How to Improve Marketing Skills In Real Estate
You’ve done the basic advertising, but now it’s time to upgrade those marketing skills. You’re a small business owner, and you can’t grow your business doing the bare minimum and hoping clients and leads will roll in. You’ve got to constantly prospect. Check out these ridiculously simple steps to improve your skills. They don’t require much money; just thought and creativity.
- Know Your Audience
Explore your target audience and gather as much information about them as possible. Then create profiles of likely customers with information like income, geographic areas, household, age groups, and lifestyles. Tailor marketing strategies to each group, using these profiles to speak directly to their specific needs. Play up the “lifestyle benefits” of your services or a particular property for each audience.
- Know the Market
Buyers and sellers want agents who are knowledgeable and familiar with the area. Learn as much as you can about the local market, politics, trends, history, and communities. The actions of the city council or HOA board can have tangible effects on the sale and use of real estate. Make online and in-person community outreach a major part of your prospecting routine. Go to local events and meetups, sponsor charity functions and festivals, and conduct homebuyer or seller seminars. Get your name and face into the local community and expand your sphere of influence.
- Begin Blogging
Time to write. You’ve collected lots of stories and insight; now use that as the raw material for an informative real estate blog. Write about your specialties and passion, local real estate markets, open houses, or the financing process. Illustrate why people should hire you. Get into a writing habit and frequently jot down and brainstorm ideas for engaging content. Stick to a publishing schedule so you’re consistently producing interesting content. Promote each blog post on your social media accounts.
- Work Your Email List
Gather customer email addresses whenever you can and build an email list. When you email, don’t just promote yourself; offer free stuff like market reports, buyer and seller checklists, webinars, podcasts, and infographics. Start a newsletter with excerpts from your best blog posts as well as local news items, photos, and free buyer and seller guides.
- Request Referrals
People trust suggestions from friends, family, and former customers more than any advertisement. It’s old news that referrals are the most effective marketing technique. So why aren’t more agents asking for them? Make a habit of working and asking for referrals: Keep promises and deliver more than you promise, create happy clients and customers, and then ask for referrals.
- Fabulous Visuals
Striking, professional photos and videos draw attention and impress local real estate consumers. Stunning photos make buyers want to take a closer look and sellers want to hire you. Eye-catching, well-thought-out visuals create the impression of an effective, skillful real estate agent. And it’s not just photographs. Regularly include video, drone photos, and 3D virtual tours in property listing information. Even consider hiring a video production company to do the work for you!
- Branding
Real estate is about personal relationships. Clients want to trust your skills and judgement. Personal branding can communicate your knowledge, experience, and expertise. Brand identity permeates a variety of things big and small: web site layout, your bio, your headshot, your social media posts, even the fonts and colors you use. Conjure up an inspirational image of the type of real estate professional you want to be. What does he/she do? How does he/she act? Incorporate these attractive qualities into your marketing materials to create your personal brand in the minds of consumers.
- Step Up Social Media Marketing
In this social media age, the smart agent engages consumers where they are. After implementing the methods above, you should have plenty of great content to entice followers. Bonus Tip: Professional Development There's always more to learn. And you can put that new knowledge to work and develop future clients and sales. Take online real estate courses, which easily fit into your busy schedule. Head over to 360training.com and browse a diverse library of continuing education training.
