Real Estate Marketing Survival Tips.
Let’s be honest marketing is a moving minefield! The minute you think you have a clear path to success the entire landscape changes.
You can, I’ve found you can make things easier by applying this one simple sentence to any marketing activity you undertake:
“Marketing, when stripped right back is extremely simple: Figure out who you want to sell to, and then determine what it is that will get them to buy.”
Simple right? Not exactly. This still doesn’t fully solve your moving minefield problem; whereas the essence of what marketing stands to achieve hasn’t changed, the environment in which it takes place has. In other words the goal is the same but the tools, and channels we use both as marketers and consumers have transformed drastically over the years.
With that in mind let’s take a leap into 2015 and take a little look at who we’re selling to now and what today will entice people to buy:
Introducing today’s Self-service Buyer
Back in the day when purchasing something of any nature buyers had to rely on sellers, agents or brokers to give them the necessary information about their chosen purchase.
At this stage I’d like to ask you to raise your hand and move it side to side as we firmly wave goodbye to those days for good.
Nowadays we do everything online; shopping, banking, reading, watching, messaging, heck soon we’ll be downloading a gourmet meal for two!
What I’m getting at here is that in today’s age when a buyer wants something they go and get it themselves and instantly. Therefore if you’re still running your real estate business under the assumption that the buyer requires your services to find information about the market, the neighborhood, homes for sale, or homes sold, that’s simply not the case anymore. This information is now abundantly available.
What does this mean for estate agents? Simply a slight change in job role, from an information provider to more of a consultant whose value lies in interpreting and applying said information. Your ability to fulfill this new role is where your marketing efforts should be focused; highlight the things you do well – helping to choose the best neighbourhood for a specific lifestyle, helping negotiate the best price, helping to navigate through the paperwork and details of a real estate transaction.
Remember it’s Not All About You
There’s a fine line between highlighting the things you do well and getting caught up with listing your achievements and awards. Buyers expect their interaction with you to be about them, not you. Therefore anything you wish to highlight about yourself make sure meaning exists for the buyer, think back to our original quote – what will get them to buy?
Let’s be honest “Realtor of the year” doesn’t have the same pulling power as a testimonial describing how you helped clients overcome certain obstacles and find their dream home. You want your brand to reflect how you can help buyers find the right property for them.
Say Goodbye to One-screen-size-fits-all
Mobile has well and truly arrived! Mobile phone screens are fast becoming the primary browsing screen for the majority of internet users. Meaning mobile marketing is more important than ever before. There are tons of studies out there pointing to the continuing reliance on mobile technology in our everyday lives.
What’s more it seems like real estate was MADE for mobile technology. Imagine buyers driving around looking at homes, they could be searching on their phones at the same time, mapping properties, downloading directions, texting codes to see more photos and information, texting their agent, and even signing offers using transactional mobile apps. What could be more perfect?!
If your website and emails aren’t already mobile responsive, I would start looking into it as soon as humanly possible.
Nothing in Life Comes for Free
Except this stellar advice of course! 😉
Marketing ultimately serves one purpose – to make money – and therefore is still an investment on which you should expect a return.
There are numerous ways to market your brand, your property listings, and your real estate business, but not all have a substantial return on your time, effort or monetary investment. Therefore it’s important to focus on those distribution channels that will guarantee the best ROI.
Take social networks for example, they’re great marketing distribution channels but do you need to be present on every single one? No! The key is to focus and hone in on those that are best suited to your target audience. Social platforms such as Instagram tend to have a younger audience and therefore may not quite be ready yet for the real estate market. However as it gains an older user base, it may become a more effective place to marketing your business (especially given its visual nature).
The key is to find out which social networks your sphere of influence are using, Facebook is likely to continue to be a popular one for 2015 given the fact it has the largest audience.
In terms of a monetary investment, look for measurable options, ones that enable you to track everything from activity, to actual sales leads. Be cautious when purchasing a high volume of leads and make sure that what you’re getting is quality as well as quantity. Remember sometimes a higher cost lead that converts to business more often is a better investment.
So there you have it, Propertyshowrooms.com’s survival tips for navigating the moving minefield that is real estate marketing.
Got more questions on marketing your real estate business? Head over to Propertyshowrooms.com’s own marketing For Agents community for more tips, tools and advice.
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