Owner and Qualifying Broker at Rhino Realty Property Management and Rhino Realty B&B, entrepreneur, investor, advisor, author and speaker.
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Marketing real estate isn’t an exact science, and for that reason, it can be perplexing. Consistency is the key to successful marketing outcomes. You can’t know what method will be the most effective for you if you only dabble in a number of methods but don’t stick with any of them. This is challenging because marketing costs both time and money. Even if you don’t invest in advertising when you start out, using free methods typically requires a lot of your time. Every moment spent on marketing is time away from your other real estate business activities, which in turn costs money. If you are going to pick a new marketing method today, you’ve got to commit to trying it out for long enough to give it a chance to work for you.
It’s difficult to do anything 50% or 100% better through marketing. Most of us are just not that creative, and the goal should not be to reinvent the wheel. But if you can be 3% better in 10 categories, then across the board that can get you to a 30% better performance overall. From pens and business cards to a solid and consistent brand image and social media content, building momentum across multiple avenues that are relevant and targeted can help you and your business stand out among the crowd.
When you decide to try out a new marketing strategy, be sure to keep that chosen activity running for sufficient time so you can track whether it converts into sales. Only from that position can you adjust your marketing accordingly. It’s a tough gauge because seeing it through requires investment. It’s easy to lose your confidence halfway through a marketing campaign, especially if you already have reservations about investing your marketing dollars. Money is gobbled up quickly by paid advertising, so it’s critical to track campaigns from the start. A small tweak in a headline can be the difference between an advertisement converting to leads or not.
Again, consistency is key, but it would be madness to leave an advert running for six months without tracking and modifying. With online campaigns, you can see almost immediately whether an advert converts to leads. What takes longer is measuring whether a lead converts to a sale. You need to create a system to follow up with your prospects so that they don’t go cold. You have all these different ways to attract people to your platforms in order to qualify them. In simple terms, the goal is attracting as many of the right people to talk to about what you have to offer as possible.
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An essential first step is to define your ideal client. Once you know who they are, you’ll be able to market much more effectively because every word of your marketing will be crafted with your model client in mind. This is how you create a relevant marketing message. How you market will depend on where you can connect with these clients. Which platforms do they use? Which publications do they read? Which networking events do they attend? What real estate niche are they interested in? These are the basic questions you must answer in order to create an effective mixed marketing plan.
Once you’ve created your mixed marketing plan, it’s crucial that you put systems in place to track your results. This sounds obvious, but I’ve found a surprising number of real estate professionals don’t do this from day one. With paid advertising, it’s even more critical because you are throwing money away if it doesn’t ultimately convert to leads and clients. Stop wondering and start tracking.
As you progress, you must consistently be creating or adjusting your unique mixed marketing plan. The real estate business requires a lot of action and there’s never a better time than right now to start. If you’re already established, what will you improve to create a better experience for your current and prospective clients? Most importantly, whatever you do, do it with a sense of service and value. When your intention is to consistently provide quality and value, everything else tends to fall into place.
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