Sep 22 2009
Advertising Staging Versus Advertising Listings
Recently I’ve had the opportunity to talk to a few Stagers about the difference between advertising their staging services and advertising a listing for sale. Both are so closely related, but are really completely different things.
A Stager asked me to have a look at her website and give her some feedback. The site was beautiful, as I expected, but when I clicked to look at her work I saw only listings, complete with MLS numbers and lot sizes. If I were thinking of hiring a Stager, I’d want to see examples of what she’s done, before and after photos or just the beautifully photographed finished rooms. I’d be interested to hear about the challenges faced with each house and how she solved them.
If I’m looking at this site while shopping for a Stager, I do care about how I feel when I look at a picture of the kitchen. I don’t care if the appliances convey. That’s the difference between hiring a Stager and buying a house.
Using locations on your website provides important fodder for search engines and helps locals find you. And while it gives potential clients a certain level of comfort to know that you’ve worked with homes similar to their own, pinpointing a street address may not be necessary (or appreciated by the new owner). “Oakwood area, low $600,000s” would be about as specific as I’d like to get about the house itself.
Another thing to consider is the regulations involved when a listing is advertised for sale. As a real estate agent, I know my state laws and the NAR Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice will require any advertisements of my listings to carry certain information. For instance, if my phone number is used, my state requires that my brokerage phone number be used as well. I’m also required to disclose my brokerage name, which is usually done through the use of a logo. I am allowed to advertise only the agreed upon price. If the seller changes the price but the website isn’t updated, this would be a violation. Helping out an agent friend by advertising their listings may not work as intended, but linking to “Agents I’ve Worked with and Recommend” is both a testimonial and referral.
An easy guideline is just to keep in mind the purpose of your site. If you’re trying to grow your staging business, your key themes may be focusing on room transformations, solutions to problem areas and helping homes sell faster and for more money. By showcasing your work instead of giving data that creates a perception of listings, you’re also able to keep photos of the homes on your website indefinitely.
If you have thoughts about this, I’d love to hear from you in the comments!
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The home was vacant, and I refuse to simply take pictures of 2 blank walls, it wasn’t anything to write home about, and to top it off it was TINY!!!! It’s only 950 square feet with 3 bedrooms on two stories, meaning the stairs eat up some of the space… that kind of small! You know, the kind of listing that’s always described as “Cozy” 
