Building relationships is real estate 101, but itโs not just connections with buyers and sellers that can help you sell properties.
RT Edgar Bellarine Director Brock Grainger says forging strong partnerships with local media organisations has helped him tell the story behind his properties and this works to complement his digital and print marketing campaigns.
The result is more eyes on his listings and strong sales results he can then promote through savvy โjust soldโ advertising.
Real estate agents often say itโs relationships that win and sell their listings, and that couldnโt be truer than it is for Brock Grainger.
The RT Edgar Bellarine director says the key to listing and selling 38A The Terrace, Ocean Grove, was his relationship with the builder and vendor of the home, and his long-standing connection with News Corp Australia and local paper the Geelong Advertiser.
Brock ran a print marketing campaign with full-page ads in the real estate section of the Geelong Advertiserโs glossy GT magazine and secured an editorial on the new, three-level, five-bedroom home through his relationship with real estate editor Peter Farago.
He tied this in with a News Xtend Property Marketing Prestige digital campaign that generated views from the US, Spain and Finland.

List the property
The builder behind the two high-end homes on the block at 38 The Terrace had created one for himself and was selling the other as an investment when he engaged Brock on the listing.
Brock had sold properties for the builder on numerous other occasions and said it was fostering this relationship that meant he was the first agent the vendor called when they started on this project.
โIโve had the privilege of working with him a couple of times before, and heโs definitely a boutique builder and produces very high quality,โ Brock says.
โHe doesnโt do a lot of projects, but the ones he does do are of the highest standard.
โWe sat down and worked out a campaign that we felt was going to get them the best result.โ

Marketing the property
Both the vendor and agent wanted to wait until the home was completed before launching the marketing campaign so that it could be styled with furniture and quality photographs could be taken.
โIt was quite an extensive marketing campaign for our neck of the woods,โ Brock explains.
Brock says it was critical the level of the marketing campaign matched the high quality of the property, which featured panoramic ocean and Barwon River views, luxurious open-plan living, oak floorboards, six bedrooms, three bathrooms and an in-ground pool.
โThe home was really high quality and, obviously, we needed a campaign to match,โ he says.
โWeโre a very prestigious brand, and the way everything is set up through News Xtend, and with their print advertising too, definitely represents our brand and prestige properties really well.
โIt attracts a market that weโre not able to reach, and theyโre able to pitch the property to a number of people that might not actively be looking (to buy a home).โ
The digital campaign
The News Xtend Property Marketing digital campaign targeted buyers locally, nationally and internationally through display advertising across the News Corp Australia and Google Display networks, including News Corp Australia’s lifestyle websites.
Google Search Ads also meant that buyers found the property when they typed in key search terms and were directed to a dedicated website just for that property.
The campaign also comprised social media advertising on sites such as Facebook and Instagram.
โIf you were to have the perfect marketing campaign, it would consist of both – digital and print, but if it was a case of one or the other, Iโm certainly more of a digital person, and I certainly push that for all of my campaigns,โ Brock says.
โIt definitely helps target those non-passive buyers, but for me, what I also love about it is the retargeting side of digital.
โYou just canโt put a price on what thatโs worth to your brand, you as an agent and also the property that youโre marketing.โ

The print campaign
For 38A The Terrace, Ocean Grove, Brock did create the โperfect marketing campaignโ and ran full and double-page print ads in the real estate section of GT Magazine.
Through his strong relationship with the Geelong Advertiser and the high calibre of the property being sold, Brock was also able to secure an editorial on the property.
โWeโre a long-standing company in the area and weโve built some really good relationships with various companies and certainly with the โGeelong Addyโ,โ Brock says.
โWeโve got a great relationship with them, and that all flows on to being able to help our clients in more ways.
โWe are able to get those extra editorials and extra comments in stories on a regular basis.โ

Geelong Advertiser Real Estate Editor Peter Farago says he is always on the lookout for properties his readers will find enticing and interesting.
He says 38A The Avenue, Ocean Grove, ticked all of the boxes, and thatโs how it wound up with the Coast to Country House of the Week editorial.
โWe consider things based on what we think will interest readers, and sometimes price comes into it but often, itโs something thatโs big or out of the ordinary,โ Peter explains.
โHomes that are super expensive are always going to be of interest, but properties like this one – itโs on the coast, itโs near the centre of Ocean Grove, and youโve got great views.
โItโs the type of property that draws a lot of readers.
“The majority of our readers wouldnโt be able to afford that type of property, but it still gets them talking.โ

Peter says taking a look at how others live has become somewhat of a national sport in Australia, especially with the current hot market conditions.
โReaders look at what people have done to their homes, what theyโve got in their home and a lot of other things,โ he says.
โThey are interested in what people are doing, what sort of home theyโre building or have built, and what features they have got.โ
Peter says agents looking to secure editorial space need to keep him and the real estate reporters at the paper up to speed on listings they have coming up, that are on the market and that have just sold.
Itโs also a good idea if a reporter leaves you a message or email to get back in touch with them quickly as they work to tight deadlines. Delays can mean you miss out on featuring in the story.
โAt the end of the day, weโre a news organisation, and weโre about building an audience,โ Peter notes.
โHaving a good relationship with us is key to that, so when agents get that good listing or one thatโs rare, tell us straight away.
โBrock is one of those guys who is always on the front foot.โ

The buyer
The buyer for the home ended up coming from the local area, with Brock saying she lived just 15km away.
But he says it was the digital marketing campaign that found her.
โWithin Australia, largely the inquiry came out of Melbourne and Sydney, but the actual buyer was a Bellarine buyer in the end,โ Brock says.
โBut because she was in a different suburb, she hadnโt seen it (the listing) a lot and that digital campaign was able to target her and introduce her to the property.
โShe let me know that they werenโt actively looking, and they did see it on a website that wasnโt a real estate portal.
โThey said it just popped up on their screen, and then they were redirected to the website and then they looked it up on realestate.com.au.
โBut that initial capture was through outsourcing our digital campaign, which was good.โ

After-sale campaign
Brock also used the โJust Soldโ extension to his digital campaign, which serves ads to viewers of the property advertising to let them know the property has sold.
The idea behind the campaign is to raise an agentโs profile in the area and help them win listings through social proof of their selling capabilities.
Brock describes it as a โdigital letterbox dropโ.
โItโs about creating brand awareness,โ he says,
โI donโt do a lot of the old just listed and just sold letterbox drops; Iโve turned to digital marketing for those types of things.
โThe Just Sold part of the campaign goes back out and retargets those same people that engaged with the property when it was for sale.
โSo effectively itโs doing the same thing as the letterbox drops, but itโs more targeted and gets you in front of the right peopleโs eyes.โ