MARKETING & SALES

As a real estate agent, you know how important it is to be able to effectively market your services to buyers and sellers in your area. Whether you are a rookie or a seasoned veteran, this blog will help you step up your marketing game while avoiding some of the mistakes many agents make.

Everything I'm sharing here comes from knowledge I built as a licensed commercial real estate agent and serving residential and commercial clients as their marketing consultant.

Real Estate Marketing Strategy #1: Image Matters

As an agent, you spend a ton of time making sure all of your feduciary duties are met to satisfy the law and your clients. While you are doing that, do not forget that Real Estate is a business that caters very strongly to the five senses of your clients.

This means, what you present must look, feel, and smell amazing. If you are helping a client sell a house, you must make sure that all the imagery posted online and in print looks absolutely fantastic. In other words, hire an amazing professional photographer who specializes in real estate. When showing the house, make sure it is furnished and have some cinamon rolls baking in the oven. The sweet cinamon scent will appeal to women buyers and the yeast smell of the bread will appeal to a man's affinity for beer.

If you are representing a buyer, you still cannot skip this step. If your selling agent has a crappy presentation, offer to send your team in to help for a bigger cut of the profits.

At the end of the day, a buyer must be able to picture themselves in the house you are selling or helping them buy.

Real Estate Marketing Strategy #2: Social Media

If you or your broker are not marketing your products and services on social media, your business is dead (or at the very least, it soon will be). This is an arena you cannot ignore if you want to grow your real estate business.

The key is to understand what platforms will help you best. Here's a quick and dirty look at effective ways to use the different online and social media platforms

Website - The Most Neglected Online Marketing Platform

As the selling agent, turn the address of the house you are listing into a webpage (ex. 12345elmstreet.com). This will make the house easy to find in search. On the site, you can market all the amenities that make this home awesome.

As the buying agent, bookmark these sites (if they exist) to show your clients before you ever hit the road. It will show that you did your homework and include them in the choosing process more directly

Don't forget to also have a business website for you as an agent. There you can show listings and provide valuable tips to sellers and buyers via your blog. Google Search loves blogs because they produce regular content. Regular, relevant content is one of the key factors Google uses to rank your website. If you show up first in search when someone searches, "real estate agent in fairfax virginia" guess who's going to get more clients than their competitors?

Email - The Forgotten Communication Platform

I sold my last property via email. Seriously, my agent sent all the documents to me digitally and I was able to sign them online to prepare my house for sale. It's also a great place to keep your client aware of all the behind-the-scenes work you are doing for them. Update them on what you are working on at least once-per-week to keep your service top-of-mind.

Facebook - Finding New Clients & Nurturing Relationships

Facebook provides a great opportunity for selling and buying agents to connect with your clients personally. Don't neglect doing this. Wish them happy birthday (even if the don't close a deal with you). Send them FB messenger messages when you find something cool they should take a look at.

And don't forget that Facebook quite possibly has the most powerful advertising platform on the planet right now. Done properly, you can showcase houses your are listing on Facebook and Instagram and then pay for advertising to get those listings in front of the exact customers you want to reach.

As a buyer agent, you can partner with the selling agent and share these listings with your clients via Facebook messenger.

LinkedIn - Doing Bigger Business

Use linked in to network with real estate investors and builders. They will both need agents helping to sell and buy property for them. The beauty of LinkedIn is that they are expecting you to reach out. Don't neglect this very powerful platform

YouTube - Establishing Yourself As The Real Estate Authority In Your Local Area

If you created a weekly vlog where you provide amazing tips and tricks to help clients prepare to buy or sell a home in your area, you can absolutely establish yourself as the go-to real estate agent in your region. I wish more business owners understood the power of YouTube. It's hands down the most effective platform I'm ever used to sell products online.

I Want To Help You Explode Your Social Media Following, Build Authority, And Close Sales. Will You Let Me?

Check out my Social Media Master University (SMMU) for DIY Coaching

Or, hit me up on LinkedIn (click here) or Facebook (click here) for a free consultation to provide these services for you

Instagram, Pinterest, SnapChat, etc.

What I've covered in the FB, LI, and YT portions of this blog apply on these platforms. The key is learning the unique mechanics governing how your clients respond on these platforms. Don't neglect them (especially SnapChat if your clients are in their late 20s).

Real Estate Marketing Strategy #3: Become A Big Fish In A Small Pond, Then Expand The Pond

Don't try to sell everything to everyone. It will dilute your message and make it impossible to compete.

When you are just getting started, or if you've been at it for awhile and are struggling, map out a niche market to focus on first. Do you want to sell expensive luxury homes to the wealthy? The know they are going to want a seasoned vet who can anticipate their needs. If your experience is all over the place and sporadic, they may not be interested. Do you want to sell cheaper condos to young first-time buyers? Definitely an easier niche to tackle as any experience you have will trump their knowledge and allow them to see you as a trusted resource.

Regardless of what niche you choose, Real Estate is a business where I definitely recommend starting with a small audience and then increasing as you get more experience and close more deals