5 Steps: Marketing Your Real Estate Business
Real Estate Agents are their own business. Marketing a business is a very important step on the road to success. Of course, marketing a home is very important for the sale, but for this blog we will focus on how to market yourself (your business).
Step 1. Identify Your Target Market
A target market is the group of people that you can and want to do business with. How do you identify them? First you have to think about who you are qualified to do business with based on your experience and education, also who you want to do business with on a personal level considering you are so immersed in the process with your clients. Are you the compassionate type who should work with first-time buyers or seniors? Are you a numbers person and should work with investors? Do you have passion for your area and should work with incoming buyers who you can educate on their relocation? Finding the type of client you would like to work with helps you while targeting where you are willing to work geographically, as well. Are there enough of your target audience in your geographic area to sustain your business? Which neighborhoods have residents that fit your desires? Start to build client and prospect lists based on the decisions you have made about your target market, hold open houses in the neighborhoods you would like to target to grow those lists, get involved with organizations that are most likely to help you meet members of your target market.
Step 2. Create a Personal Brand
Hopefully you love your broker and have no plans of making a change anytime soon. No matter how deep that love is, your business deserves and needs a brand. Your brand not only represents you, it is how you will be recognized professionally. We always recommend co-branding with your broker or building a brand within a brand. This could mean using a similar color scheme or logo type as your broker. When people see your marketing pieces, they should be able to recognize them as distinctly yours. A brand can represent aspects of your personal business style: are you very serious, do you like to have fun, it could also be what type of property you buy and sell, does a beach theme work for you because you prefer to sell waterfront property? Hiring a professional to help you develop your brand is some of the best money you can spend because it sets the tone for the rest of your over-all marketing efforts.
Step 3. Educate with Targeted Quality Messages
No one cares for a hard sale or blindly believes what they read anymore. You need to add value to your target market by educating them with your marketing. Maybe you are educating them on the housing market of their neighborhood or the general area, you may educate them on why you are the best choice to list their home or help them find a new home using your past accomplishments. Part of educating your target market is positioning your self as an expert, and a successful one at that. This means having a quality brand, head shot, marketing materials. Give your audience news they can use. Having a dynamic presentation ready at a moments notice for someone who is interested in your services may help you land a new client on your first meeting. Remember that your audience wants their information fast, you need to be direct and concise.
Step 4. Establish a Connection They Will Remember
As a general rule, connecting with someone 7 different times will get them to remember your name only. Using multiple channels to establish those connections are your best bet and how you will ensure that you do not lose a potential client to someone who has simply reached out more times. There are endless ways to reach you clients and get them to remember you. You have to make good connections, however, because, for whatever reason, a bad connection only takes once for people to remember. Connecting with your future clients can be in the form of: meeting them and giving them a business card, a direct mail campaign, your social media accounts, a newsletter (electronic or mailed), directing them to your website, interesting blog posts, specialty mailings, and promotional items. Step 4 is one of the most important steps and is best executed with a well thought out plan that is ongoing.
Step 5. Make Your Connection Personal
Once you have established a connection it is time to make that connection personal. Making a personal connection with someone is not something learned in school; it has to do with showing a client you care about their situation and helping them how you can. It involves letting them know what sets you apart from other service providers and proving those points to them during the process – building trust. Making a personal connection involves communicating with someone in a way they understand and not discounting them for any reason. That personal connection can be made by sharing a personal story that relates to your client’s life in some way, or asking them how their child is doing in college, or showing concern for a member of their family who may be ill. This can be aided only by being a great listener and good note taker (unless you have a really good memory). Once the connection with your client is personal they will be an advocate for you when someone they know is looking for an agent. There is nothing more valuable then a good referral source, as many of you know.
(OPTIONAL) Step 6. Come See #teamIAS
We love working with people to get their marketing on track and helping them to reach their goals. For every client, we offer a free consultation to talk about what you are doing, what is working, and what you would like to do moving forward. We help clients make marketing budgets and plans based on individual needs. There is no marketing plan too big or too small – the only mistake is ignoring your personal marketing. Luckily, it is never too late to start.
Good luck out there! We are here when you need us.
– Team IAS
941.921.5027
www.FloridaAssistant.com
