There is a major but often unwritten rule to real estate marketing today. Most professionals know it, but rarely put a voice to it. That rule is that all your real estate marketing should be for the purpose of generating leads. Without leads, you've got no clients, and without clients, no commission checks.
If your real estate marketing doesn't cultivate leads, it is most likely a waste. A waste of time, a waste of money, maybe even a waste of a good idea that with a few tweaks actually COULD generate leads. Whether you're at the beginning of your career or half way through it, if you're not making the kind of income you want, it is most likely time to start beefing up your marketing. The one thing about real estate marketing is that you shouldn't ever stop (with VERY few exceptions). Many agents stop once they feel they have enough leads coming in - that is the wrong way to go about things.
As a matter of fact, a slow period is exactly the time to start beefing up your marketing. After all, it means you don't have enough leads to convert into a steady stream of clients and income. Therefore you must make sure your real estate marketing is in full gear so that you will always have a full pipeline of leads to follow up with and convert into actual clients.
Most agents today have a website, so you can start with focusing some real estate marketing in that direction. After all, your website is one of the easiest ways to generate leads, since about 80% of people do some type of real estate research on the web first before speaking with a real estate agent. That is why you need to make sure your site is easily found and it has a call to action that will make people leave you their contact information.
There are several ways to generate leads on your website. You can offer a free service, such as a "free home value report" or an in depth article that guides a consumer through the buying or selling process. All the visitor needs to do is fill out a simple form to get this information. This way they get what they want, and you get a fresh lead in the form of contact information gathered from your website.
Of course, there are many other real estate marketing tactics you can use online. Advertising your listings on Craig's List is one such avenue. You can also save yourself some hassle, and just sign up for a lead selling service. That way you don't have to worry about how to generate leads, you just have to worry about following up with them and trying to convert them to clients. It's best to do some research on different lead gen companies before settling on one service.
For less tech-savvy agents, there are more traditional forms of real estate marketing that can garner many leads. Open houses are a great source for marketing your services, if you do it properly and make sure you're talking with people that come. Placing your listings in the local Real Estate magazine is also useful, but you must leave enough information out to make readers call you for more - such as the actual price tag of a home. If you put all the information in the ad, you take away a reason for consumers to actually get in touch with you.
There are plenty of relatively easy ways to market yourself as a real estate professional and generate leads. It is simply a matter of being willing to do some things you may not like, such as cold calling or manning open houses as well as working hard at the things you do enjoy about the process, such as helping a client to find a new home or walking a client through the selling process. The main thing is to always remember that the purpose of all your real estate marketing techniques should be to generate more leads for your business.
If your real estate marketing doesn't cultivate leads, it is most likely a waste. A waste of time, a waste of money, maybe even a waste of a good idea that with a few tweaks actually COULD generate leads. Whether you're at the beginning of your career or half way through it, if you're not making the kind of income you want, it is most likely time to start beefing up your marketing. The one thing about real estate marketing is that you shouldn't ever stop (with VERY few exceptions). Many agents stop once they feel they have enough leads coming in - that is the wrong way to go about things.
As a matter of fact, a slow period is exactly the time to start beefing up your marketing. After all, it means you don't have enough leads to convert into a steady stream of clients and income. Therefore you must make sure your real estate marketing is in full gear so that you will always have a full pipeline of leads to follow up with and convert into actual clients.
Most agents today have a website, so you can start with focusing some real estate marketing in that direction. After all, your website is one of the easiest ways to generate leads, since about 80% of people do some type of real estate research on the web first before speaking with a real estate agent. That is why you need to make sure your site is easily found and it has a call to action that will make people leave you their contact information.
There are several ways to generate leads on your website. You can offer a free service, such as a "free home value report" or an in depth article that guides a consumer through the buying or selling process. All the visitor needs to do is fill out a simple form to get this information. This way they get what they want, and you get a fresh lead in the form of contact information gathered from your website.
Of course, there are many other real estate marketing tactics you can use online. Advertising your listings on Craig's List is one such avenue. You can also save yourself some hassle, and just sign up for a lead selling service. That way you don't have to worry about how to generate leads, you just have to worry about following up with them and trying to convert them to clients. It's best to do some research on different lead gen companies before settling on one service.
For less tech-savvy agents, there are more traditional forms of real estate marketing that can garner many leads. Open houses are a great source for marketing your services, if you do it properly and make sure you're talking with people that come. Placing your listings in the local Real Estate magazine is also useful, but you must leave enough information out to make readers call you for more - such as the actual price tag of a home. If you put all the information in the ad, you take away a reason for consumers to actually get in touch with you.
There are plenty of relatively easy ways to market yourself as a real estate professional and generate leads. It is simply a matter of being willing to do some things you may not like, such as cold calling or manning open houses as well as working hard at the things you do enjoy about the process, such as helping a client to find a new home or walking a client through the selling process. The main thing is to always remember that the purpose of all your real estate marketing techniques should be to generate more leads for your business.
About the Author:
The author, Carina Healey has been in marketing for over 15 years, with a concentration in mortgage and realty services marketing. Her passions include real estate marketing, customer service techniques, internet marketing, copywriting for the web and search engine optimization. You can find out more about her professional experience from RealEstateMarketing.net.
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