{"id":3278,"date":"2008-06-26T21:06:19","date_gmt":"2008-06-27T04:06:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/?p=3278"},"modified":"2008-06-26T20:01:37","modified_gmt":"2008-06-27T03:01:37","slug":"listing-real-estate-the-bloodhound-way-the-marketing-power-of-a-custom-yard-sign-is-not-the-color-not-the-photography-not-even-that-it-is-custom-made-its-the-text-on-the-sign-that-stops-traffi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3278\/listing-real-estate-the-bloodhound-way-the-marketing-power-of-a-custom-yard-sign-is-not-the-color-not-the-photography-not-even-that-it-is-custom-made-its-the-text-on-the-sign-that-stops-traffi\/","title":{"rendered":"Listing real estate the Bloodhound way: The marketing power of a custom yard sign is not the color, not the photography, not even that it is custom-made — it’s the text on the sign that stops traffic"},"content":{"rendered":"

We’ve been making custom yard signs for two years now<\/a>, but that represents the third generation of our sign philosophy<\/a>. The second generation featured a huge picture of Odysseus the TV Spokesmodel Bloodhound<\/a>, and that was a real traffic stopper when it was new. The first generation sported a huge rendition of our corporate logo, which we moved, in smaller form, to the riser on top of the post for the second and third generation signs.<\/p>\n

What BloodhoundRealty.com signs have always had in common, going back to 2003, is that paragraph of small text in the middle of the sign. With our custom signs, we can rhapsodize each house, but we knew from the very beginning that that paragraph of text would stop traffic, and that this would win attention for our homes that we could not achieve with an ordinary real estate sign.<\/p>\n

We knew back then that we wanted custom signs, we just couldn’t do it then. (Richard Riccelli suggested that we mount a metal frame on our signs so that we could swap in other text.) We knew then, as we we know now, that good marketing sells houses — but that exceptional<\/em> marketing would set us apart from the Realtors we compete against with our sellers and with their neighbors.<\/p>\n

Here’s how to understand the Bloodhound marketing strategy: Everything we do goes into selling the house — into inducing the behaviors necessary for the home to be sold. And selling houses the way we do accomplishes the objective of selling everything we do to those homeowners who are paying attention. In that respect, all of our marketing is integrated — all one thing.<\/p>\n

This is adapted from a comment I posted earlier today.<\/p>\n

What matters most about custom yard signs is not the color, not the photography, not even that they are custom-made for the house. What makes them sell<\/em> is that paragraph of text in the middle of the sign. As you could easily predict, there is a philosophy behind everything we do, including our custom signs:<\/a><\/p>\n

Forever and always, Realtors have treated their yard signs like billboards. After all, the traffic Read more<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve been making custom yard signs for two years now, but that represents the third generation of our sign philosophy. The second generation featured a huge picture of Odysseus the TV Spokesmodel Bloodhound, and that was a real traffic stopper when it was new. The first generation sported a huge rendition of our corporate logo, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"hentry","6":"category-marketing","7":"category-real-estate","9":"no-featured-image"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":11699,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/11699\/stopping-traffic-in-northern-virginia-justnewlistings-com-is-building-custom-yard-signs-for-its-listings\/","url_meta":{"origin":3278,"position":0},"title":"Stopping traffic in Northern Virginia: JustNewListings.com is building custom yard signs for its listings","author":"Greg Swann","date":"April 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Jay Seville of JustNewListings.com in the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. sent along this photo of the customs signs he is building for his team. Lo-tech don't mean no-tech: Sign calls sell homes. If you're doing custom signs, let me know. I'm delighted to show off the hard work\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Innovation"","block_context":{"text":"Innovation","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/innovation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7565,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/7565\/nest-realty-jim-duncans-new-broker-joins-the-custom-sign-club\/","url_meta":{"origin":3278,"position":1},"title":"Nest Realty, Jim Duncan’s new broker, joins the custom sign club","author":"Greg Swann","date":"March 23, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Long-time real estate weblogger Jim Duncan moved to a new brokerage recently -- Nest Realty. As a part of their launch, they're building custom real estate yard signs, the prototype for which you can see above. Jim asked for my thoughts on the signs, and I'm going to go into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3370,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3370\/listing-real-estate-the-bloodhound-way-custom-yard-signs-in-english-and-spanish\/","url_meta":{"origin":3278,"position":2},"title":"Listing real estate the Bloodhound way: Custom yard signs in English and Spanish","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"These signs don't exist yet; they won't be finished until Friday at the earliest. This is the first time we've done this, custom signs with one side in English, one side in Spanish. The flyer is done in both languages, also, one on each side of the sheet. I may\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1715,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/1715\/black-pearls-custom-directional-signs-can-draw-buyers-to-your-listings-and-make-your-listings-seem-to-multiply\/","url_meta":{"origin":3278,"position":3},"title":"Black Pearls: Custom directional signs can draw buyers to your listings — and make your listings seem to multiply","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 31, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, here's a Black Pearl made from sandy irritants we picked up at the StarPower Conference. First, one of the Stars is making custom signs featuring photographs of the listed home. I've been writing about custom yard signs for more than a year now, but, so far, I haven't heard\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3528,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3528\/a-real-estate-sign-of-the-times-our-first-custom-yard-sign-printed-in-both-english-and-spanish\/","url_meta":{"origin":3278,"position":4},"title":"A real estate sign of the times: Our first custom yard sign printed in both English and Spanish","author":"Greg Swann","date":"July 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is my column for this week from the Arizona Republic (permanent link). \u00a0A real estate sign of the times: Our first custom yard sign printed in both English and Spanish We do things that other brokers in the Phoenix area don't do. We're not the busiest listing brokerage --\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Marketing"","block_context":{"text":"Marketing","link":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/category\/marketing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3182,"url":"https:\/\/www.bloodhoundrealty.com\/BloodhoundBlog\/3182\/as-much-as-we-love-to-make-custom-yard-signs-for-our-listings-we-keep-an-inventory-of-our-favorite-sign-in-stock\/","url_meta":{"origin":3278,"position":5},"title":"As much as we love to make custom yard signs for our listings, we keep an inventory of our favorite sign in stock","author":"Greg Swann","date":"May 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the sign that sells listings: It rarely hangs for more than a month. We keep ten of them in stock, and I can't wait for the day when we need ten more... 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