SPOTLIGHT ON WRITING SERVICES
Picking Up Where Images Leave Off
There’s no denying it. We’re an image-driven society. Statistic after statistic confirms it (Infographic from Fast Company). Images are the easiest way to get attention. However, without the appropriate words, images are just another pretty picture. It doesn’t matter how gorgeous a house is, without a little text, you can’t sell that house.
The importance of words begins with the sign in the yard. Some of the words you’ll need are data, like the address of the home, the square footage, the number of bedrooms, the listing agent and the price. The legal contracts, disclosures and other documents are also words, but they are already spelled out for you. There’s not much you can do to enhance these words.
Other bits of information are more discretionary, the description of the house in the MLS listing, your online bio or the words on a flyer. It’s true that 65% of your potential buyers are visual. They may buy your listing or hire you to be their agent without ever taking time to read anything, but what about the other 35% of the population. Are you willing to abandon these people? Your perfect client might be among them.
You also have to consider this. While 65% turns first to images, most use text as a secondary tool. They scour through images to find 20 houses they like, but then they’ll take the time to read the descriptions to pare down the list. You want your listing to survive the cut.
While images are the quickest way to get attention, studies show it is the text accompanying the images that causes people to remember what they see. Not all of the words of course. The same statistics insist we only read small portions of the words we see or hear, and remember even less of it, but what is often overlooked is how influential that small percentage is. When it comes to the final decision, chances are some small tidbit of text either spoken or written will tip the scales in your favor, if you’re using the right words.
Meet Jane Sadek
Spot On Images can help you say the right things, because we have a professional writer on staff. Jane has been in marketing and sales for over three decades. She’s as familiar with creating online content as she is putting together collateral marketing items, like brochures or flyers. She knows real estate because she’s been a residential agent and she’s also marketed a multifamily property. While it’s important for her to understand real estate, her experience in other industries keeps her from having tunnel vision. She focuses on marketing you and your listings to real people, not just to other agents.
When Jane was selling houses herself, she often found herself on both sides of a contract. As the buyers sat down to make the offer they frequently admitted they’d decided to purchase the house before they ever walked inside it. They’d fallen in love by reading description on a flyer or in the MLS listing. That’s because Jane’s first gift is storytelling. She not only has the technical expertise, like grammar, spelling and vocabulary, but she has the ability to share information in a storytelling format. For the written word, that’s the secret sauce and there’s even science to support it. (Infographic from Fast Company)
While Jane’s marketing expertise comes from her experience in the industry, the storytelling is a gift she’s enjoyed since childhood. After decades of professional success she returned to school to hone her gift. She chose to pursue a Performance Degree in Creative Writing, rather than the other writing related paths like journalism or literature, and that decision has served her and her clients well.
So, if you’re hoping to get better at capturing the attention of the other 35% or you want to reach the 92% of people who prefer a story over mere information, let Spot On Images help you out.