more of what’s working well and less of what isn’t working.

Campaigns can also be customized based on your individual needs and goals. It’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. You can target ads geographically by zip code, city, state, region or country. Geo-targeting offers a cost benefit: You don’t waste money in areas that aren’t a part of your target market. Also, feeder markets become more accessible because of the global nature of the internet.

There are thousands of premium websites available for real estate banner ads, but they sometimes come with a hefty price tag. By working with an ad network, you can drive down your costs, while keeping your ads targeted.

Go ahead, show-off a little

Perhaps one of the greatest benefits of online advertising is the ability to link to your website where your potential real estate buyers can get more detailed information about your property. Again, because the internet is visual, it gives you the opportunity to show your listings in ways that offline advertising cannot.

Beyond simply linking to your website, you can link to a virtual tour – a new concept, but one that is expected to grow in popularity this year. Imagine that a potential buyer sees your banner, clicks on it and voila! A virtual tour of your listing opens up in their browser. It doesn’t get more visual than that unless you’re physically standing inside the property.

Matterport, an immersive media technology company that offers DIY 3D solutions for real estate, says potential real estate buyers are 95 percent more likely to call after viewing properties in 3D. Matterport’s technology allows agents to create virtual tours so that homebuyers can view a property from various angles.

A little creativity goes a long way

Successful banner ads are eye-catching and personalized according to Google. Use those luxurious picturesque images of your multimillion dollar listing and write clear and concise copy that captures the unique selling proposition in one sentence.

Don’t just take the copy you wrote for your listing in a print ad and slap it onto your banner ad. Think about the most important thing you want a potential buyer to know about that property and simplify it with as few words as possible.

The measure of your banner ad success

A huge advantage of any online advertising campaign is that it’s measurable. The same is true for banner ads. That means you know exactly what your ROI is and you can pull that information easily from online reports.

A launch report at the beginning of your campaign is always a good idea so that you can set performance benchmarks. It should give you an idea of what ads are on which websites. This will be important later as you begin to optimize.

You should always review detailed monthly performance reports. If you see any underperforming banner ads, you can optimize for better performance, to improve your ROI as we discussed earlier.

By incorporating banner ads into your digital advertising strategy, you can get in front of potential buyers for a good return on your marketing dollars. Combining a good digital advertising strategy with offline advertising will set you apart from your competition.