News Corp Australia has announced an alliance with real estate finance technology provider CampaignAgent.
The move is designed to help agents connect with vendors and take the mystery out of funding property and educate vendors about the financial benefit that investing in marketing can make to a sale outcome.
The alliance will also equip agents with funding solutions to help them market their properties.
REA Group had previously foreshadowed a partnership with CampaignAgent in February when it announced its first-half results.
For real estate agents, the aim is to minimise the friction that can occur with vendors to make conversations easier on funding marketing.
CampaignAgent’s industry-leading buy-now-pay-later solution VPAPay streamlines the marketing process for agents and with a strong focus on transparent transactions, it provides trust and security for vendors.
It allows vendors to pay for all marketing after a sale goes through rather than upfront at the start of a campaign.
News Corp Australia’s Managing Director of Real Estate Jason Scott said working with CampaignAgent would provide a platform to help educate the market on the benefits of a well-marketed property.
“Driving competition to achieve the best sale price for a vendor is the core of any campaign, but being able to provide the reassurance around funding the advertising and other elements that constitute a for sale campaign is a win for all involved,” Mr Scott said.
“Achieving this level of education is the primary focus of both parties.
“The aim is to provide readers, including potential sellers, with the knowledge they need to confidently enter the real estate market.
“In turn, agents will benefit from a more-engaged customer base, who have a greater understanding of the buying and selling process.”
CampaignAgent Co-Founder Seth Watts has welcomed the alliance, saying News Corp Australia has been helping sellers market and sell their homes for generations.
“We are excited to form an alliance with them for the next phase of our mutual growth with innovative payment and lending products that allow sellers to invest in the right marketing campaign to maximise their sale price,” Mr Watts said.
“News Corp Australia’s long-standing commitment to supporting real estate agencies aligns strongly with CampaignAgent’s agency-centric approach and we look forward to reaching a national audience.”
CampaignAgent Co-Founder and Chief Executive Shaun Moriarty also said he was excited to be working alongside “a respected industry leader like News Corp“.
“We look forward to empowering property owners through VPAPay to invest in the most effective marketing campaigns to deliver the best sale result possible,” Mr Moriarty said.
As the industry evolves, and how buyers search for property has diversified, there appears to be a growing knowledge gap between agents and vendors, specifically in the area of vendor paid advertising (VPA).
With property values reaching record highs in both metro and regional areas over the past six months, the market has shown that vendors are happy to put forward the funds required to sell their property with the knowledge they too could see record prices.
In a cooling market, however, convincing vendors to outlay thousands of dollars could prove difficult.
At present, vendor-paid advertising can range from $4000 in more affordable regions to well in excess of $20,000 in some areas of Australia’s capitals.
By removing the vendor’s friction point of funding for the right marketing campaign and demonstrating that investing in marketing is the right thing to do, the knock-on effects could help stimulate the real estate economy, providing more work for real estate adjacent industries, especially those specialising in marketing.
