Advertising in Selling Real Estate by C.C.C. Tatum

8/14/2019 Advertising in Selling Real Estate by C.C.C. Tatum

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140 TheRdtl,tu BtrueBook ol (hlilornia

C. C. C, TATUTTVi.t Pr4identNalional Assactatiah Realty BoardsPt.titkrt cililortLkr R.4t Esk|leAssoc id l ion,1922Mertb.r lrrlitariot Comrrittee Reuu!Blre Roek


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The ReqLtru l,ueBo6k ol CaUfornia 141

Advertising n SellingReal EstateBtl C, C. C. TAIUM

The Growth ol A&)erti,sing-Calilomiat in the L.od-Hea.dlines-Cep! Art Work-Classified Ada-NewspaperRi.gllts- Atu)ertising i.sSuwlementua-T he Awropiation.

DVBRTISINC is indispensablen the successful elling of r.ealestate. Its quickening nfluences a powerful salesstimulus; tis a vital part of realty progress; and it is a mighty factor instabilizing the brokerage business and in raising standards ofpractice.Advertising means"pep" or gtnger; it means a crashing into re-sistancewith characteristic Yankee snap and vim; it meam that facttmay be relayed to the public conceming the idealsand purposesof therealtors; it means a greater knowledge of rcal property problems willbc disseminated; nd last analmost mportant it meansa morenearlycompleteepplication of honest practices to the real estate busineas.But in all lines of busiless it must be remembered hat there aramore dishonest frms and individuals among the no[-advertisers thanthere are among the advertisers. The tmth of thls assertion llo maican deny. A shrewd advertiser is a constant advcrtiser &nd lro onecan advertise dishonestly over a long period of time. It simply crnnot be done,becauseyou cannot ool all the peopleall the time."TIIE GROWTII OF ADI'EBTISINC

Advertising is tlTically an American institution. No othe! !Ia-tion has business men who advertise like they do in the UnitdStates; no other nation has gone ahead so rapidly cornmercially norhasany other nation increased ts realty valuessoquickly.Onewriter well expressed he situation regarding real state ad-vertising when he said it "began as an afterthought of businessandbecamea forethought." Advertising is beiug used much mote gen-erally by real estate interests today tian ffve years ago. Before thewar there was a fair number of fi rms that believedn publicity, butth& 'pas still a large percentagethat felt it .wasnot imperative toadveruse.Some en or twelve years ago a subdivider n Chicagoused ullpagenewspaper advertisements and everybody gasped, Such a cus-tom today is not unusual enough to attlact undue comment, especiallyin California. The volume of real estate advertising fu increasingovr he entire United Statesand n this statewe have he satisfaction


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L42 The RaeLtU LueBoolrof Cat;forninof having our unusual eal estateactivity reflectedn the equallyun_usualquality and qua-ntityof our real estatepublicity.

CALIIIRNIA IN THELEAD, Whther it be a sign or a slide, a double prge newspaper adver_l isemenl or somFother form ot publiciry,Cali for-nia a; ieachedanaclvanced lage in perfecl ing ihat padicular phase of real estateaovertNDrg.

From the north to the south of this second argest state in theunron rpal estate men and women are progressiv., They have bvvlr lue or tnetr prolpssion ruly blazeda trai l for developmenl f notonry h-ejr wn businpss, ur oLher inesot business.Onebf theif mostpoweflxlalds h-cs penpublici ty.and from the starl Cali fornia }ealtyrnrere,sr.naveoepn known throughout the Union for their effectivpuse ot thrs elctrjcity of business."

. .Advnising is parti.ularly adapted to the west and q.esternsplnr. r t makesse rng moreoutspoken,rankpr,and t quicklv brinsspeople ogel,her.onany given ploposition. In this siale we taire prideIn our hospitat i{y. he absence f cl iqus, act ions, radit ional iocialrrnes. nct-for his leasonadvert isinghas formed a most fedi le f ie ldror"gTowth !r lhin thecon6nesofCali fornia. I t has fourishpd nd asa resxlt has }endered a great service in the rapidity vriih \phjch theeasl-n:rs Deenacquainled with the innumerable advantags of livingon the Pacific seaboard.. Californians_ have utilized every forrn of advertisins to tell the[rulh.about thrs state and Lhe values of il,s real property: They haveserzed. pon the newspapers ofthe nation and of t}eir own com_]l-ulr-t*:; tlr:y have u-lilizpdmotjon pictures. signs of every descrip-LronLo rnpet_lheeye. Magazinesthat contain a mpssageof California,pampnrers or-every variety and size have been mailed to ail parts ofthe globc and on doun the line wp find thal there has bepn no hesi_iancy to use legi l imaie publir i ly mcdia which could be adapted otne putposes.- In a talk which the writer made before the Home Builclers andSubd-ividersDilision of the Nationat Association at Cleveland.biiio.rn.i_92J, the clrflerent forms of advpdising ul,ilized by Los Ancelessubdividers were enumerated, This tal[ was i uitraiea o"-lfr"screen so t}lat the real estate men of the nation mlght see samples ;four reel estate publicity methods in the southern -part of thij state.

HEADLINES- The excellence f the headingsulitized by advertiserswas em-phasizedn this talk and exampleswerealsoshownof effectiveuseofsmall spacen newspapers.Much intereslwas evinced n fhe follow-

ing staternent: The spaceuspdby one advertisemenlwas onlv twocofumnsby six inchesand the adswereswalloweduD n a news;aDerwhich prints more displayadvertisingthan any pairer in ttre 6oilO.'lne headrngs nd l,extmadethese il.tle sds distinctive, urthermoleexcellent esultswereobtainedwithout the useof arl work or strikinc


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I'he ReaJtuBIue Boak ol CoJilorrLin 143borderc, ut the adsappeared egulsrly and nopieceof copy tas used

Slides were also shown of the advertising which helped in corl-verting a barley field into a suburb of sevenor eight thowand persongwithin a fve year pedod. The possibilityof using the broker'sper-sonality in the advedisements was touched on and a campaign wasalso described n which the peNonality of fanous historic characterswas usd, The value of difierent backgrounds, orders arld varioustlTes of appealswere mentionedas were also he advertisements fnegativealld positivesuggestion.

ANT WORKThe subdividerswere vety much nterested n the slidesshowingart work, because ne of the most distinctive features n Califomia

real estate advertising has been the remtrkable progress made inutilizing drawingBwhich quickly imprinted the selling idea on themindsof the readers.During the talk, advertisements ere shownfor residential, n-duslr ial. gri.ul luralandouiingsubdivis'ons.Examplesof newspaperadvertising,booklets,pamphlets,signs,dodgersand similar foms of media were also thrown upon thescren.CLASSIFIED ADS

Tvo slides were devoted o classifiedads which we called "theinfantry of subdivisioDadvertising," and in this conrectiona atate-ment was made that with four or five lines, maybe more, it is pos-sible hrough thesesoldiersof the classified ctionso sell muchrealestate, rherever hat property may be located.

NEWSPAPEBCO-OPERAAIONIn Caiifonria real estatemon are particularly fortunate in havingnewspapels t.their cohmandwhich are publicspidted and x.hich8pto the half way mark and often considerably beyond in promoting thebest nterests of Pacificcoast realtlt. Thesenewslapersnever hes-itate to give ample space o real estatenews and the larger metro-politan papem have large sections eachweek devoted to t}Ie welfareof fealty advancement.As a result of this valuable co-operaiion from the "Fou.th Es-tate," real estatehas boundedorward in a way that it couldnot havegoneahead had this co-operationanal assistancebeen lacking. Therefore, iD California, the opportunity constantly confronts the real es-tate men and women of utilizing the news columns of the press aswell as the advertisingcolumns.

NEWS INTE&ESINewspaper men have told the \aryiter that there is much legiti-mate news about real estate activities always available for "stories"if the broker is only elert to what constitutes "news," In talking tothe subdividers at Ctevelaild, the writer said "Do not forget for amoment hat there is often real news aboutsubdivision ctivities and


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\u TheR@)tABlue Bookot'@,lilor.nb,with proper_proceduren your pall, it is alwayspossibleo Cet theear-of a \Mrde-awakeeporler. In this way il, is possible ,o ell thepubllc through the newscolumnswithout any additionalcost exceDttaat and frankness, ertain newdevelopmentsboutyour subdivisi6noperations." T'hissuggestionwas also madeaL the same ime: ..Orthere.is anofter angle in which publicity rnay be given. lmportantquesnons nvot\,'lngeal estateofl,en alise. Do not hesifate,whereyou have_the trength of your convictions,o preparea*icles'for thepressand sigr them in the newspapeN. It ivill- hurt neither yoursuoolt'lsronaclr\,-ltles or your standing as a uselul citizen in lhecommunity."

SIGNS_ Pe6onally, I have always beenmost enthusiasticabout the use

ol s-rgna.-ln Lhestate of Caiifor.nia.owing !o our well known cli_matrc.conctrlrons,otoring has reacheda stageof developmentitdeexpenencealkewhere. While the automobilewhizzesbv real oror:_erty at a rapid speedL s neverthelessossiUle ;ttr targe, reit p'iac6acarruly wofdect.alg]tso altracl lhe eyeand fash a story to the mindoI me peopten tne automobile...A.largepa:l of our popula{ions found in molor carseveryday,so rnar rne lrarlc on everyslreel and every horoughlareof any con-sequenceraranteea.thalthe signs will be observedby a large per_ceNagol the motor:rng ublic.Our real $tate frms have made a closstudy of different trademarks and othpr attentiongettingdevices.Theyhavealso ooked ntothe.questoD.-ofcolorsexlensively. Tte average eal estateman inUalrlo_mla rl l most enthusiaslcally tell you his own lheofies resard_ing whlch colorcan be sepn he farthest with i,he best effeclI4 someparts of the state tlere las been ma.rked sentirnentagainst real $tate signsand rodat iI the others n my o1i,rcitv arewill ing o fakpdown hesigns. \aould uicklvacquiescendenthusi-astically support the movement. There is no doubt that with therapid progressof real{y devolopmenbn Californiathe siqn aclivitvhaa grown.intoax evil jn manyplacesand lhe large numbir of sigrxon vacant ots often give rhe visitor Lhe lvrong impressionreqa-rd-ing real estatebusiness s it is practiced n our state. Neverthelesssigns have done their share as f&r as an effective stimulus of realestateactivities s concemed, facl which Tbelieve s recosnized vtlose who are most aclivF n the movemento eliminrl,e lem.

TRADEMAN,KSIn connectionwith the subjectof signs,mentiodshouldbe inadeof the trade mark, This brings up the sobjectot copyright aw. Manydesigls calculatedo atiract attentionhav-e eendeviied-by ealesrat"emen n this state.Thpreare a numberof firms wh ch usesucha trade_mark or deviceon l,Ieir letterheads, n their business ardsand inthetr other-iorms.oL ctvertrsrng,o- hat the public n t jme gels oKnow nrs rum and assocratene trademarkwith that particular con_


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The Reatrtu tr1Leoakof C(LlifonLia L45COPYRICHTS

In relation to the copyright aw it is interesting o note that "ameredevice o attlact the attention which is used n differentpiecesof copyandwlich is in effecta mark of idertification, s in a doubtfulposition,"so fax as protectionby copyright is concerned. f it hasartistic merit, it might be admissible, ut if the copydght protectionis to be valid, it cannot heleafter be varied, but must alwaysbe pre-sentedn the exact orm it took whenpresentedor copydght,accord-ing to oneauthority.

ADWRTISING IS SUPPLF)MENTARYIn connection with the subject of advertising in selling real estateonepoint should be made especially clear; i. e., advertising is part of

selling. It is not separate in any way. It is a segment of the sellingcircle. Adverlising in real estate is not a substitute for peNonal sell-ing. It is supplementary, distinctly an aid and as was stated in thebeginning, a stimulus for selling.THE APP&OPRIAAION

Th questionhas doubtless een ecurring in your mindsregard-ing the cost of adve*ising real estate. "How much should spend?""Don't you have to add on to the p ce of your lots to cover he costof advertising?" and like queriesare prcbably uppermost n yourihoughtsat this moment.The well known andprovedprincipleof advertising hat properlyconducted xpioitation eally lessenshq cost o the purchaserbecausit hastens he rapidity of tumover to the seller n such a way as toincreasehe volumeof his business ndgive}lim the sameprofrtwithless outlay in the end, is to my nind bome out by Los Angelesexpe ence. I believe f the booksof all the real estate irms in LoSAngeles n the lsst year who beloDg o the Board wereexamined hespeed f the saleswould reveal he fact that a lower rnargin of profitwis requiredbecause f the stimulationprovidedby leg:itimate dver-tiSing.AdvertisiDg n selling ealprcpertymust bedo e intelligenttyandconsistently-aprocedurewlich necessitates uc}l ime, energy,con-centration ndcounsel s well asmonel.r ccordingo the experience fsuccessflrl alifomia real estate frms.No two individualsnor any two firms have conditions onfr-ontingthemexactlyalike,even D the samecity. But thele arecertainpoiDtsfrom the experieDcef successfuleal estatebrokers n their advertis-ing $'hich can be seized o advartageby the average oncern,whether.they are ocated n SanDiegoor Eureka.


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Advertising in Selling Real Estate by C.C.C. Tatum