Jeff and Heather,

I personally and professionally believe in a complete mix of marketing, and our company does both, so hopefully this will not come across as biased in any way. But if I can, I'd like to share some observations that I see in my own community and through conversations with agents nationwide. Be forewarned, they do not jive with many of the opinions already expressed.

The top agent in one of the local cities nearby is overwhelmingly successful. She's got a great website, but she hasn't gotten involved with hours and hours of blogging (she's got a profile here on ActiveRain, but hasn't blogged once...I checked). She also doesn't spend countless hours trying to get her website to pull up on page 5 or less of a Google search.

Instead, you will see her ads EVERYWHERE! She still does Homes and Land magazine, she still does Pennysaver, she still does the local newspaper, she still does flyers, she still does postcards, and she sends out a monthly newsletter.

What's her rate of return "mix"??? I don't know, actually. I just know that EVERYONE seems to know who she is, and she has more signs up throughout her entire city than any other 20 agents combined.

I think she probably approaches marketing a little differently than many of the agents in this community. But she has that luxury too. If she's closing 15 transactions a month, even in a depressed market, she's not worried about the $2,500 or more that she's probably spending each month on promoting her business. After all, it is her business...and marketing HAS to be a part of any business' gameplan and resulting success.

I've read great stories from agents here on ActiveRain, and it becomes obvious there's a place in real estate marketing for blog-sites. It definitely creates some Google juice, that's for sure. And I realize that many, many agents rely exclusively on internet marketing. Thus, it never comes as a surprise to me when I read a post of theirs that states that all of their business comes from the internet. I actually find those comments a little humorous. Well, OF COURSE they all come from the internet...if that's the only place where anyone can find you! Sheesh.

If you only blog on ActiveRain, you probably get all your business from AR as a result. If you only send postcards, then whatever business you get can probably be directly attributed to that effort. 

It's difficult to read a comment from an agent who hasn't done any print marketing in three years, go on to state with any authority that "print is dead"...and that all of her business nowadays comes from the internet. Um....well, what OTHER answer could there have possibly been?

If you tried a Homes magazine ad three years ago when the book was 85 pages, and had over almost 7,000 homes to choose from, you might fare better today. I'm not sure if the rate of return still justifies the expense, but I DO know that you can get fairly aggressive with those publications nowadays in terms of cost because they're desperate for advertisers. Do they work? Well, if your ad looks exactly the same as everyone else's, you might not be getting the kind of results you'd hoped for. But we have customers who will NEVER leave those publications due to the volume of business they get from them.

Conversely, if you finally got your first deal off ActiveRain, but it took 95,000 points to do it, you've possibly spent too much time in front of your computer for the return you've generated.

Here's the deal in my opinion.

The fact remains (this has been true for years and years and years)...that 3% of the general population is doing something real estate at any given point in time. Period. That's a percentage that's virtually carved in stone. One month it may be slightly higher, the next month slightly lower, but three percent has been statistically proven forever.

Your job is to figure out how to reach those 3%. Thus, if it's true that 86% of consumers begin their search on the internet (that was printed once and has become the industry mantra ever since), then here's what the math might look like if you live in a community of 30,000:

30,000 x 3% = 900 total prospects citywide x 86% surfing the internet = 774 people combing the internet. Many are couples looking for one home (obviously) so let's reduce that figure by 40%. That leaves 465 potential opportunities. Some of those people already have a Realtor they've used for years, and others already have their home listed. So let's say there are now 300 potential sales to be had each month. 

You need to choose your best weapon now.

If 90% of the Realtors here believe that blogging is the answer-all to their entire real estate marketing strategy, you can do one of two things. Join them and become one of however many agents in your city blog, tweet, or facebook for business (let's say your community has 1,500 Realtors). 300 prospective customers divided into 1,500 agents using the internet for marketing equals .20 prospects for every agent in town. If you rank on page 1 of a search, increase that by 10 (two prospects). If you rank on page 4, well....you don't wanna know my answer, but it's the reason that some agents blog for 9 months, amass 50,000 points...and finally have their first sale.

Meanwhile, at my own house, I haven't received a single ANYTHING from a Realtor in over a year and a half. Not one thing that perhaps would have had their website printed on it, so I could go online, read about them, learn what they do...ascertain their expertise, and perhaps call them to come list my house.

They literally force me to search online...and I instantly, become one of their two prospects if they show up on page 1. If they list my home as a result, then 100% of their business came from the internet.

Or, they do what the agent I mentioned above does.

Spend a little, vary your marketing strategy...and work with 30 prospects every month instead.

But that's just my opinion. :: smile ::

Dave