Sellsius real estate marketing blog

Roost, which gets its data from Multiple Listing Services (MLS), the same sources used by real estate brokers and agents, challenged the depth of coverage on Trulia with this video, posted on YouTube.

Roost made the point folks at Trulia often dodge– that Roost has better MLS coverage than Trulia — by comparing listings in Boston, MA (Roost had 3318 listings to Trulia ’s 2912). Had Roost done this visual comparison in other cities, it would have had a greater impact. Perhaps a voiceover explaining the flaws in Trulia’s aggregation model might have added authoritative oomff.

Roost Egg

But Roost went a step further and wanted to show that listings on Trulia may not actually be for sale– a real peck to the groin. Unfortunately, a house on Trulia which Roost said was not for sale, actually was. An MLS number error caused the confusion. Now, had someone from Roost picked up that old piece of technology, the telephone, and called the listing agent, they would have avoided this mistake, which distracted somewhat from the message (and diluted it), although only in the comments where experts pointed it out here. Perhaps a better strategy would have been to put any bogus listings on a separate video.

Check out the Roost Challenge video here:

Seeing is Believing

Despite the little roost egg, I think the comparison video was good marketing. Marketing is creating a perception in the “public eye”. A visual comparison is stronger than words, when it comes to real estate search. Seeing is believing (provided you can get regular folks to see it).

It reminds me of the TV comparison ads for detergent– see how these blood stains came out with Brand A and not with Brand X. Remember the power of the Pepsi Challenge?

Buzz Marketing Builds Brand Awareness

Video such as this can create a buzz in the real estate blogos and start a conversation. And let’s not forget that the video lives in Internet eternity. So, despite the spin the spinmeisters may dispense on the blog posts, those comments will sink into archive oblivion and all that will stand will be the video taste tests.

The marketing side effect is folks will now know about Roost, and include them in their search regimen.

If the Roost Challenge can be packaged properly and repeated (repetition is extremely important), the brand will get a big boost. (They might also consider hiring that Rooster icon from the WB cartoons, Foghorn Leghorn)

h/t FoREM for starting the buzz.

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