WebInkNow: CENTURY 21 is pulling national television advertising in 2009 and investing those resources into online marketing. Why are you doing that?
“We are moving our advertising investments to the mediums that have the greatest relevance to our target buyers and sellers, and to where the return on our investment is most significant. In 2008, we found that our online investments provided a return that was substantively higher than our more traditional, TV media investments.”
WebInkNow: What have you learned about how people use the Web to buy or sell real estate that prompted this move?
“We’ve learned that people who are in the market to buy or sell a home utilize the Internet heavily. And the closer they get to a real estate transaction, the more they use the Web. They often self-identify when they are on various real estate sites, and they clearly identify the geographic locations and properties that they are interested in. Our online initiatives will be focused on ensuring that our listings and sales professionals are positioned in as many online channels as possible to meet the consumers’ needs and then enable the transaction via an advanced CRM platform.”