How to Evaluate a Real Estate Marketing Plan Before You List in Alberta

Start with work you can actually review

Before choosing a listing agent, ask to see how they would present your home to buyers. A useful marketing conversation should leave you with examples to inspect, specific deliverables and a clear launch plan. Whether you are selling in Calgary, Grande Prairie or elsewhere in Alberta, these questions can help you compare the proposals you receive.

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Review complete, recent photo galleries

Request two or three recent listings with a similar property type and price range. Open the full galleries on your phone and a larger screen. A few attractive kitchen images cannot show you how consistently an agent handles bedrooms, bathrooms, basements and exterior spaces.

Look for sharp images, natural-looking colours, straight walls and enough detail to understand each room. Does the sequence help you follow the layout? Do wide-angle shots exaggerate room proportions? Ask who takes the photographs, whether that photographer would handle your listing and how corrections or a weather-related reshoot would work.

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Ask where enhancement ends

RECA requires advertising to be truthful and not misleading. Its guidance considers both an advertisement’s wording and the overall impression it creates.

Ask the agent to explain their editing policy. Brightening an image should still leave buyers with an accurate impression of the home’s colours, condition and space. If virtual staging is proposed, request clear identification of altered images and access to the original photographs. Ask how the brokerage and local board’s current requirements are checked. Permanent features, views and visible defects should not be digitally changed in ways that misrepresent the property.

Sources: RECA Advertising Guidelines

Give every video a purpose

Ask what the proposed video will help a buyer understand. A walkthrough can explain room connections; a short social clip can introduce key features; an interactive tour lets viewers explore at their own pace. Have the agent show you a finished example of each promised format.

Confirm the number and type of deliverables, where they will appear and when they will be ready. Check that text is readable on a phone and narration is clear. Agree on your review process and what personal belongings or information must stay out of the footage.

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Check the measurements behind the floor plan

A floor plan should help buyers understand the layout, with clearly labelled rooms, levels and dimensions. Ask who will prepare it and how the displayed figures are verified.

Alberta licensees must use RECA’s Residential Measurement Standard, or RMS, when measuring and advertising residential properties. RECA allows a qualified third party to do the measuring and identifies RMS training, experience, appropriate tools and errors-and-omissions insurance as checks to make. Ask which figure is the RMS area and how any additional areas are identified. A previous listing’s square footage should not simply be copied.

Sources: RECA Residential Measurement Standard

Turn the proposal into a written plan

RECA’s rules require written service agreements for residential client relationships, including the services the brokerage will provide. Its Home Seller’s Guide recommends putting promised services into that agreement.

Ask the agent to document:

• The photography, video, floor plans and other materials included, plus any extra charges
• The production schedule, your review deadlines and the intended launch date
• The listing websites, social channels and any paid advertising, including the agreed budget
• Who checks published information and handles corrections
• How often you will receive updates and what would prompt a marketing review

Sources: RECA Real Estate Act Rules, section 43; RECA Home Seller’s Guide, pages 8–9

Make distribution and reporting specific

CREA’s Data Distribution Facility helps distribute MLS® listing content to multiple websites. Ask which destinations are included in your agent’s proposal and which require separate work.

For reporting, request the available listing activity, inquiries, showing feedback and recommended next steps. Ask for the source and time period behind any performance claim. Clear examples and written commitments give you something concrete to evaluate.

Compare the promised services, total fees and agreement terms together. A larger package or higher fee does not, by itself, establish better results.

Sources: CREA Data Distribution Facility support