Trulia research indicates that 85% of would-be buyers think that knowing the specifics about the neighborhood in which they are considering buying is just as important as knowing the specifics about the house they’re considering buying.
To answer those neighborhood specifics, Trulia just announced its “What Locals Say” brand campaign. Via 30-second spots, “What Locals Say” shows the neighborhood to your would-be buyers through the eyes of locals who actually live there.
Trulia and the San Francisco marketing agency Venables, Bell and Partners came up with the idea to crowdsource these neighborhood “show and tell” spots.
One spot features a local paperboy riding around his neighborhood on his bike delivering newspapers. He points out neighborhood highlights such as “a really high diving board” and a market that sells “great eggs.” All the while on his bike, the boy travels the neighborhood streets so we viewers can actually “see” what the neighborhood looks like on a typical morning…the boy isn’t wearing a jacket or sweatshirt so the weather looks to be good, the neighborhood streets do have people and dogs walking on them, the street traffic isn’t congested, etc.
Another spot features a local dog walker and the dogs she’s herding around. The dog walker shows us the viewers that the neighborhood is, in fact, dog friendly and she points out various cafes, restaurants and bars along her route so we can “see” the local sushi bar, the coffee spot where locals go to drink and hang out, the local diner where people are actually eating a meal.
“What Locals Say” is video story telling about a specific neighborhood. It shows “…the feeling side of the equation that is well-complemented by data driven map overlays of things like crime stats and school performance,” said Alissa Reiter, Trulia’s vice president of marketing.
The locals chosen to be “What Locals Say” stars are “…neighborhood insiders who kind of show you around the blocks and let you in on all the juicy secrets about a neighborhood,” said Reiter.
Whether or not you are a real estate agent associated with Trulia, this is a marketing idea you could adapt to your own business. The neighborhood content delivered in these 30-second “What Locals Say” spots, or whatever your business may call them, is exactly the information potential buyers are looking for when they are shopping around for a house…and, a neighborhood.
