Why Print Still Matters in 2020 for Hyperlocal Real Estate Marketing

Despite the all too common story of the "death of print," print publications can still work as part of your localized content marketing plan.

When we defined content marketing in April, audience, quality content and engagement across multiple channels were all key points. Print publications - newspapers, postcards and newsletters - are increasingly overlooked channels in this digital first world.

The fact is, a lot of content marketing plans don't consider printed material as one of their channels. But, when you're in a hyperlocal business like residential real estate, why wouldn't you at least consider print alongside your digital-based text, image and video? Print checks a number of boxes, including one that your digital efforts can't - more on that in a minute.

Real estate agents are unique in their ties to communities because their geographic targets are truly hyperlocal. Agents in metro areas are especially localized. They may identify in general with, say, Columbus, Ohio or Central Ohio. When it comes right down to it, their business is much more targeted to a neighborhood, perhaps German Village, adjacent to downtown Columbus, or, to an adjacent suburb like Worthington. The agent's audience begins with tightly defined geography that is smaller than the entire metro area but large enough to have its own identity.

Home buyers and sellers want and need to work with agents who know their community. This is why we consider Discover's flagship product, agent-sponsored, custom community newspapers, a useful content marketing tool. All of our papers are targeted by zip code and contain content relevant to that locale. When published with regularity, "Agent X's German Village News," establishes our agent as not only a community expert, but as a community leader. Discover's tagline: Become a Household Name, is borne through regular publishing and delivery of your newspaper.

What local content, you ask? We're devoting an upcoming post to just that topic, but in short, articles on the local housing market, features on local high school athletes, event calendars, interviews with other local businesses - these are all ideas put into practice by Discover clients.

When we talk about channels, we're either discussing the medium - text, images or video - or the particular delivery - blog, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. Most content marketers today think only in these digital terms, but hard copy printed material is text and images, and it's traditional delivery on printed page onto a doorstep or into a mailbox. The one thing this traditional channel has over digital is that the audience has to touch it.

Think about it. If you write a great blog post, it still has to be discovered. Sure, there are ways to increase discover-ability and drive traffic to that post, but if your audience is every potential home buyer or seller in a particular zip code, you can't get that digital content in front of all of them. When a piece of direct mail or a newspaper hits your mailbox, you have to handle it and consider its worth. Even if it hits the recycling bin, you've touched it. If it's a newspaper with local content right there on the front page, chances are, you're going to at least browse it. That same local content has to be discovered by someone on the web, while delivery of a quality printed publication will be discovered - for sure.

Print publications, by their nature of being delivered, hit a real estate agent's target audience: All of those potential home buyers or sellers in a given neighborhood, municipality or region. It's that simple, and that's another reason print is not dead.

With Discover print publications, especially the community newspapers, you get the added benefit of hitting your audience with content created just for them. It's localized in a world where dependable local information is getting overrun by the internet.

*****Print is not dead, so why not consider adding it to your content marketing toolbox? It checks the boxes of targeting specific audiences, it's sticky and it aids a real estate agent's efforts to become a part of their community. In fact, with a community newspaper hitting your targets every month - you'll become a household name!

If you want to see an example of a custom, localized print publication being used in real estate content marketing, check out this community newspaper from our client, Craig Strong of Toluca Lake, CA.

If you like what you see with Craig Strong's publication, check to see if your territory is available. Here at Discover we offer exclusivity based on zip codes around the country.