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Two real estate agents from a coastal community have started a light-hearted digital radio show to lure sea-changers to their town.
Hayden Ocean Grove directors Hugh McKewan and Andrew Hamilton are based in Ocean Grove, 25 kilometres from Geelong and 100 kilometres from Melbourne.
Their new radio show, ‘Ocean Grove Living’, is designed to build their profile with potential buyers while selling the benefits of moving to a lifestyle location.
Mr McKewan told Real Estate Business that technology had changed people’s buying habits and reduced the effectiveness of traditional marketing.
“What we’ve found is that kids are brought up with computers, so everything is online, and this radio and podcast formula allows us to access people at their convenience," Mr McKewan said.
"We can start to build a relationship with people without even knowing them. People are tending not to touch [agents] until they’re ready to get moving.”
Ocean Grove Living is available for free from the iTunes store and the agency website. The first episode aired last week, with another nine in the works.
Mr McKewan said each program will be about 20-30 minutes long and will include interviews with locals such as sea-changers and business owners.
The radio show will feature a casual, conversational style and will make the town the star rather than the agency, Mr McKewan said.
“I think people are a bit sick of agents telling them how good they are as agents. I think they want real-life stories,” he said.
“We’re trying to do it in an interview format. Obviously, it’s a marketing strategy, but we’re trying to give it real value. I think just saying ‘We’re the best’ doesn’t give anyone any value.”
Mr McKewan told Real Estate Business that his agency’s investment in digital radio had been “in the thousands rather than the tens of thousands”.
Production has been outsourced to another Ocean Grove local, digital marketing strategist Wes Ward, founder of real estate marketing service BizCastRadio.com.
Mr McKewan said agents who want to make their own digital radio shows should also outsource.
“If you try to do it yourself, unless you have all the skills and the equipment to edit and record, it’s too difficult,” he said.
