Thoughts on Real Estate Marketing…

Although I always preach against using jargon when talking to customers – I realized tonight that I’m just as guilty as everyone else.

When I talk about the text that you use in marketing letters, ads, brochures, etc. I call it “copy.”

That’s why they call people like me copywriters – we write copy.

But… for someone starting out in marketing the term may be unfamiliar. They might think I’m talking about making a copy on a copy machine – or even copying someone else’s work.

Oh – oh. That wouldn’t be a good impression to give.

I should have known better.

This is a small town, so when I go to the grocery store or the post office – or anywhere in town – I’m apt to run into people who used to be real estate clients or (to go way back) grocery store customers. When they ask what I’m doing these days I used to say “I’m a copywriter now”… and those who didn’t just get a blank look would answer me with a question about getting rights to a song or a book they were writing.

Even though many of these folks own businesses, they had no idea at all what a copywriter did. So, I created an “elevator speech” that tells them I write marketing materials to help businesses get more customers.

So… my question for you tonight is this: Are you guilty too?

Do you use words that your customers don’t comprehend?

It can happen in almost any line of work. For instance, do your real estate customers know what “escrow” means? Since it means different things in different parts of the country, even experienced buyers and sellers may not know.

Give a little thought to the words you routinely use in your business – and whether those words really are commonly used by people outside of your industry. If they aren’t, then it would be a good idea to re-phrase what you mean in more common terms, or just go ahead and give the definition.

Communication is too important to let it be ruined by jargon.