Is There Ever Enough When It Comes To Marketing??? Is There Ever Too Much???

Barbara, 

Good Post and since you are successful at this 'blogging' ... I would be new to it, so I do have a few questions for you or any others that can to answer??? Do u blog only on Active Rain? or do u belong to another/other source(s)?  My marketing consists of being a part of Trulia, the MLS's in my area, newspapers (craigs list for rentals) and I use various magazines that are not related to JUST the real estate industry. I forward my listings to the various business located in the area to post in their HR rooms ...  I honestly feel that being a part of ReMax (with an international presence) also helps with marketing (as I have gotten several leads from our site).  Naturally, like any other agent (I think) I still farm areas with postcards and send out just listed and sold ....  I have a good following and have remained busy thru the tough times, but - in reality - any way that I can increase my business is a always a welcomed thought.  And, right now, I guess you see that I can write, write, write!  So - what do u suggest to a newbie?

Marianne

Barbara, I really enjoy reading all of your posts. You seem very knowledgeable in many different things, especially marketing. I appreciate you calling it like it is and look forward to reading more from you in the future!

Hi Barbara - I decide by whether or not what I'm doing is pulling.  Last year I sent out 6000 cards.  I tracke progress two ways:

1. Direct response to the cards - phone, email, - NOT ONE CALL - zippo...

2. I created a domain name to a specific web page or blog post and put it on the card and looked for activity through analytics.  That too yielded nothing. If they were looking at the cards and saving them I would have continued.

It was time to drop the cards.  Too expensive and no pull.

I am trying to figure out why this is not working at all.  But I can't dump that kind of money into something that yields NOTHING.

Barbara

I think blogging is the bomb...but it takes work and effort.    Creating a marketing mix, executing the mix, tweaking the mix is for me the fun part of the biz.  It is the creative part and most definately it is sometimes the only part of the business I can control!  Hard work but in my opinion, fun and creative work.

I have my license with a great company with incredible brand recognition locally and internationally that produces top drawer, gorgeous marketing tools.  I am amazed how many lazy (and sometimes cheap, and sometimes both) agents don't use them.  I constantly get asked how I get my business by agents who ask the question like I have some secret inside track they don't have access to! 

I love reading your posts...your love for your work comes through!

Thank you Barbara, I appreciate the encouragement. I enjoy reading posts and I learn something everyday from them. Just not sure what to write about myself, but I am determined to get started!

Marketing is a very time consuming process. I own an insurance agency. I am the most aggressive guy in my building of 6 agents. I do more marketing than the others. I get referrals from it. I never, never want to cold call!

Work with a planned marketing campaign with specific dates for tasks to be completed.  Share it with the Seller - communicate the results!  Read AR and pick up new twists to test and incorporate.  We cannot leave any stone unturned to give a person a chance to read about the Sellers investment that is available.

There are so many fun, easy and inexpensive ways to market. Today I posted a blog, and walked a neighborhood. Both were free! Nice post Barbara.

Dear Barbara, just want you to know you motivated me! I can not afford to do a ton of Postcards but I to believe in them. When I stopped I could tell the difference so I have just gone back to them about a week ago. I am going to get back up and running to 100% of my ability by the end of April again. Thanks for the post it just helps me to be sure I am moving in the right direction.

Hi Barbara, what I have found in my market is that it dose not matter how many forms of marketing you us and how successful they are, if you are not in the local Real Estate Section of the local paper people think you are not in the business, almost every Agent will tell you the same it is an necessary evil with limited results but required to be successful.

Very good question.  I currently spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,500-$2,000 per month in marketing, and as my war chest grows, I'm always looking for new marketing methods to deploy.  Some stuff works well, some stuff bombs.  My internal question is always, did I give it enough time to succeed, or is it just not a good fit?  There is no easy answer. 

However, I do feel that sometimes you can market too much, on an ROI basis.  Even large mega-corporations advertise in cycles, and don't do the same things all the time.  There is a law of diminishing returns, and eventually your message hits a saturation point with a certain segment of the public, and you need to try new things.  At just a couple thousand a month, I'm certainly not anywhere near a saturation point, but it's certainly something we need to be aware of.

And for newbie agents, or those struggling in today's market, I don't understand why more of them don't blog, other than they just are not convinced that it works.  However, I can't fully blame them, because even as a seasoned agent...I'm not 100% sure the time it takes to blog is worth the return.  I love the Rain, just not a redical convert yet that it's a good lead generator.