Welcome to the fourth installment in my Real Estate Marketing Series, "5 Ways to Market to Your Leads to Grow Your Real Estate Business." In the first installment, we discussed 5 Things To Do To Jumpstart Your Real Estate Business. That was basic information, things that all real estate professionals should do on a regular basis but if you're just starting out or need a business boost, that's the post you should start with. Next, we covered 5 Unique Ways to Market Your Real Estate Business. Then, we talked about 5 Unique Ways to Market Your Real Estate Listings. This time, we're going to discuss some unique ways to make your listings stand out from the crowd! So let's discuss 5 Ways to Market to Your Leads to Grow Your Real Estate Business!
5. Are you really focusing on buyers when you market your listings?
When
you market
your listings, ask yourself
this question: Am I presenting this listing in a way that
will catch the eye of buyers?
Posting your listing on Craig's List with just text isn't
focusing on the buyer.
Buyers
want pretty. Buyers
want unique and unusual. It takes only a few minutes to set
up a listing on a service such as Postlets or vFlyer so that when you
post it on Craig's List with the html code, it will be presented in the
most favorable light possible. When you pick up a new
listing, are you sending information about it to the contacts and leads
already in your database? Buyer
leads that you receive
through LeadStreet and Market Leader and Arch Telecom (or whichever 800
system you use) should all receive information on your new listing.
These same buyers
should also receive personal invitations to your Open House events.
When you receive a new listing in your farm area, you should
send information about that listing to everyone in that farm.
Why? Because there may be buyers
in your farm who want to live in that same area but no longer want to
rent.
4. Farming is Key
I've
said it already in previous posts but I'll take this opportunity to say
it again. If you don't already have a farm area, find one and
start
marketing to that farm area!
Get to know the people living in that area. Learn
all there is to know about that area. Become the go-to person
for that area and believe me - they'll come to you when they are ready
to make a real estate move! Your marketing plan for your farm
should include, but not be limited to:
- an initial introduction (if you haven't already done so), preferrably in person;
- periodic personal visits;
- events hosted in your farm area and for those people living in your farm;
- regularly
sent postcards
to keep them informed of important real estate-related information.
3. Keeping past clients in the loop pays off!
Where
are your past
clients? What's
going on in their lives? Past
clients should be kept on a
marketing campaign that continues to keep your name in front of them.
The purpose is so that your past
clients don't go out in
search of a new real estate agent when they are ready to move up (or
down), invest, or get a vacation property. The last thing you
want to have happen is that you finally get around to contacting your past
client only to find out that
they've sold the 2 bedroom starter home you sold them and bought a new
4 bedroom. Not only should you send regular letters and
postcards but you should also actually pick up the phone and call your past
clients at least once per
quarter. Your
voice makes a connection that
a letter or postcard just can't compare with.
2. Don't forget about partnerships
Have
you picked a moving buddy? No? What about a general
contracting partner? A mortgage lending partner? In
the immortal words of Woody from Toy Story, "If you don't have a buddy
yet - GET
ONE!" Partnerships
give you an opportunity to do
things that you may not be able to afford doing by yourself,
such as first-time home buyer seminars or first-time home seller
seminars. You can share
the expenses of such an event
with your partner and both of you can benefit from the leads you
receive as a result of hosting the event. Also, your partner
can share in the expense of a postcard marketing campaign to your farm.
Aside from sharing expenses, your choice of a partner can
also help
with cross-promotion.
A mortgage lender can promote your services to their leads
and you can promote the services of your preferred mortgage lender to your
leads. Moving companies are great for this as well - renters
move with moving companies just as buyers do. You want to get
the lead while they are yet renters because they may not want to rent
forever and that's where you come in. Similarly, any moving
company would be downright tickled to cross-promote
with a real estate professional because those are sure leads - if you
are buying or selling, at some point you are going to have to move
either into or out of a house!
1. Social Media Marketing Works - So Use It!
Do
you have a profile set up on Facebook?
LinkedIn?
MySpace?
Twitter?
If not, you best get hoppin'! Social networking is
all the rage these days. And let's be honest - your target
audience are buyers, sellers or both. Whatever profession they may be
in, be it trash collectors, lawyers, or the folks who clean up animal
poop at the zoo - if they are going to
buy or sell one day, they are your target
audience.
I say this because many times, my clients have wanted me to not
friend or connect with someone because they didn't know the person.
My response to this is: Do you always know
the
walk-in who comes during your
floor time? Do you always know
the
person who called from one of
your signs? Do you always know
the
person who filled out a contact form
on your website? The answer typically is a resounding NO.
So don't limit yourself on the social networking sites.
Make use of the fact that you love gardening - people
connect with that.
Talk about how much you love bike riding - people
connect with that!
Don't forget to discuss the charities you support regularly -
people
connect with that! Making
connections is what it's all about, folks. Getting people who don't
know you to feel as though they know
you,
which leads to trust, which leads to new clients. The point is, social
networking doesn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon.
In addition to telephones with internet capabilities, social
networking sites such as Facebook are increasing in popularity
exponentially. Don't get left behind!
Want to market to your real estate leads by implementing these and other real estate marketing ideas but you just don't have the time? The best thing you can do for your business is to contract with a Virtual Assistant. Ask me all about it!
~Renae - Market
4 Real!
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Need help with consistently marketing to your leads and your listings? Don't put it off! Contact us today for assistance and get started on the road to turning your leads into clients and your listings into SOLD properties!
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