There are few industries more competitive than residential real estate. Not only do large real estate companies like RE/MAX and Sotheby’s compete against each other, but individual agents are in a constant battle to “win the deal” and maximize the number of listings they have—and the prices they get for the homes they sell. The best agents are creative in how they market themselves. It’s fair to say that there’s nothing that home sellers haven’t tried in their efforts to stand out from the crowd and get noticed.
Despite all of this creativity, however, there’s one thing that hasn’t changed among agents selling homes — the overwhelming majority of lawn signs all look the same. Drive down any street and you’ll see dozens of rectangles hanging from frames in the front yards, declaring which homes are on the market. And while the colors and images might be different, these all end up indistinguishable from any other yard sign.
It doesn’t have to be this way.
Real estate agents who want to think outside the box should reimagine how they are using signs. There is obviously a lot of variety and creativity in the kinds of signs that sellers use, but 99% of the time the format is still the ubiquitous 24×36 inch rectangle. It’s time to break out from the tyranny of this shape. Because while these may be easy to make and convenient to store, they don’t achieve the primary goal of getting noticed. This is where die-cut signs can play a vital role in helping agents differentiate themselves from their competitors.
This may sound expensive and complicated, but die-cut signs are actually pretty simple. Traditionally, purchasing signs required a minimum order that could be prohibitively expensive. So while having a cool lawn sign might be advantageous, there’s really no benefit for agents if they have to order 20 or 30 at a time. No one wants a garage full of strangely shaped signs! Thanks to advances in digital printing, it is now possible to order individual custom signs rather than bulk batches. That’s a game changer for agents who might only need one or two signs at a time.
The real advantage for agents is that they can customize signs for each property that they are selling. For example, a house that is perfect for a family with small children could feature a sign with a stick figure family, and a sign for a large estate-like house could be cut in the shape of a castle. There are literally no limits, not only on the graphic elements of the sign, but the shape of the sign itself. Even “basic” signs don’t have to be squares or rectangles. Agents can just as easily put up a circle or a triangle, which, while not particularly “out there” in terms of design, will certainly stand out from the crowd of generic signs in a particular neighborhood.
There’s no one single magic bullet that will make real estate agents successful. As we all know, there are hundreds of factors that separate the top producers from the rest of the pack. But one thing that great agents do is always think creatively about how to maximize value for the homes they are selling. Taking a creative approach to signage may give you a key advantage over your competitors and increase the perceived value of your customer’s home.
