Marketing, especially in the real estate industry, is one of the most important things a business can do. Without any deals in your actual pipeline, all of the passion in the world won’t get you anywhere. On the other hand, too many investors make the mistake of thinking that any marketing will do. You need to have a clear plan of what you want to achieve, and how you will get there. Fortunately, there are many subtle, but important, things that can help you maximize your real estate marketing results. If you want to separate yourself from the pack, there are several things you can do to get noticed.
Regardless of whether you focus on print or electronic advertising, you need to grab the reader’s attention immediately. You may only have one or two lines of copy to actually grab a reader’s attention. You need to make it count. Those two lines need to be powerful and important enough to grab their attention. Instead of using the traditional paragraph approach, you should start with a bold, attention grabbing headline. From there, you should keep your points short and direct. You need to walk the fine line between giving them enough information to entice a call without giving too much that will be long and tedious. Ninety percent of all recipients will contact you based on the first two lines of your letter, postcard or email. It is up to you to grab their attention.
Unfortunately, there is no magic solution to marketing. Every situation needs to be addressed in its own unique way. A distressed homeowner is not the same as someone with equity. It is important to know exactly who you are marketing to. You can have similar themes and styles, but the content cannot be the same. Each different audience should have their own dedicated material. Put yourself in the recipient’s shoes. Think about what their concerns are and how you can fix them. If you think of marketing to just one individual person instead of hundreds, you will be more successful. You can send out thousands of letters, but if the message fails to hit the mark your response will be poor.
One of the worst things you can do is to try to market like everyone else. By trying to pattern a postcard like one you saw previously, all you are doing is decreasing the chances that yours will be read. There are many different ways to market in today’s business landscape. What works, or doesn’t work, for someone else, should have no bearing on what you do. If you want to send your letters with a bright green envelope, do it. If you want to market exclusively on social media, run with it. As long as you do your homework and are not throwing money away, you can find success in almost any form of marketing. Trying to be like every other investor in the area does not work. Come up with your own strategies, and run with them.
There is always plenty of trial and error with any type of marketing. Some of the biggest companies in the world fail from time to time. Instead of jumping in blindly and spending thousands of dollars, do a little test run first. Start with a small block and see what it brings. This small batch should serve as an indicator as to what type of responses you will get. If the first attempt is well received, you can double down and increase your numbers. If it is poor, you may need to tweak a thing or two before you try again.
Only once you have found the right list of people to market to and which method will work best should you commit to a strategy. Committing to anything on a short term basis will not give you the results you are looking for. You need to be willing to follow up multiple times before you can accurately gauge the results. There are times where you will get frustrated, but the more you do it, the more results you will see. Even the best lists won’t do you much good if you only reach out to them once. Before you start, you should commit yourself to reaching that audience five times. If after five times your response is poor, you should examine everything you are doing and see where you can improve.
Successful marketing is something that isn’t done on a whim. It takes weeks of preparation to feel comfortable. Often times, there is a fine line between success and disappointment. By doing these little things, you increase the chances of a marketing campaign working in your favor. Once you become a marketing success, your business will completely change.
