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- Henry
http://www.movoto.com

This is one of those things I’ve know, but I’ve been putting off. I probably do more than most, but I still need this kick in the rump to get me out there doing even more than I am now.

Local search rules — or it will soon. It’s gaining momentum at lightning speed.

Great article!

…jp

“Rumors of my death are greatly exaggerated.” -Mark Twain

It was great to finally meet you at the Inman Connect in SF. I have subscribed to your feed for over a year and enjoy your insight, knowledge and advocacy of social and interactive media. Although too lengthy for a comment, I wanted to share some thoughts on your post today and the above quote.

I agree that certain print media that is very broad in both its content and target audience is in fact coming to its demise in a niche and micro-niche world. However, targeted, local real estate magazines have not only continued to sell ad pages, but in fact have enjoyed record sales for those same reasons …LOCAL & TARGETED exposure and branding.

As you mentioned in The Rise of the User Review, tailoring your message and narrowcasting to your audience involves aiming media messages at specific segments of the public …to REALTORS® that means homebuyers and home sellers. A person who picks up a Homes & Land Magazine anywhere in over 30,000 communities throughout N. America is more than likely interested in buying or selling either a home or land. Keeps it simple ☺

National Magazine Stats:
• Over $23 billion spent in 2006
• 350 new titles launched in 2006
• 1997-2006: readership up 8%
• 20 cross-media studies found magazines most consistently successful part of the media mix

Even though I am not a great proponent of the Yellow Pages, that same study by TMP finds that: 90% of the 3000 online panelists still find print yellow pages a “valuable” resource. And that traditional advertising triggers branded online searches. Between 60-90% of searches for heavily advertised categories were branded. …As most will agree, real estate is a heavily advertised category!

Although I am an Interactive Media professional and recent real estate technology evangelist, I am also a typical Boomer and personally subscribe to 2 magazines WIRED and Business 2.0, both of which are rather tech based and both are full of national advertising every issue …trying to reach folks like me. So why are Web companies turning to magazines? Mostly because 89% of Boomers have visited a website after seeing a magazine ad …and Boomers have 70% of the assets. But it is indeed the integration of both online and off-line media that drives real results for our customers.

A 2006 American Advertising Federation (AAF) Survey of Industry Leaders on Advertising Industry and New Media Trends revealed that Print Magazines were the Number One source for driving people to the Internet.

I agree …it’s all about LOCAL, especially in the real estate space. Approaching our 35th year of service to REALTORS® we feel it is in our best interest to educate our clients. As I mentioned to several of the top bloggers I met at Connect SF, education is going to be key in assisting agents to latch on to the idea of blending traditional print advertising with a slew of new online opportunities to maximize their return on investment. (kicking and screaming if we have to) ☺

It is a difficult time for most marketers today due to the simple fact that the US consumer demographics are so evenly split, with 56% of the total population now over 42 years old and preferring print while also trying to effectively reach out to the GenX/Y’ers who prefer digital.

I will leave you with Rule #5 from Dan Gooder Richards’ book Real Estate Rainmaker/Guide to Online Marketing

• Old Rule: Online Advertising Will Surpass Offline Advertising.
• New Rule: Integrated Offline and Online Promotion Wins Every Time

One point worth mentioning is about media convergence. Sometimes things are too close to see. Forget convergence on a national level. Innovation is driven by people not institutions. In other words, things are going to(and already are) happen on a local level allot quicker than a national one. Most people just don’t see it. There will be no “big event”. Internet users will wake up one day and ‘Local’ will just be. Sort of like the over night rock star that slept in the van for 15 years. Again I ask the question: Is there a difference between an “Internet user” and a “traditional media user”? Those that answer yes are kidding themselves. People are people are people. And people are changing the Internet allot more than the Internet is changing people. That is why the Internet racing towards ‘local’ …because people are local.

On Monday VideoHomes officially launched. http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/08-13-2007/0004644214&EDATE=

We decided to move forward even though we have not fully completed our Video upload capabilities. Video is great but fundamentally http://www.VideoHomes.com is about offering agents and businesses a local environment to promote themselves. Starting with “Video” would have given us allot more fanfare than we received by starting with “local”, but as it turns out…I think it was the smartest thing we ever did. Video is not a proprietary concept but all ‘local’ entities are finite by definition. When going local, one must think of community above cyberspace. Does it work offline? If the answer is no…than it’s not a true local solution.