When Should You STOP Marketing

And When Should You Put it Into Overdrive

By Julie Escobar

We are asked weekly by agents all over North America to offer sound real estate advice, and the one that often surprises us is, “When should I stop marketing?”  The answer?  When you leave the business.  Up until then, if you want to do do what’s right for your sellers, business, and bottom line — you’ve got to stay in the game.  Perhaps at different levels during spells of your career – but staying in consistent touch with your sphere and farm is right up there with prospecting, presenting, and closing in terms of generating income and referrals.

“But I’ve sent two mailings and haven’t gotten a call.”  We get it. We’ve even been there.  There are a lot of us on the team that have walked in your shoes listing and selling homes.  Here’s what we know, and what statistics and history tell us. It takes more than that.  One mailing. One phone call. One email — won’t ever get you the results you are looking for. What will?   Staying the course.  With mailings, and phone calls, and emails, and door knocking, and community involvement.  Statistics tell us it takes at LEAST three impressions for a consumer to recognize your name, seven to associate your name with your business, and twenty seven for them to like you, know you, trust you enough to do business with them.  But you know? Most agents stop after three tries, and most transactions or calls happen after five-seven.

So here’s a plan – this month, every month:  Take your targeted message, use direct response offers, stagger your direct mail with your email and CALL your prospects to follow up.  Check out our Master Marketing Schedule for fun “reasons” to call, or stop by every 3-6 months as well and you are well on your way to branding yourself as THEIR real estate professional.  

What to send? Here are four ideas to get you started

Calendar Cards:  Get a jump on your competition and get your 2016 calendar cards our early.  Order them with a magnetic back so they’ll be refrigerator staples for your valued customers all year around!

Holiday Cards: Every month you can add a seasonal touch to your marketing. Add a great message to the back with free offers for consumer reports, lists of homes, comparative market analysis -- even an invitation to an event. Be sure you are following up every few months with a friendly, “anything I can do for you” call.

Call to Action Cards:  These are a great direct response piece to send with free offers and the ability to share timely market-specific content.

Content Cards:  These powerful, content-rich cards have timely topics with the kind of consumer-friendly information that both gives people what they want and sets you up to be a knowledgeable resource in your market.

Scale back or push forward?  As we head into holidays many agents will slow their marketing way down as social obligations gear up.  When that happens, it’s always a good idea to be the agent who takes the opposite approach.  That way, you’ll stay top of mind without any lag in exposure and hit the ground running come January when other agents are just getting restarted.

While it makes sense to look at your business as a whole and carefully measure your return and the necessity of each line item on your budget, what doesn’t make sense is to slip into anonymity by eliminating your marketing dollars.  In fact, Billionaire Bill Bartmann, and author of Eight Ways to Recession Proof Your Business recommends quite the opposite.  Slash expenses, indeed.  Take the waste and the “fat” out of your monthly and annual expenditures wherever and however possible.  With one exception:  Marketing.  Bill’s advice is to dramatically expand your marketing plan.  Why?  Simple – the time is now to swiftly capture the market share being left on the table by every other industry salesperson that has gone into conservation mode to the point where they no longer have a viable, VISIBLE presence in your market area.  Keeping expenses lean in every other area of your business will allow you to SURVIVE the storms.  Expanding your budget and actions in the arena of marketing will ensure you THRIVE not just today, but be the front-runner when the market does indeed take the turn for the better.

We all know it’s harder and MUCH more expensive to attract NEW customers than it is to keep and nurture our current book of business.  In fact, according to Gary Keller’s books, Millionaire Real Estate Agent, you can expect to do business with one out of ever twelve customers in your sphere of influence per year if you stay in touch with them consistently!  So, what are you waiting for?  Start making a great impression today, then do it again next week, next month, all year around!  Your business – and your bottom line – will thank you for it.

Want to learn more about how to generate the right leads for your business, thrive in ANY economy and make a wonderful first, second and twenty-seventh impression?  Visit Master Marketing Schedule today. It’s filled with new, innovative and outside the box ideas each and every month!  Need help?  Our marketing team is top of the line at 866.405.3638 and ready to answer your questions or help you create the marketing piece that’s perfect for your market.  

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