With stock levels tight across the Gold Coast, it would be easy for sellers to look at a shortage of competing listings and assume marketing isn’t a priority. If there is not much else for sale, why spend the money? 

According to Kollosche sales agent Gypsea Youngsmith, sellers’ thinking should be the opposite because it is in this type of market that the right marketing matters the most. 

“Active listings are sitting about 20 per cent below the five-year average, so buyers, while not short on capacity, are short on choice,” Ms Youngsmith said. 

“This presents an opportunity, but only if a property is being seen by the right people, in the right places, and more than once,” she said. “Saving a few thousand dollars by cutting back on marketing can become a false economy if the one buyer who would have paid the most for your home never gets to see it.” 

Ms Youngsmith said the mistake sellers and agents often made was to treat marketing as a single, generic step in a process, rather than be strategic and build a campaign around the individual property. 

“Almost every home ends up on the same major property search portals, so simply appearing online will not return you a good result over an average one,” she said. “What matters is that your listing makes a buyer stop scrolling, pay attention and, ultimately, commit to an inspection.” 

Achieving this requires every property to be treated differently, rather than running the same campaign regardless of price point or condition. 

“A $2 million renovator and a $10 million waterfront home should not be marketed the same way,” Ms Youngsmith said. “One might be about potential, land size and what could be created, while the other might be about architecture, lifestyle and a level of detail that needs to be experienced.  

“The job of good marketing is working out what will make buyers care about that particular property and build the campaign around it.” 

Ms Youngsmith referred to a recent campaign on 5 La France Court in Mermaid Waters to illustrate the advantage of a personalised campaign.

“It was one of the suburb’s largest landholdings and traditional photography alone couldn’t communicate the scale of the property, so we commissioned a drone fly-through to showcase its scale,” she said.  

“The video generated 35,000 views, 448 shares and 120 saves. The house sold for $13 million prior to auction with the buyer telling us that the video had played a part in their decision to purchase.” 

But, according to Ms Youngsmith, marketing is not something that only works for, or is worthy of, beautiful, high-end homes. 

“We recently sold an original waterfront property on Drayton Terrace, also in Mermaid Waters. Rather than pretending it was something it wasn’t, we filmed an honest walkthrough of the property and highlighted its potential,” she said. 

“That video generated 37,000 views and 56 shares, and three additional buyers who saw the content ended up bidding at auction. The property sold for $2,355,000. 

“That’s what good marketing is all about. It is not about making every property look glamorous but working out what is genuinely interesting about it and getting that in front of the people most likely to buy it.” 

For sellers watching their budget, Ms Youngsmith said effective marketing did not require unlimited spend. 

“If money is tight, property preparation becomes even more important. Fresh paint, tidy landscaping and simple styling can change how a home presents online before a single dollar is spent marketing it.” 

Beyond that, she said there were three pieces of content she would never cut from a marketing campaign, whatever the budget. 

“I would always include a straightforward walkthrough so buyers understand the home; a property-focused video without the agent front and centre; and a lifestyle piece that shows what living there could actually feel like,” Ms Youngsmith said. 

“From there, it’s about making sure that the content reaches the right buyers and gives them enough opportunity to see it. In a market with less stock, that is the difference between a listing that gets noticed and one that simply sits there.

“Good marketing is never about spending the most money. It’s about being intentional with the money you do spend.” 

If your property is failing to gain traction in the current market, reach out to Gypsea Youngsmith who can advise you on how to reposition your asset and achieve a positive outcome.