There Is No Truth In (Real Estate) Advertising.
I have written dozens of ad campaigns for resort real estate clients. I’ve been proud of all of them for the most part. But even when the campaigns prove extremely successful for my clients, I often experience an incomplete feeling. You see, when we write ad campaigns, we advertising folk look to connect with our audience by revealing some universal truth–an aspect of the product or brand that truly resonates with the audience in a compelling way. Now I think I’ve figured out why real estate advertising often leaves me unsatisfied.
I can’t tell the truth.
I can’t write, explicitly, that the real estate in question is a great investment. Not because I don’t want to, but because the law won’t let me. As I understand it, you can’t infer a return on investment without registering the property as a security. Which leads to regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission, costly fees and responsibilities nobody really wants. So you see, my hands and the hands of real estate advertisers are tied. Otherwise the investment potential would be the lead for most, if not all of my campaigns.
I don’t mean to sound unemotional, unromantic or unsentimental. But we’re talking universal truths here. Tell me when you or anyone you know ever made a real estate purchase without regard for investment potential? Sure I know there are times when you “have to have” that kitchen, that view or that corner lot. But there has been a generational understanding that real estate appreciates. This unspoken understanding has validated those emotional decisions in the past.
To me, it’s a universal truth that great places will continue to appreciate. If not in the coming months, then soon. So, in one form or another, I continue to write about the beauty and grandeur of properties, the incomparability of the amenities, and the sweet stories of connection between generations. Critics call it fluff. And I’m okay with that. I think this so-called fluff works because it convinces buyers that the property is going to be highly desirable for emotional reasons. And highly desirable property, for whatever reason, will almost certainly prove a good investment in the long run.