Trinity Mirror, publisher of the Daily Mirror and over 140 regional newspapers, has launched what it calls a fight-back against Rightmove and Zoopla, aiming for a bigger slice of estate agents’ marketing spend.
The company is launching a new campaign called #Be1ofthe3.
The name of the campaign is reflective of the fact that most vendors and landlords traditionally invite three agents to appraise their property before choosing one of them.
#Be1ofthe3 is about using the power of Trinity Mirror’s print and online brands to ensure agents are one of the three, says the campaign.
However, the name also heavily suggests that Trinity Mirror’s print titles should also be ‘one of the three’ marketing platforms that should be considered by agents.
Yesterday, Trinity Mirror said that Rightmove and Zoopla don’t want agents’ brands to stand out, claiming that this is “not good for their business model” and “so they suppress them”.
Trinity Mirror’s news brands reach three in four UK adults each month, the company claimed, and they have a bigger online audience than all the other publishers including Mail Online, Guardian and The Sun.
Last year Trinity Mirror sold over 540m national and regional newspapers.
Paul Spencer, head of property for Trinity Mirror, said: “In this current low stock market, what good are the likes of Rightmove and Zoopla if agents don’t have strong enough brand recognition to be one of the three agents invited to appraise properties, and so have little stock to advertise?
“We have a unique reach and influence in the communities we serve, and in an environment where vendors and landlords are not short of choices for who to approach, brand strength early in the property journey is as important as ever.
“This isn’t about having to make a choice between newspapers and property websites.
“It’s about recognising that they both have a really important role to play, and not putting all your marketing eggs in one basket.
“A multimedia approach is key and our news brands are as important now as they ever have been to winning new business and driving potential buyers online.”
The #Be1ofthe3 campaign includes the launch of a new supplement for Trinity Mirror’s regional titles called ‘Property & Living’, which will have extensive editorial content, including property and financial advice, interior design ideas, gardening, area features, and agent profiles.
Agents will also be provided with a wide-ranging suite of multimedia products across print, online, and social media to showcase their brand and help it stand out in the regions in which they operate, thus increasing their chances to #Be1ofthe3.
In February, Trinity Mirror reported a 14% increase in pre-tax profits for last year, despite an 18% annual drop in print advertising revenues.
Too little too late to woo agents back?
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About 20 years too late unfortunately…
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You miss the point. This is about getting your brand/name in front of the audience you’re trying to attract…..potential vendors in your patch. Think, biilboards, roundabout sponsership and “school fete” for sale boards.
If you’re not advertising in your local freebie your missing a huge opportunity to get your name out there. At a time when there are so few agents advertising in the locals and a general perception that “we’re all the same”, isn’t it a good idea to have an extra USP?
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Cost of a page in the local rag here is £285 weekly.
I for one is glad it is dying of death.
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Trinity Mirror don’t putblish the local freebie around here, only the local cost one. And weekly advertising costs with Trinity Mirror is as high as rightmove, why would you waste the money??
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There is only one person who can bring about change in the next generation of agency advertising and he has built it: Robert May.
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what has he built? tell us more!
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I must declare an interest here as I work for Trinity Mirror. So, I’ll put on my tin hat and ask you to consider this…
Local media is the ‘most popular source for keeping an eye on the property market’ for those whose house is not currently up for sale. In that bracket, 49% of people look at regional property supplements compared to 37% who look at Rightmove & Zoopla.
There are many, many people each week who look at property adverts & supplements in local media despite the fact that their house is not up for sale or likely to be. However, next week or in 6 months time that person could be looking for the services of an Estate Agent. Which brands do you think that they may be aware of when they pick up the phone to call an Agent?
One of the titles I work for, the Lincolnshire Echo, has over 53,000 readers each week. 75% of those read our property supplement each week.
Advertising’s job is about putting a business front of mind when people choose to or need to make a purchasing decision. Using local media in some shape or form helps to put your brand in front of those potential sellers of the future.
One thing is for certain if you choose not to promote your business to a local audience through a local newspaper, or their website, then you definitely miss out on the opportunity to influence their readers.
Advertising & marketing has always been a mix and today there are many more routes to audiences for local advertisers than there ever have been.
For people to choose your service they need to be aware of you. So, the question boils down to how can I reach as many of my potential customers in my local area as possible.
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Well said Mr Barnard. There is still an important place for local papers within agents’ marketing. What ‘youngsters’ are missing is that ‘oldies’ still like their local papers. And it’s mainly the ‘oldies’ who own the properties that agents need on their books.
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Thanks AgencyInsider.
Unlike other sectors some in the property industry think online ticks all boxes.
If that was the case why do Rightmove sponsor the London Evening Standard’s supplements and advertise on local billboards, taxi’s and the Tube.
Even the digital goliaths Facebook & Google run print campaigns as they know that offline advertising drives online page impressions and brand awareness.
The current low stock levels = lower amounts of boards, so being ‘invisible’ & doing less advertising locally won’t attract valuation invitations.
As you rightly point out advertising is also about building a positive message for your brand long term so that it enters peoples sub conscious for when they move from passive to active.
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@Malcolm BarnardMalcolm, the Trinity could help agents. But the pitch that publications do more (and that may be true) is a hard message for agents to take in.Quality homes and other property in your brands would be great eye candy, but the UK is ready for something new to just newspapers and portals.There is a greater model waiting to happen which if supported by a giant player could additionally furnish the wants of Trinity.Legislation has and is ls changing (partly as we type) that could change the way UK property lists, comes and goes to market and displays.The hard pitch for Trinity at the mo is convincing agents to side in the newspaper vs ppc war. Offer something else and you and agents win.
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No offence Malcolm but all you are doing is putting a spin on a product that is outdated.
The reason agents have walked away from the local paper is it just does not produce what you are suggesting.
It is cost prohibative in a digital age. If it worked we would all still be in it. (Thats the reason we stick with RM)
Local paper here is £285 per page per week. Circulation is boasted at circa 60,000 – Now you and i know that these figures are scewed as if you put in free pick up bins (even if majority is not collected) you are legitimatley allowed to say they are part your circulation figures.
Lets put a generous 30,000 as the true circulation. now lets say a generous 25,000 look at the property suppliment. Now take out 85% who have no real interest in moving for the next few years.
You are now left with a little over 3,000 who may want an agent in the next 12 months. To make a real impact i need to be in the paper every week = circa £1,100 per month.
Its just not viable or relevant in todays soceity.
Ad words, RM banners, leaflets Heck even an extra member of staff is a much better investment.
For me the local paper needs to be £50 – £75 per week then we MAY consider going back to it.
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One of my local papers now charges that sort of money. We have gone back in as a trial. Initially, it has been worthwhile as an ROI but if the price rises or the response drops, we’ll walk.
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£50 – £75 or £285 Chris?
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Not my job to speak for Mr Barnard smile but in my experience I think you are missing a couple of things that I’ve found to still be true – that those who own property are always interested in ‘what my place is worth’, ‘what the neighbours are asking’ and ‘what’s my dream home’ and that therefore they do look at the property pages. And that in doing so they subliminally take in the agent names/colours/logos. When some years down the line they plump for Agent X Y or Z it is quite probable their initial choice is influenced by the exposure generated by those casual flicks through the local rag’s property pages.
If your local paper is charging too much for your taste/pocket then get together with other agents and sit down with the publishers to hammer out something acceptable to everyone. It can be done.
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Trinity Mirror are now offering not just print advertising but also Adwords, Social Media and ads on their own sites. I think what they are trying to achieve is to give agents lots of branding opportunities as they know that brand awareness cannot just come from one place.
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Local paper offering adwords as well.
Thing is they charge £200 per month £100 is on admin and £100 is for adwords. (Its not difficult to set up your own campaign).
Agencyinsider, lots of people are interested in neighbours prices but most people are on the internet now and its a lot easier for them to put their postcode in RM and see prices along with proper pictures.
Agents did have a paper set up and sold it many moons ago, reason it has not been done again as there really is little use in it.
As i pointed out above a lot betteralternatives.
The only people taht seem to see the value in newspaper advertising are newspaper reps or agent bashers.
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Smile please – I can only comment on the newspapers in the area I cover but all of our titles are independently audited and verified by the Audit Bureau of Circulation. All of our titles are paid for and none are left in free pick up bins.
In respect of your comment about those people reading who are not interested in moving house I look at things from a similar perspective to AgencyInsider. I fully agree with his comment above & below (apart from the local rag bit!):
“When some years down the line they plump for Agent X Y or Z it is quite probable their initial choice is influenced by the exposure generated by those casual flicks through the local rag’s property pages”.
Today I’m not in the mood to buy a fizzy soft drink but if I fancy one tomorrow what brand am I likely to pick up?
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Given on average people move every 7 years its a long time to wait.
This is the issue with a lot of advertisers, they just do not understand estate agency.
It not the same as buying a fizzy drink and as Countrywide are finding out to the detriment of their share price it is not retail.
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Smile – of course people don’t all move together every 7 years. People come in and out of the market all of the time.
That’s why regular advertising is important in any media. There will be people today who arn’t in the market but they might be in the market in 4 weeks time.
Therefore it is necessary to target perspective people at the most optimum time they might be, or leading towards, entering the market. For example when they may be reading property articles, finance articles, school reviews, etc.
We are now all far more brand influenced than ever before and all Trinity Mirror are saying is that their products are a great route to giving a brand exposure and making it visible. On the portals all brands tend to look the same whether you have 1 or 500 properties.
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Unfortunately, in our area, Trinity Mirror treat the majority of their paying customers with contempt. Reserving the best positions for a small number of agents and not allowing the others an opportunity to buy premium pages, even on a rota basis. This has led to a decline in their revenue – but they don’t seem to worry about that.
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Ostrich17 – maybe Malcolm could take this up for you – or at least put you in touch with someone at TM who would listen to your issues and try to resolve them.
From what I have come to know about Malcolm, he puts himself out to help our industry and his Agency customers in ways far beyond his remit.
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Thank you for your kind words PeeBee.
Ostrich17 if you would like to contact Ros she has my details that I would be happy for her to share with you. We can have a chat about your concerns.
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Smile Please – You of course realise that the point I was making in respect of fizzy drinks was about brand influence and nothing to do with Estate Agency being like retail.
In the past 7 days 96 ‘new’ properties have been listed for sale in Lincoln.
How did those people find the Estate agents that they eventually listed with? What influenced their decision? How many different advertising messages or media did they use/read before they picked up the phone or sent an e-mail requesting a valuation?
Every Estate Agent needs to be asked into the home of a potential vendor. Part of the magic that makes that happen is marketing and advertising.
I am reminded of a quote from Stuart H Britt: “Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you’re doing but nobody else does!”
As I said earlier marketing is a mix, I’m not suggesting that the local newspaper is the only medium that should be used. I just happen to believe that utilising an audience of 53,000 local people every week is a great way to promote a brand whether that is an Estate Agents brand, a motor dealer, a supermarket or a retailer.
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Malcom,
We all do A LOT of advertsing my monthly budget is close to 5 figures with everything taken into account (excludes my staffing costs!)
How much is a page in Linoln with Trininty? – Chances are is cost prohibative and outdated which is why its dying. We have close to 50 agents in my area. Most use to do at least double page spreads in the paper. Today about 4 do a single page.
Same with the car dealerships, use to be its own pull out today its a page or 2 at best.
Advertising can work for some but not for others and where its always at least a week out of date, limited messages, expensive and to a mostly irrelivant audience.
As much as we as agents dislike PB, YOPA, EMOOV, HOUSESIMPLE, ETC – There is a reason despite the millions they spend on advertising they do not advertise in the local papers.
Its not targeted, its expensive, its outdated, its a limited message, you are waiting for the reader to call you (online they can click and interact).
We stopped press advertising a while back and redirected the spend on other online avenues and have not been disappointed with our choice.
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Smile – we will have to agree to disagree then. Businesses make their decisions and succeed and fail by them.
Some businesses spend 7 figure sums. Some 5 figures. Some nothing at all. That’s their business choice.
Anyway the skies will darken tonight. The sun will rise again in the morning and we will all start it all ovet again.
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Ahhh… the thorny subject of ‘newspaper advertising’. A subject more successful at splitting the opinions of Estate Agents than any nuclear physicist will ever be able to achieve division of atoms, particles and othersuch ickle bits of matter.
For what it’s worth, I will give you one sentence on this, which I absolutely, without doubt, guarantee to be factually correct.
If you don’t advertise in newspapers, don’t expect a response.
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There are some sweeping statements made here eg 75% of 53,000 read the property supplement! Really? And how small a portion of the 53k were asked if they read the supplement to multiply the number up to get 75%? Let me guess – four were asked and three said they had read the supplement. Sweeping statements like I said.
Going back in the 80/90s, when there was no other real advertising media for promoting properties, agents used to take whole page advertisements not to advertise their properties but keep their profile and company in the public eye. Agents advertised one property that would open the doors for other properties to be offered on enquiry.
Sadly, newspapers don’t have the same uses as before. Fewer people have fires to light, fish and chips are no longer wrapped in them, bubble wrap has replaced newspapers for packaging – and the internet does not need disposing of in recycling bins. Plus fewer people carry brief cases where newspapers were invariably carried.
To get the news today all you need to do is click on an icon. No need to have papers delivered, especially at the price they’ve risen to, or go to the corner shop to buy them along with the now virtually redundant packet of cigs. Newspapers sadly are becoming as redundant as smoking. Soon . . . gone will be the days of black fingers as you thumb through pages looking at properties – and that’s not through advanced production, but newspapers becoming extinct!
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Thank you for your comments to my post from yesterday. The sample size for the figure quoted was 1,811.
I would say that reference is no less sweeping than your comments on the newspaper industry. Last year Trinity Mirror sold over 540m national and regional newspapers.
Newspapers are changing but hardly redundant!
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“The sample size for the figure quoted was 1,811.”
Put into perspective – that’s the same sample size (give or take a few) that the likes of the onlinies, Which?, HOA etc use to tar our entire traditional industry with a dirty dreat brush.
But in this case it’s reflective of one small sector of one small(ish) market – not a claim of outlandish global proportions.
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The way the get agents on board would be to produce something different, not just your usual page of adverts. Why not start a ‘trusted agent’ supplement, only allowing those agents in the area who come up to your stringent criteria – score high in a mystery shop, are signed up to recognised schemes, whose online review score on allagents is above xx amount.
This way you make your property supplement something that any prospective buyers or sellers will seek out. Agents will want to be involved with this.
Otherwise it will remain the same. In my area it is cheaper for me to produce a leaflet and have it delivered to 20,000 houses per month than advertise in the local paper.
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