This article is Part Two of a new whitepaper from ListHub. Click here to view Part One.

Do Brokers Know What They Are Doing?

Are brokers making an informed choice when they choose Maximum Marketing? As new publisher sites and models have emerged over the years, some industry participants have questioned whether brokers are demonstrating ignorance with their actions when they make these advertising choices.

Do Brokers Need to be Protected From Themselves?

So, we asked them. ListHub recently conducted a survey to learn what factors are important to brokers when deciding where to market their listings online. The survey was administered by both phone and email to 200 ListHub brokers who have selected "Maximize Marketing."

We Found Out

"Were you aware that you selected all of the sites?"

First, we wanted to find out if these brokers were even aware of their selections. With 83% responding "Yes," we learned that the brokers knew the choices they had made.

"Why did you choose to send your listings to all of the sites in the network?"

The second question was open-ended. However, we received many similar responses. The common thread for these brokers was the importance of getting the maximum exposure possible.

• I want my listings on all of the sites!
• I wanted the maximum market exposure fo my listings.
• Our priority is getting the greatest exposure possible to sell our listings.
• Better exposure
• Broader marketing
• For the greatest possible exposure of listings
• Get the broadest coverage
• I believe it would be a disservice to my clients to not subscribe to all publisher websites. A listing that is not on ListHub is just another listing!
• I want our listings to get to as many sites as possible, creating more chances for people to view our listings

Survey Questions about New ListHub Features for Marketing Choices

Last year, ListHub made enhancements to help our customers make more informed decisions about where to distribute their listings online.

One feature is Publisher Filters, where brokers can filter sites based on some of the most popular criteria that brokers use to make their advertising choices. The criteria include things like, "Displays Broker Contact Info" and "Doesn't Re-syndicate Your Listings"; there are nine filters available in all.

We also added Publisher Settings, which allows brokers to control whether their listings should automatically be sent to future sites that are added to the network, or not. Brokers can even use the filters to specify what types of sites can be automatically added in the future.

"Did you know that ListHub makes it easy to select publishers based on easy-to-use filters?"

With each broker, we shared the details about the features in ListHub that allow brokers to rate and filter publishers based on key criteria and factors that might impact their advertising choices. We found that many brokers (62%) were unaware of the tools, and a smaller percentage (49%) were likely to use the tools.

Still, only 21% say that they plan to make changes to their choices in the near future.

What Else Is Important To Brokers When It Comes To Online Marketing?

The platform tools provided by the ListHub all emerged as "very important" or "extremely important" in our broker survey:

• 92% feel strongly that listings should be accurate.
• 90% want maximum exposure for their listings.
• 82% feel it important to have an MLS connected advertising platform.
• 84% want a single place to go for support.
• 85% want publishers to follow broker friendly rules on how their listings are managed.
• 75% feel it important to have reports on what happened to their listings online.
• 85% want maximum exposure for their clients.

The feedback from brokers is clear. They are making informed decisions, and have valid reasons for those decisions.