Take some risks with your marketing, promote yourself everywhere, and be unique. Those were key messages from real estate trainer Terry Watson, who spoke at last week's REALTORS® Midyear Legislative Meetings about how to gain an edge in your marketplace.

"With 1.3 million real estate professionals, most of our advertising looks exactly the same," said Watson, also a broker for his family's real estate company in Chicago. But to get that word-of-mouth advertising that every practitioner should crave, Watson said it takes being bold and different.

Watson highlighted some of the following ideas to give your marketing more impact:

• Speak to customers' desires. Don't ask customers: "How did you hear about me?" Instead, you should be more interested in learning "What did you hear about me?" This will give you insight into why exactly they came to you and you'll be able to better tailor your marketing to what is most important to your customers.

• Go green. Being environmentally friendly is important to younger generations and it's a popular topic of today's media. Watson encouraged attendees to use it in their marketing and to earn their Ecobroker designation.

• Use better words. Customers don't care much about marketing that tells them you're in the million dollar club, how long you've been in the business, and other "me" types of promotion, Watson said. They care about how you can help them. So statements like "I sold 200 units this year" would have more impact if you said "I helped 200 families move into new homes." Also, use words to your advantage. For example, when you tell customers that they will be working with your "assistant," it makes it sound like you are passing them off to someone insignificant, Watson said. Instead, call your assistant a "specialist" or "partner." Also, use the word "bought" in replace of "sold" and "new price" instead of "price reduced."

• Beef up your Web site. Include your Web site's URL everywhere, including your voicemail, name tags at conferences, your e-mail signature, and your personal and business checks. Buy all domain names for common misspellings of your name. And give customers reason to keep coming back to your site: Have a recommended reading list of books, quotes of the day, humor section, photo gallery, and an area for testimonials from your customers, Watson recommends. Make sure your Web site has energy in its design

• Establish yourself as an expert. Write a book or a white paper. For example, you are trying to convince a customer who is facing foreclosure to work with you. Why would they want to? "I wrote the book on foreclosures!" Watson said. Or, if a book is too grandiose of an idea for you, write 10-15 pages on a subject for a white paper (possible topics: foreclosure, how to purchase a property, or expired listings).

• Take advantage of NAR's free resources. The Library section of REALTOR.org offers free access to eBooks and ProQuest, which you can use to scan real estate books, magazines, and journals. Also, downloadable NAR brochures can help you be a resource to your customers in learning about mortgages and other homebuying and selling issues.

• Get on social networking sites and blog. Be on Facebook, YouTube, Plaxo, MySpace, and LinkedIn. These social networking sites, when used for business purposes, can help promote yourself and elevate you higher on search engines, Watson said. Also, Watson encouraged practitioners to have a blog to build community on their Web site. Get inspired for blog posts by doing a search of what other real estate blogs are covering, highlight community events, or talk about common problems that you run across in your business (such as buyers continuously making lowball offers).

• Always be marketing. "Everything is a marketing opportunity," Watson said. The back of a business cards is often one of the most forgotten marketing spaces with most business card backs blank, Watson said. He recommended using the back of your business card to put a quote, a selling or buying tip, or motivation to visit your Web site (e.g. "To view, an article on ‘7 mistakes buyers and sellers make' visit ... ).

• Have more fun. Be more upbeat and use humor in your marketing to get attention and make yourself memorable. "Start having more fun," Watson told the crowd. "It tells customers you are in more control of your market, and it'll make customers want to work with you."

- By Melissa Dittmann Tracey for REALTOR® magazine online

www.judesandvall.com