Why creating and marketing to a niche makes good sense
Marte Cliff "Creating a niche is not about exclusion. It's about inclusion - and focusing your efforts in a direction that will lead you to greater prosperity - and greater job satisfaction."
Right on target - and - re-blog!
If you’re still stuck on being a generalist, you may be tired of seeing so many of us pushing you to create a niche.
You’re worried that by focusing on one geographic area, one type of home or property, or one type of buyer or seller, you’re going to miss out sales.You're suffering from FOMO.
For one thing, that’s not true. You don’t have to exclude anyone. So if cousin George wants you to list his home and it’s not in your territory, you can go right ahead and do it. And of course, if your buyers decide that your geographic area isn’t right for them, you can take them farther afield.
What creating a niche does is give you focus – both for learning everything you can and becoming known as THE expert in that niche, and for marketing.
That focus is important in adding hours to your day – if you’re not driving from one side of the town (or the County) to service your listings, and if you’re not scrambling to get answers to questions about an unfamiliar area, you’ll have more time to spend with clients, work on marketing, or attend your child's ball game.
It is also important in conserving your marketing dollars, AND in appealing to the prospects you want most.
I’ve been listening to a Bob Bly product entitled How to Create Information Products That Sell. In it, Bob and Fred Gleeck tell a story about a working mother who was writing a book about breastfeeding. Fred suggested that the focus should be on information for working mothers, and the woman resisted the idea. She said she didn’t want to limit her audience to just working mothers.
He pointed out to her that book stores offer a good selection of books on breastfeeding – but that her book, with a title geared to working mothers, would likely stand alone. If a working mother walked into a book store hunting for information and saw a dozen books on breastfeeding, and one of them said it was specifically for her, that’s the one she’d be likely to choose. He asked if she’d rather her book sold to 100% of half the market, or to just 5 or 10% of the entire market.
The same would be true for a book offered on line – only magnified, since the Internet offers more choices than any book store can.
Now apply that thinking to your own real estate marketing.
Say you live in Denver. According to Realtor.com, there are 3,283 REALTORS® in Denver, so an ad or a website promoting you as a Denver real estate agent is going to have a one in about three thousand chance of attracting a buyer or seller.
However, if your marketing focuses on a specific area, a specific type of homes, or a specific group of clients, the odds improve. In an area of that size, the narrower the focus, the better your chances of being the one agent who stands out among all the rest to the people who want to buy or sell that type of property in your location. So if your niche is a specific type of buyer or seller who has or wants a specific type of home in a specific subdivision or area of the city – and if you advertise that fact – you are much more likely to be found and chosen than is someone who just says “Denver agent.”
When you start with that base and add more and more information about your niche to your website, you become more and more likely to be found in an Internet search – and to become the agent of choice.
Remember, specific information about events, attractions, etc. is something Zillow and the other “big guys” don’t offer. Actual descriptions about neighborhood amenities is something else they don’t offer. They also won’t inform readers about things like zoning changes, planned construction projects that could affect neighborhoods, or hours of operation at the community pool.
Your inclusion of these facts will do two things:
- Inform buyers coming from out of area that you're the most likely person to help them find the right home in the right neighborhood.
- Let home sellers know that you do know their area - you're the expert.
And - as your expertise and popularity grows, so will the number of listings (or buyers) coming to you as referrals from past clients in that niche.
Creating a niche is not about exclusion. It's about inclusion - and focusing your efforts in a direction that will lead you to greater prosperity - and greater job satisfaction.
If you can't figure out how to write that focused marketing copy - get in touch. Providing words to help agents prosper is what I do.
Remember - when you've chosen your niche, you'll probably find the prospecting letters you need to reach them at Copy by Marte. If you don't find what you need - let me know. I can always write another set.
Images courtesy of Stuart Miles |fredigitalphotos.net
marte@copybymarte.com
www.copybymarte.comPriest River, Idaho
208-448-1479
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