Realtors often glance over the importance of marketing in their business. They realize that they are in the business of gaining clients and making sales but they fail to see how their marketing efforts often go against their goals.
Realtor marketing is a two-way street. First, there is the marketing of the real estate business itself and the gaining of clients, either sellers or buyers. Many realtors are members of larger, national real estate firms. They rely on the national firm's brand advertising to get clients to their office.
The larger, national company's budget allows for brand advertising through television and the print media. Realtors believe that this national brand advertising by itself will bring business to their door. But the local real estate office hasn't the budget for brand advertising and has to rely on more direct means to gain their clients.
Most local clients come to the real estate office through the yellow pages, newspaper advertisement, and those real estate magazines found outside the local supermarket and other local businesses. Take a look at these and see how the local realtor markets his business.
The first thing you'll notice is that the vast majority are "ho-hum". They all look basically the same. This is true of the realtor marketing in the local newspaper too. You see ads like:
XXX Real Estate.
Full Service:
Residential, Commercial, and Investment Property Specialists.
555-1234.
123 S. Main St.
In Business Since 1976.
1000's of Successful Transactions. I took this right out of my local Yellow Pages. Does it get you interested in doing business with this realtor? How about this one on the next page:
XYZ Real Estate Company
Local Leaders in "Your Home Town" Real Estate
Offices Open Everyday
Residential and Commercial Brokerage Services
International Brokerage Services
Relocation Services
555-1234 Does that get you anymore interested than the above advertisement? Do those advertisments containing a picture of the realtor make you want to use their services over the others? Here's the copy accompanying a local realtor's picture:
ABC Realty
Leasing
Office Buildings
Industrial/Warehouse
Land
Investment Opportunities
555-1234
123 N. Main Street
Your Town and State
"Maximizing the Potential of Your Real Estate Investment Since 1983" None of these advertisements gives you a feeling that one realtor is better than another. None excite you into wanting to use their service over another realtor. This is where realtor marketing comes into play. A realtor needs to market themselves with emotion, not the features of their business that the above ads portray. In fact, most of these ads leave the potential client saying to themselves, "So What?"
The use of direct marketing techniques can benefit the realtor in his quest for clients. Direct marketers use emotions, wants, and needs to sell. So should the realtor. Direct marketers also use free promotions and constant contact with their customers to keep them informed and coming back again and again. Realtors should take note of these marketing techniques which will greatly expand their business.
The question for the realtor pondering his/her marketing techniques is how to stand out from the crowd and get the client to their doorstep. The client wants to know what's in it for him. This isn't done by stating what kind of real estate you specialize in (so what?), or with your picture (egotistic), or by telling them how long you've been a realtor (who cares?).
Research shows that most people buy with their emotions then us the facts and features of a product to justify their purchase. This is also true with real estate. So, how do you get that client's emotions going?
You could offer them free reports. These are known as white papers. You could offer a report on preparing their house for sale. Or a report on the selling process so the client could understand what their going to go through. Clients love information! The same is true for the buyer of real estate. You could offer a report on the buying process or one detailing the various areas of your community with all the information on local schools, churches, parks, and travel time to work areas, etc.
All the potential client would have to do is give you their name and phone number (and maybe email address) so you can keep in touch with them and keep them informed as to the selling progress or buying opportunities. This is an important step in realtor marketing. Getting the clients information for follow-ups in the future. And giving them valuable information in the form of free reports is a great way to do this.
The informed realtor markets the business by mini-advertisements in the yellow pages and the newspapers. What I've shown you in the above examples are actually more like business cards. And boring ones at that. Your ads should read like real direct marketing ads. They should have an enticing headline that makes the potential client want to read more.
Your ads should read like a true news story. Let's change the last example to read as:
Local Realtor Finds the Secret to Selling More Property!
I'll use the seven real estate secrets I discovered to help you maximize your real estate investment.
These techniques will aid you to sell or buy your property in the shortest period of time and with the maximum profit for you.
If you're thinking about selling your property, or are in the market to buy your dream house, come see me to find out how I can help you achieve your dream come true with the least amount of hassle and the quickest sale you have ever imagined.
That's the business I'm in, helping you get what you dream for.
ABC Realty
123 N. Main Street
Your Town and State
555-1234
PS: Call me for a free report that will show you how easy it is to sell your property or buy your new house using my
secret real estate techniques. An ad like that makes ABC Realty stand out from the competition. It makes the reader want to know what these secret techniques are. And the realtor will gain contact information from potential clients through the free report he offers. This information can be used to his advantage in the future.
The second side of realtor marketing is advertising the properties for sales and keeping the client informed of the progress of the sale. I cover this in Part 2 of this series.
