No one knows where the housing market is going, but one thing is for certain: consumer confidence is at stake. Research shows that consumer confidence in purchasing new homes has decreased, but sales of existing homes are going up. Nowadays, real estate agents have to work harder to get every morsel of business out there, investing more money and time in their real estate marketing strategies, building their brand, and cementing themselves as reputable authorities in the housing market.
The Good and Bad Side of Real Estate Marketing Strategies
The good news is that with the advent of social media and the digital age, getting your name out there has become easier than ever.
The bad news is that given that every real estate agent and their mother are on Facebook nowadays, getting heard amongst the swarm of other voices vying for attention is a hard prospect.
So, we are going to take a different route: We are going old school and looking at traditional marketing methods that worked for the agents of yore, methods that still work today and will definitely work tomorrow.
Related: Real Estate Marketing Tips for Agents: Old-Fashioned to Online
5 Strategies to Traditionally Market Yourself
If you search online, you are bound to find hundreds of ideas on how you can better market your real estate practice.
However, most of these ideas can be considered as tactics more than real estate marketing strategies—they are tips and tricks that offer short-term boosts rather than long-term, more sustainable solutions.
So, we will look into a few strategic concepts along with the tactics that can make them a reality, both of which will take your practice to the next level.
Here’s how you can employ traditional real estate marketing strategies even in the era of digitization.
#1. Establish Yourself as an Expert in Your Field
People want to work with those whom they perceive as knowledgeable in the field, so if you are seen as an expert, your chances of getting traffic increase.
Not only will this help build your brand, but it will keep you top of mind for anyone thinking of entering the market. Some ways you can achieve this are:
Offering Educational Content for Free
This could include hosting local seminars, speaking at high schools, or reaching out to college students about to embark into the workforce and get their first home.
- What are the basics that your customers should know about before they start searching for real estate deals?
- What should they know about the market?
- What should they be aware of when it comes to regulations?
- What are some useful things and benefits they can use?
- How to ensure their homes increase in value?
This kind of information will help you build trust quickly since they will see you are looking out for their best interests.
Working with the Media
You can have your name written in the papers, quoting you as an expert on the housing market, something that might be easier than you think.
Journalists already have a hard time finding sources, and if you establish yourself as a credible source, that could mean a long string of quotations.
Be sure to work with media outlets in your vicinity, those that the local customers are reading.
#2. Establish Yourself as a Member of the Community
As a real estate agent, you’re not only selling a home—you’re selling the opportunity to belong to a community, a neighborhood.
Ergo, getting to know the neighborhood and cementing yourself as one of its pillars can boost your business.
Also, when you are part of the community, people will readily recommend you whenever they encounter someone looking to buy. And, word of mouth is the best kind of publicity you could ever hope for.
To achieve this, you can do the following:
Build Connections
Take the time to build real-life connections with the members of your community. These connections will prove invaluable.
You can sponsor a local team, volunteer at a shelter, invite people to open houses just to get to know them.
It can help you showcase you know your industry by helping them understand the current situation and teaching them a thing or two on what to look for or how to keep their real estate from losing value.
Get to Know the Neighborhood
You should also walk around the neighborhood, physically exploring it.
If you are going to establish yourself as an expert, as we previously mentioned, then your first step should be geared towards becoming a neighborhood expert.
This will also enable you to always be on top of things, being aware whenever a new property is put on the market.
#3. Build Good Partnerships with Other Businesses
One element that can boost your business is having a solid partnership with other businesses in the area.
You Scratch My Back…
For example, the next time you have an open house, you can partner with a local furniture place and create a dynamic where you both win.
The furniture shop will help you stage the home and make it look cozy, and you will display the shop’s merchandise to a large group of people, some of whom may choose to actually buy the furniture.
You can also partner with local businesses and offer some sort of joint give away.
Instead of always resorting to pens, caps, and calendars, why not offer potential leads a decent discount to spend a full day at the local spa?
Buyers and sellers are already stressed during most of the deal given the amount of money that will be changing hands.
The spa will get a new customer, and your lead will get the opportunity to interact with the rest of the community, making it easier for them to figure out whether they’d like to move into the neighborhood.
Building these kinds of partnerships is the key to successful real estate market strategies.
Get Techy
If you partner with a technology shop, you can see about renting a drone and photographing the house from a bird’s eye view.
Drone photographs always look impressive, making it that much easier to close the deal.
If drone photography isn’t your thing, you can look into other technological solutions that will help you show the house in the best light.
3D tours anyone?
#4. Remember That Sales Are All About Building Human Connections
A real estate agent who knows the reasoning of both the seller and the buyer can go a long way towards alleviating this stress.
As a real estate agent, your job is about understanding your customers’ needs and finding the best way to satisfy them.
You also want to help both parties feel safe with everything happening in the transaction, something that can be achieved through human interaction.
In a world where most interactions take place online behind faceless, emotionless user interfaces, one of the best ways to stand out is to invest the time in meeting your leads in person and getting to know them.
You’ll know what your customers are after, and the potential buyers will feel safer.
Here are a few ideas that can help you:
The Human Touch
Send your clients handwritten letters. Handwritten letters have become rare these days, so imagine a lead’s surprise if they get one from you? It will help you stand out but it will also ensure that the lead remembers you in the future.
To build a genuine human connection, you want to stay in touch with clients after you’ve closed a deal. Send them a gift basket along with a handwritten note when the occasion arises.
Meet in Office
Conduct most of your meetings in-person—in your office. By choosing the office, you will be able to offer your prospective client the comfort of human interaction, and you will be able to leverage your office as an opportunity to build your personal brand.
For this tactic to be effective, however, you need to have a representative office. You might want to renovate your office to reflect your brand, incorporating the right design solutions with your brand’s mission and vision.
The clients will feel at ease being in an office that instantly makes them feel understood.
#5. Keep an Eye on Competitors
Sometimes, the inspiration for a new idea may come from the competition, and, unlike technology patents, no law says you can’t replicate someone else’s real estate marketing strategies.
What makes this strategy powerful is that it gives you an idea of what works and what doesn’t.
So, if one of your competitors tried putting an advertisement in the local papers but the advertisement didn’t get them any traction, you now know that advertising with that specific paper might not be the most fruitful idea, or that they cast a wide net instead of speaking to the right target group.
How Long Will It Take for These Real Estate Marketing Strategies to Work?
Well, that’s the thing about strategy: It takes a while to work, but once it picks up, it rewards your efforts in spades.
Nevertheless, it is worth remembering that sales are a numbers game, one where you get better rewarded the more effort exert.
So, you shouldn’t be afraid of trying out new ideas and experimenting to see what works for your practice and what doesn’t.
Just bear in mind that what differentiates a good real estate agent from a mediocre one is their batting average: You aren’t after closing every lead you get, but you want to increase the number of deals you close for every 100 leads you get, and anything that betters your chances of getting the signature on the dotted line is good for business.
This article has been contributed by Michelle Laurey.