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Control Your Marketing Cost

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Education & Training with Ludwig & Associates

    

Motivational Power Quote

 

Control Your Marketing Cost

"Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted:

the trouble is I don't know which half."

John Wanamaker, businessman  

     

As I see it. . . . . . . .

Control your marketing costs   

A recent marketing study shows that nearly 70% of all marketing dollars are wasted.  

Spending money on marketing and personal promotion can become a bottomless pit or an effective business tool. It's not about how much money we spend on marketing it a matter of the effective use of our marketing dollars.  

Seven steps to effective control your marketing dollars and to maximize your results.     

1. Identify your target market and determine the best methods to consistently reach your target audience.  

2. Design your marketing to fit your target audience needs and to create interest in your product and services.   

3. Match your marketing message to your professional image and target market. 

4. Measure the results of your marketing against your goals and your marketing dollars spent.   

5. Adjust and prune, continue to evaluate the results of your marketing  adjust what needs to be adjusted and prune what no longer is working.   

6. All of your marketing should have a call to action in the copy. Create the interest in the marketing and a reason to contact you.  

7. Narrowcasting is defining your target market of the most likely customers. Instead of trying to market to the world we narrowcast to a define target market.  This form of marketing can be described as being the big fish in a small pond. In being the big fish in a small pond it gives us the ability to deliver a consistent message to our target audience and tighter control on our marketing dollars.   

Being the big fish a smaller pond we bring greater recognition to our marketing and to our self as a professional. Over time with a consistent effort we will be seem as an expert in the market.  

By focusing on a target market we are able to create a focused marketing program on a tight market creating greater exposure and concentration which will evolve into greater personal and brand recognition.     

Nearly 70% of marketing dollars are wasted can be reversed by following the seven steps of effective marketing and focus our marketing on a target audience and by measuring the results .  

©2011 Lou Ludwig, Sales and Management Consultant, Success Coach, Speaker, Trainer and Author

 

Comments (9)

Shannon Coe
exp realty of California, Inc. - Oceanside, CA
760-586-5268, San Diego Realtor

I am finding more and more that the most effective marketing is what is free...meeting and talking to people. So off I go to my open house, with me luck!

Jun 18, 2011 03:38 AM
Bryan Robertson
Los Altos, CA

You bring up an extremely important point that I see many agents miss.  So many agents will advertise, print materials, run campaigns, etc and never know who they're targeting or how much the cost is recovered from leads.  I used to run marketing departments and we always had to measure how effective our marketing programs were, how many leads were generated, and when a campaign wasn't working it, change it right away or cancel it.  I suggest agents watch their expenses monthly to see the trends clearly and adjust spending before costs spiral out of control.

Jun 18, 2011 05:10 AM
Richard Iarossi
Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage - Crofton, MD
Crofton MD Real Estate, Annapolis MD Real Estate

Lou,

With the drop in business, coupled with the increase in marketing costs, I've seen a lot of agents make changes recently.

Rich

Jun 18, 2011 06:08 AM
Kathy Streib
Cypress, TX
Home Stager/Redesign

Lou- this is such a wonderful time to be marketing because of all of the social media available.  You have to find what works for you and invest there.

Jun 18, 2011 06:48 AM
Mary Douglas
United Country Ponderosa Realty, Red Feather Lakes, Colorado - Red Feather Lakes, CO
REALTOR, Red Feather Lakes, Colorado

Lou, I listed a house recently. We were cleaning off the refrigerator  magnets, notes and clutter, when I noticed the magnet I bought and sent out to my farm. "You have my magnet", I said.... and she said "Oh, yeah that is you!"...I got the listing from a floor call!  -

So far those marketing dollars have not paid off.

Jun 18, 2011 07:02 AM
Michele Miller ~ REALTOR®, LMC, HSE, CHS, SRES, CMRS
ERA Key Realty~Worcester County Realty Group - Worcester, MA
'Helping You Make the Best Move"

Lou,

Last my income tripled but I spent way too much on marketing.

Thank you for the tips!

Jun 18, 2011 11:19 AM
Liz Murray
Renaissance Home Staging & Redesign - Chandler, AZ
Professional Home Stager

For 10 years I worked in Broadcasting sales.  I became a CRMC, which taught me alot about advertising mediums, and how to use them more effectively.  The Internet was not even a medium most people were using, and  advertisers still do not use in that medium market. 

As a home stager, I have been challenged.  I hear that many are doing PPC, and SEO is not really as strong for that area of our business.   It may drive some traffic, but most operate on referrals, and do not have to advertise after a few years.

I have not seen anything from AR, and do not have the time to spend hours and hours trying to repeatedly trying to figure it out.

Jun 19, 2011 04:31 PM
Doug Bullwinkel
E Mortgage Capital, Inc. NMLS 1416824 - Roseville, CA
Mortgage Loan Officer NMLS #281609

I tend to agree with Shannon. Some of the best things in life (and Marketing) are free.  The personal touch is always better than what most advertising will bring in.

Jun 22, 2011 05:53 PM
Cathy Criado
Criado Realty - San Antonio, TX
Making Real Estate Profitable

I so totally agree!  I can't believe people still advertise in grocery store magazines.  I know a lady that has done it for over 10 years and has an average of one deal a year from Homes.com.  What does generate business is her annual calendar, which now I do.  Marketing should be a ROI analysis, after all it is an investment of money.

Jun 24, 2011 06:24 AM