Get Seen. Get Sold.
Get Seen. Get Sold.
Article By Dylan Hasson
When you hear the word “Marketing” what’s the first thought that comes to mind? Advertising?.. Eye-catching images?.. Business strategies?.. Positioning in a market?.. The truth is, marketing is a combination of all these things and so much more..
Over the last 6 or 7 years, I’ve truly become fascinated with marketing – learning and testing new methods and trying to understand how it gets perceived by the target audience. Being a real estate professional is much like being a business owner and all businesses require effective marketing in order to become (and remain) successful. Very few (if any) businesses as well as real estate professionals become successful by accident, marketing can be the factor of succeeding or failing – You could have the best business idea or real estate skills in the world, but they won’t become successful without an effective plan of action to get your services in front of clients. A few days ago I had this discussion with one of my colleagues in the office; I like to think of marketing myself and my services as an art and a balancing act of being visible to my audience without being annoying. Although annoying a few people is inevitable..
So, how does a newcomer to an industry go from being a pawn to a King (or Queen) of their industry? Apart from the hard work, persistence, fear, stress, late nights and all the other ‘wonderful’ aspects of being your own boss, let’s discuss the marketing 😉
1) First Go From Being A Pawn To Being A Knight.
Chess analogy aside, it simply means make the moves that others are not making: Be different!
Being different allows you to stand out – Why be one in a heard of sheep all shouting “let me sell your home”? Instead, think of being the black sheep who stands out and who has already delivered their message of: “I sell homes.” Effective marketing is selling your services to a client before they even need you and being the name they remember the day they do. Being different doesn’t mean you need to always think of ways to reinvent the wheel, but if 9 of your competing area agents are dropping flyers which all say “We have buyers for your home” or “Recently SOLD in the area” then why not be the 10th agent who drops flyers which say “Hey, here’s a voucher for 10% discount at the local pizzeria” – it may not result in immediate business for you, but you’d certainly have the most memorable flyer out of your competitors. Which brings me to the next point:
2) Understand It Doesn't Happen Overnight.
My favorite approach to marketing is what I like to call the “slow burn” approach. Which is basically just the strategy of small but quality efforts made over a long period of time. Instead of making a lot of smoke and flames as a marketing campaign which is likely to be expensive and probably forgotten in a month or two, by taking a “slow burn” approach, it allows you to build your brand and tell a story of who you are and also becoming a familiar name and face in the process. If your clients have seen or heard of you numerous times over a long period, they’re more likely going to trust you by the time they have a real estate need. There are MANY ways of doing this but they should fit withing your marketing plan and budget. Many agents likely dream of having a huge billboard along the highway, but if you’re new to the industry and/ or are on a tight budget then spending it all on a single form of advertising is a very risky approach, whereas high performing agents with higher marketing budgets are likely to see a billboard as merely one of many ways to promote themselves and their services. Focus on your marketing efforts which you can do effectively and within your budget and allow it to grow with you as you grow in the industry.
One day I’ll have my billboard, but today I’ve reached you through my blog 😉
3) Trial & Error.
The real estate industry certainly has many tried and tested methods of marketing and prospecting, which if they work for you, simply do them!
In conjunction with the tried and tested methods, if you aim to develop your own marketing efforts which work for you, then it’s going to require a fair amount of trial and error to find out what works and what doesn’t. Personally, I love digital marketing and building a strong presence on various platforms, however it usually doesn’t result in immediate business and it’s likely to take time before a return on investment is seen. Someone else on the other hand may not enjoy or understand digital marketing and may prefer the door knocking method as it may result in getting business faster.
Also understand that new and creative ideas are likely to be met with skepticism before they become effective ways to promote your brand. A campaign which I’m currently doing for our real estate office is one such example, called The Hidden Home. The idea of the campaign is to hide a miniature house somewhere within our local area, then post clues through our online channels on how to find the home. The first person who finds it then wins the prizes sponsored by our office and other businesses who participate in the campaign. The idea is simple, however it’s not a “normal” thing for a real estate office to do, so the first round of the campaign was met with some skepticism, even though the campaign itself was very successful as our goal was to create brand awareness. The key to this becoming an effective marketing method instead of a once-off gimmick is to be persistent with it and we’re currently doing our second campaign which is already off to a great start as once again, our goal is to merely create brand awareness and interact with our local community.
Finding what works for you can take some time, especially when you’re new to the industry or new to an area. You’re marketing efforts may even be well-received by your audience, but they may just not have a need for your service at that point in time, so consistency and being persistent is key.
4) Up Your Game!
Think of marketing as everything you do. That includes the image you create for yourself and how you present your products or services.
Scenario – You’ve done all the work to create an effective campaign and prospective clients are now noticing you. They then start looking at your current listings and notice poor quality photos, videos and descriptions of the properties you’re presenting or they find your Facebook page and notice a few distasteful memes or offensive content that they don’t agree with, so they never even get in touch with you. You may be losing business this way and not even realize it!
If you’re marketing yourself as a real estate professional then it’s only fair for prospective clients to expect you to be professional in the way you conduct your business. If I get asked to do business consulting for a potential client, the very first thing I do is look at at what image they’re creating for themselves and often simple things such as photos and promotional content can be drastically improved. Great photos of properties should be an industry standard in this day and age. Blurry, skew, badly lit photos are, in my opinion, unacceptable when it comes to the real estate industry. Every client, regardless of if their property needs renovation or is a high-end luxury property, deserves to have their property presented to a professional standard – that is what they are paying a “professional” for. The worst photo I’ve ever seen in real estate, the agent was too lazy to even get out of their car and took the main image used on the listing from inside the car which had the pillar between the cars windscreen and driver window run through the entire photo.
I hope this article has been informative and provided you with some insight which helps with marketing your business. Remember, good property professionals are there to help you with your property needs, even if there’s no business in it, so don’t hesitate to reach out to your trusted property advisor for help (If you don’t already have one, feel free to reach out to me.)
Dylan Hasson
Licensed REAA 2008 Real Estate Salesperson at Barfoot & Thompson Ellerslie.
Thank you for reading my article.
If you're in the Auckland area and would like to seek real estate advice or discuss your real estate needs, please feel free to get in touch with me today.
Thank you for reading my article.
If you're in the Auckland area and would like to seek real estate advice or discuss your real estate needs, please feel free to get in touch with me today.
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