As you prepare to sell your home, you’ll probably consider the best way to advertise it. Surprisingly, advertising doesn’t work. But marketing does, and there is a big difference. An agent will be more involved in “marketing” your home, and here’s why.

A photo and description of your home’s features, in a newspaper or magazine or online, is simply “advertising,” and is not going to generate much interest. A recent consumer survey conducted by the National Association of REALTORS® revealed that fewer than 5 percent of buyers found these ads helpful in selecting homes.

While ads focus on a “product,” marketing involves targeting consumers based on their lifestyle and the opportunities provided by what you are offering. Real estate agents have a list of ready and willing buyers with whom they have already been working, and they understand the needs and qualifications of those buyers. Chances are that an agent can “market” your home to many of them without ever placing an ad or holding an open house.

Buyers want to purchase a version of a “dream,” not the bricks, windows, and siding that the dream is made of. Ask your agent about how they plan to “market” that dream to the buyers they already know and to other agents and their buyers. You’ll be surprised how much more effective marketing can be than advertising.

Bennington VT, Selling

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