Estate Agency Marketing Myths and How to Banish Them
October 18, 2017
One of The Oxford Dictionary’s definitions of a myth is: “A widely held but false belief or idea.”
And on that basis, it’s fair to say that there a loads of things people believe in the estate agency world that are wrong.
So, here are five I could think of think of and my ways of banishing them
- All estate agents are dodgy. A lot of people still think that. And while you may not strictly think it’s a marketing point – it is because if you saw everything you did as marketing (which it is) you’d realise that’s the most important agency myth to shatter.
Sure, it isn’t the Wild West of the early 1990s but many people still perceive agents as having an allergy to the truth.
Show them your personality, show them your testimonials, show them the people behind the business. Put the faces of your people on everything you do – email signatures, business cards, articles in newsletters.
- Video marketing is very technical and expensive – Wrong. I work with agents who have set up a regular video blog and spent no more than £50 on equipment doing it. All you need is a small clip-on microphone, smart phone, selfie stick and / or tripod. The technical side of it can be farmed out with editing from just £25 per video (I have a contact) and captioning done by people like: www.rev.com – It’s the biggest growth area in business marketing full stop.
- Search engine optimisation is THE most important thing your agency can be spending money on. I disagree. If your local audience only knows about your agency through a Google search then you’re not being proactive enough. You’re not getting in front of them consistently whether that be through print advertising, direct mail, community sponsorships and by becoming a bit of a face in the local community.
- Print is dead. The most repeated shite I hear mainly from 20 somethings trying to charge £600 a day for search engine optimisation work. They are wrong about this. I have dozens of clients doing really well from printed newsletters and regular columns in magazines. The key is too approach it from a different angle – be sharers of local news and expert advice rather than floggers of properties.
- Google punishes duplicate content. It was this point which inspired this blog. I write and sell content for non-competing agents across the UK. They are bundled up in individual volumes of 30 different articles. I’ve lost count of the times agents have said to me that ‘yeah sounds great but Google punishes duplicate content.’ They don’t. And here is a link to an article from an SEO leading light covering it in more detail.
https://searchengineland.com/myth-duplicate-content-penalty-259657
- And a bonus myth buster. There is no Loch Ness Monster. But somewhere in the local economy up there lies (literally) a master marketer and story teller who has created a multi-million-pound boost for the local economy by creating a myth. Bravo.
Thanks for your time and if you want more information about anything mentioned above feel free to email me.
Here’s to your next instruction.
Jerry
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