When selling a property, is it essential to have printed brochures?

If 99% of property searchers start their search for their dream home online, should you be impressed by the brochure that an agent tells you they will create?

99% of Property searchers will start their search for a property online. It is convenient and time-saving, not to mention far more enjoyable, to search for a new home whilst sitting on your sofa instead of trailing around the town centre visiting different agent's offices.

The purpose of a property brochure is to showcase the property and its features and benefits. This is still important, only now it needs to be online. Because of this need to prepare an online presence for each property, agents can utilise many more tools and strategies to sell properties than simply a printed brochure.

From high-quality presented video walk-throughs like mini tv shows to a virtual tour that allows the viewer to view the property as often as they like, technology has come so far that there are many ways to market a property sale now.

But, a brochure is still needed; it is just not required to be printed. Digital downloads of brochures will allow buyers to see the property from home without harming the planet and filling up the recycling boxes.

To promote a property for sale, there must be some marketing materials that can be easily emailed to potential buyers. The extent of this marketing material depends on the agent and the seller, but something must be produced to showcase the property.

You need some way to show the interior, layout and the property's main features to entice potential buyers and encourage them to view. Using either a floorplan or a virtual tour to show the layout and images or a video to show the interior style and size of the property. The written description is where you can sell the lifestyle, describing the property in a way to promote the best features of the property. The wording works particularly well when you want to highlight an element of interest in the property but is not seasonal. For example, Christmas dinner/Christmas morning, but you're trying to sell your home in summer. Or summer BBQs when you're trying to sell your house in winter.

Although, likely, printed brochures are not going to be made any more - after all, they are expensive, bad for the planet, and end up in the recycling bin more often than not - a digital brochure will still be created to showcase your property in all it's glory.

The content of that brochure will need to have written descriptions that showcase your home and encourage searchers to come and view it. It will also have beautiful images so searchers can see the property and be excited about the real-life viewing.

But, consider for a moment that rather than simply writing a list of rooms and measurements, and rather than mentioning where every plug socket and tv point is, use the brochure to tantalise the tastebuds of the property searchers.

Show the viewers about their future in the property and the memories that they will make. Encourage them to view rather than hit them with a list of facts about the house. Sell the lifestyle your property will allow them to have and showcase how it will be the best for family parties, summer BBQs or Christmas morning. These are occasions throughout every year that homeowners will want to host or arrange, and you can show them that your home would be perfect for them.

Of course, no one will buy a property because it is quite good for BBQs, but if your home ticks every other box, it could be enough to push them into offering on your home rather than someone else's that they may have on their shortlist.

There are ways to promote a property without creating a brochure, such as a video walk-through presented by the agent in a TV style to allow the agent to highlight all of those features. Still, a viewer will not watch a 30-minute presentation video. So, a combination of video, floorplans, images, and great words all work together to market a property in the best way possible.

To learn more about how we market properties for sale, utilising the variety of available tools, contact our team of experts.