My real estate agent and blogger friend David Hunter says it quite literally (or should i say figuratively?) that marketing is the heart of your business. Without it, your business can’t grow, let alone survive. Never ever think you are too busy or successful enough to forgo your marketing efforts. Getting started with marketing can be daunting. But I’ve found (thanks to a great post by Tierra Wilson), it’s easier to approach beginning or restarting your marketing by understanding five crucial components that will help you be both effective and efficient.
Content: You need to CREATE your OWN content to drive people to YOU- whether it be your website, your office, or just by contacting you. Sharing content is fine, it keeps you engaged, but ultimately it’s going to drive clients to OTHER agents. If you’re drawing a blank on creating original content online, start by blogging. A lot of people misunderstand blogging as a massive undertaking and something that requires a specialized set of skills. It’s really not that complicated; think of it as means to demonstrate your knowledge, build trust, and to showcase what you offer in a conversational, online format with PROSPECTIVE clients. It’s essentially a newsletter, but its main purpose is to drive potential clients to your services, not just to keep in touch with past and present clientele, (even though it does that too!). Businesses that blog receive 55% more website visitors than companies that don’t. Because it drives people to your website, there is more opportunity to convert visitors into customers.
Creativity: You don’t need a big, expensive creative team behind you to stand out against other agents. Real estate websites and social media accounts have the potential to be easily watered down and ignored. Between all the mundane market reports and endless catalogs of just listed and just sold houses, your sites can get pretty boring to someone not in the biz. Challenge yourself to break through the clutter and make your information both attention-grabbing and RELEVANT for your receiver; create a need for the prospect to act upon your call to action. Remember, it’s not about you selling a home – it’s about them deciding to use you to buy/list a home! If you like every other realtor, why are they going to choose YOU?
Conversation: When it comes to your marketing efforts, don’t just send, post and forget about it. The lifeline of your business is about getting leads, right? Well- if you don’t stick around, you’re leads wont either. Make it a daily priority to stop everything you’re doing and spend time LEAD NURTURING; keeping up with your leads- even if they aren’t buying or selling right now. Whether it be responding to inquiries, engaging on social media, developing a monthly email newsletter, writing a blog post, or developing direct mailer campaign, etc. Even if they’re not talking back, don’t stop conversing and sharing.
Consistency: …And stay CONSISTENT with your conversation (what a great transition). Random campaigns and unsystematic online updates diminishes your creditability and essentially means your failing at nurturing your leads. Selling now might be your first priority, but to grow your business- you need to be making constant efforts to sell yourself. My recommendation is to simply make a schedule and stick to it. Just like you plan for all your day-to-day tasks, meeting and presentations on a weekly basis, set apart time once a week to work on your marketing and ensure you are consistently and creatively getting yourself and your message out there.
Cash: Whatever your technique might be, you’re probably going to have to pay to play. Facebook has changed its algorithms so that without paying for ads, only about 4% of users who like you will see your posts. Organic reach is getting more and more difficult. Monthly postcards obviously require a budget, but can pay for themselves when you consider the number of impressions they generate if kept on a fridge or on hand throughout the month. Zillow and Tulia are also AWESOME ways to get leads, but to list your homes on their sites- you do have to pay. Just as you do with consistency, practice organization with this component. Find a spot in your budget for marketing, analyze it on a weekly basis, and continuously modify per your goals and objectives. So, sit down, get organized, make a schedule and you’ll see these components make for a solid, yet simple marketing plan. What do you think? Is there another crucial marketing technique I’m missing?
Realty Loyalty 