Where and how you advertise dictates the effectiveness of your message and growth of your business.
The biggest difference between a successful agent and an unsuccessful one comes down to their marketing efforts. How they develop and sell their brand depends on a multitude of factors, one of which is where and how they advertise their business.
Once you’ve developed your brand and messaging, you’ll have the opportunity to sell your services using a near-limitless amount of advertising vehicles. You’ll have to explore traditional and digital advertising mediums and be strategic with ad placement.
This list of dos and don’ts is not an end-all, be-all solution and may not even fully fit with your business goals. It’s merely a general guideline that should help lead you to discover what works best for you and your career.
The Dos of Real Estate Advertising
Local Print Ads
Depending on where you live, popular local magazines and newsletters can be relatively inexpensive and a great way to create awareness about your expertise. With these adverts, be clear and concise in your copy, while honing in on the one main benefit that your business can create for them.
Social Media
One of the best targeting methods is using social media. Sites like Facebook allow you to create “funnel systems” that effectively and efficiently target your audience based on their demographics and consumer behaviors.
With social media, create and share content that engages, entertains and creates a relationship between you and your followers. The goal should not be to create quick or automatic conversions but rather to develop trust and brand recognition.
Local Partnerships
Successfully helping your clients from the beginning of the home acquisition process until the end can require developing different partnerships with local businesses. Like many real estate agents, you may be unsure which partnerships will benefit your business. This list should help you get started:
– Contractors
– Home Inspectors
– Home Stagers
– Local Businesses
– Home Mortgage Lenders
The Don’ts of Real Estate Advertising
Billboards
Spending $10,000 a month just so a thousand out-of-towners can speed by before they read the fourth word is one of the many reasons billboards aren’t as effective as other forms of marketing. Other reasons to not do a billboard:
– Lack of Targeting
– Difficulty of Getting Message Across
– Inherent Danger of Writing Down Info and Driving
– Less Available Attention
Generic Templates
Using generic templates when sharing content will severely limit your reach when trying to gain and retain clients. The problem with generic templates is that literally everyone is using them. Differentiate yourself from the crowd by hiring a freelance designer to help create your own unique templates and personal branding.
Spread Yourself Too Thin
While we strongly urge you to experiment with different advertising mediums, you need to be wary of trying to do too much too soon. As you probably know, real estate agents have a ton of day-to-day responsibilities, ranging from lead generation to closing a home. When you throw in marketing endeavors, the workload can almost double.
The best plan of action is to choose three modes of advertising to start and reassess your tactics and try other advertising mediums after time has passed.
Want to learn more about how to create your brand and develop advertising strategies and messaging that actually works? Check out our comprehensive Business Guide to Marketing and Advertising ebook that explains the basics of successfully getting your name out there and gaining new clients for your real estate business.
The CE Shop is an industry-leading real estate education provider. Their Pre-Licensing, Exam Prep, Post-Licensing, and Continuing Education courses are proven to give agents the edge when it comes to their licensing exam and career.
