When it comes to selling a home there are many things to learn. Everything from staging a home and learning how to pick the best agent to becoming familiar with advertising schedules. For most vendors, this will be their first exposure to an advertising schedule and it can be understandably daunting.
So what exactly is an advertising schedule?
An advertising schedule is a document that outlines the planned marketing for the entire duration of the selling period. It includes things such as the type of advertising, the timing of the advertising and the costs you’re likely to face.
An advertising schedule is crucial to ensure you get the right price and the right buyers for your home.

Advertising types
The first thing to understand is where the advertising will take place. Options often include:
- Online listings
- Printed flyers and brochures
- A sign board outside your home
- Newspaper listings
- Social media promotion
- Real estate magazines
- Videos
- 3D walk throughs
These days, the majority of your advertising will take place online on one of the multiple online portals that are available. Given that your agent deals with these online portals on a regular basis, they should be knowledgeable about which portals and packages to recommend for your property sale. That being said, having your own knowledge about where you think your home will appeal to buyers and which portals will help you reach those buyers is important. homesales.com.au has a free to list option which will get your property on the site at no cost to you or your agent.
Of course, the paid options on any portal will give you a larger listing with some additional benefits so ask your agent about their package recommendations. Remember that even if you decide not to go with the more expensive options, you can always upgrade at a later date should you find that you’re not getting the desired response.
The main reason for posting a signboard out the front of your house is to highlight the property’s benefits and not the agent themselves. Although it needs to be clear who an interested buyer should contact, make sure your sign board is in the best interest for your property’s sale.
Some advertising options are likely to appeal more to certain age groups than others. The average Gen Y is less likely to check the weekend paper for listings and may be more interested in a 3D walk through of the property. An older generation, however, may still buy the paper and a 3D walk through is less relevant.
Advertising costs
There is no hard and fast rule about how much you should spend in order to achieve a great price for your property.
It will largely depend upon factors such as the market, the length of time it generally takes to sell a property in your area and the amount of exposure that is likely to be needed to draw in potential buyers.
Ask your agent to provide you with examples of previous listings they’ve sold and the accompanying advertising schedule to help you decide on what is right for you.
Your agent should be familiar with preparing advertising schedules to meet different budgets so be sure to ask for this in advance so you can make a swift decision and get your property on the market.
Advertising timing
The timing that is set within an advertising schedule will often be based around external market factors. For example, the time of year, whether prices in your area are rising or falling and the average time on market for your suburb. You can find information like this in the suburb profiles on homesales.com.au so you’ll be prepared when your agent has your advertising schedule options for review.
The average time on market will be important to ensure that you have an ongoing campaign planned out over the time frame that it will take to sell your property and not blow your budget in the first week of campaign.