3 agents share their extraordinary marketing techniques

Adversity can push you to think outside the box when it comes to marketing your listing — because you have no choice. Below, we’ve found three exemplary real estate agents who’ve pushed the boundaries of creativity to bring buyers to their listings.

Showcasing the attraction

An event at her listing was also the way Pacific Union International’s Tracy McLaughlin, a top producer in San Francisco Bay’s Marin County, thought outside the box for selling a high value listing as the Great Recession was unfolding.

McLaughlin, who has a reputation for making big alterations to homes she takes on before releasing them to the market, found for one particular luxury property, it took more than that.

“I got a call in the fall of 2008, right in the middle of the financial crisis, from a high-profile client saying he had the challenge of all challenges for me. He wanted to sell his property, which was the most expensive home at the time in the Marin town in which he lived,” she said.

“The property’s main feature was a beautiful hacienda style pool and pool house. I realized what a challenge it would be to get people to come and look at this incredibly high-end property as their portfolios were shrinking week by week,” she remembers.

She threw an event at the home, in the pool area. They hired a mariachi band, had chefs performing live demonstrations and a popular local bartender who made incredible cocktails.

“It was a really fun night and a lot of people attended, one of whom ended up buying the house,” she said.

“I never would have been able to get so many potential buyers to come look if I had just used traditional marketing strategies like open houses or mailers,” she added.

According to McLaughlin, whenever she gets a luxury property that she thinks will be improved with a swimming pool, she will have a pool rendering done by a leading landscape architect in the Bay Area.

“It is an incredibly effective visual supplement that consistently convinces clients to purchase the property as they are able to actually “see” the potential versus just talking about it,”
she said.