Why marketing matters now more than ever
As Steve Jobs famously said, “Great things in business are never done by one person; they’re done by a team of people.”
You may have heard this principle applied to building high-performing sales teams, but it also applies to the strategy and platforms you choose to do your best work. Success isn’t built in isolation, it’s built together.
Great marketing should never be compromised – and neither should your commission.
Today’s market brings a mix of pressures: buyer hesitation, vendors uncertain about achieving their desired price, and tighter budgets across the board. Marketing has never been more important.
Many view quality marketing as a luxury, something that can be trimmed down with little consequence.
But as great agents know, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Marketing is not an optional extra: it’s essential to achieving a premium result. Cutting it risks cutting outcomes and reducing the chance of getting your vendor the best price for their home.
Furthermore, once you start cutting marketing, your commission is next on the chopping block.
The agent’s real role: adviser, not order taker
If vendors wanted to just list a property, they could do it themselves. Instead, they turn to agents for advice.
Your role is to guide them on what their property needs to succeed in today’s market.
Positioning yourself as a strategic adviser, rather than a facilitator, helps shift the conversation from discounting to value, and in doing so, protects your commission.
Agents beware: don’t default to narrow marketing or limit yourself to one portal.
There’s a persistent myth that “everyone just uses one portal.”
But buyers, like most consumers, follow complex, non-linear journeys.
Relying on a single channel ignores the way people really research things like where to live, what to buy, and what’s on the market.
A great agent ensures your listings appear wherever buyers are looking – and that includes social media, email, classifieds, and a range of property portals.
Homely’s partnership with Gumtree, for example, taps into non-traditional buyer pools.
In just six months, it’s helped generate over 4 million listing engagements for agents listing on Homely.
Avoid padding marketing schedules with unproven extras
Don’t add marketing line items that sound impressive but lack evidence. If you can’t clearly articulate the return on investment, leave it out.
It’s better to build your recommendations around proven principles: reach, relevance, and results – and use clear performance metrics to back them up.
Advertising channels that offer cost-effective advertising and easy to understand tailored reporting make it easier to demonstrate value to vendors with clarity and confidence.
Vendors want options, not assumptions
Great agents don’t assume vendors won’t spend on marketing across multiple platforms. Most want their property sold well and are open to smart investment, especially when you explain the ‘why’.
The case for visibility is simple: more exposure means more interest… which means more inspections and better outcomes.
Quite simply: Fewer eyeballs = fewer buyers = lower price.
You’re not just selling ads, you’re selling results. When you list on Homely, your partnerships manager will help you out with bespoke campaign performance data to support your recommendations to make it easier to sell added exposure to your vendors.
Prove value, protect your worth
At the end of the day, protecting your commission comes down to proving your value.
When you deliver a strategy that’s clear, confident, and backed by evidence, vendors won’t see your fee as a cost – they’ll see it as an investment.
