With the start of a New Year, real estate investors should push themselves to accomplish as many goals as possible. Accordingly, January is often associated with redefining said goals and reevaluating the means in which they are achieved. As a real estate investor, one of the most important aspects you need to evaluate is your marketing strategy. Specifically, how do you market yourself to find deals? All too often, it can be too easy to trick yourself into believing that you are doing everything possible to increase your exposure. However, unless you are marketing correctly, you might as well just be throwing away your hard earned money and time. How, who and where you market will go a long way in determining how successful any marketing attempts will be. Market to the best of your ability to give your business the best chance.
Essentially, your marketing efforts should generate inquiries in the form of incoming calls, emails, and any other median you desire. The goal, however, is to convert those leads into deals. Simply sending out letters or postcards without a real purpose does not do much good. You need to define who you are going to market to and how you are going to handle incoming leads. The more specific your strategy is, the better. This usually starts with a budget. An endless budget is not enough to ensure marketing success. You need to have a refined targeted list and know how to present yourself in your marketing efforts.
The best mailing lists contain people that are interested in your service. Focus your attention on those who are relevant to your current situation. If someone just bought a home, they are probably not looking to buy again anytime soon. As an investor, you should focus your marketing to distressed sellers. A list of homeowners currently late or already in foreclosure can be pricey, but there are a few ways around this. For starters, you can go to your states judicial site and see who has filed for foreclosure or a lis pendis in the past 30 days. Many of these people may have been bombarded by mailings, but if you make your presentation stand out, you will increase the likelihood of one of them contacting you.
Try searching your local newspaper once a week and look for foreclosure listings or investors in your area. Your marketing doesn’t have to be strictly to homeowners to generate new leads. You can market yourself to investors and realtors in your area in the hopes that they contact you when a deal presents itself. That being said, your marketing should be focused on new leads and your concentration should be on people that want or need your service.
Much of marketing is trial and error. What works or has worked for one investor may not work for another. You can dump thousands on a highway billboard and get the same response as a few hundred bandit signs you place around town. Find something that works and stick with it. It is also important to note that successful marketing requires multiple attempts. The more times you try a particular strategy, the more you can refine it. Try one method at least a few times before moving on. Marketing is not easy and can be both time consuming and expensive, but it can also be the backbone of your business.
Just sending out a few dozen letters or emails is not enough. If you are going to market, do it with all of your vigor and look for success and not just the satisfaction of crossing something off your resolution list.
