Real estate agents wear many hats including one for marketing, advertising , merchandising, and publicity hat. Many agents think these are all one and the same. To be effective you need to know the difference and use all four to reach target real estate markets. Let's explore what each is and a brief example.

Advertising is any means by which an organization seeks to influence thoughts or actions of an individual, usually used to sell a product (house) or service (agent), or to promote good will. Example: an open house ad in the local newspaper. Marketing is all aspects of the advertising, merchandising, and selling of goods and services. An agent's annual marketing plan identifying the goals to be achieved and actions to be taken in the coming year. Merchandising is the promotion of the sale of goods and services through advertising and publicity. Think of merchandising as a physical tribute of marketing. Example would be a four-color brochure describing the physical features of a listing. Publicity or public relations is a promotion tool that motivate the public to take notice of a person (agent), product(listing), company (brokerage). Example is a press release and resulting article in the newspaper featuring an agent's support of a Habitat for Humanity project.