Every action you take in real estate should be accompanied by a plan. Many investors will spend countless hours and money marketing themselves without any real strategy. They may get lucky and have a deal or two fall on their laps, but what they will find is that without a strategy they will be largely disappointed. Regardless of what your marketing niche is, you need to have a plan to put it all together. If you do not have a plan with a defined vision, you will not get very far in your marketing efforts.
Like most investors, you would probably like to reach the largest amount of people while spending the least amount of money. Good goal, but probably not the most realistic. Your strategy should start with the two most basic concepts: what are you willing to spend and who do you want to reach? They are both intertwined, but your budget will often dictate what type of marketing you can do. Even if your budget is small, you can still find numerous other means of reaching people. It doesn’t matter if your budget is endless or virtually nonexistent. Whatever you do, you need to do it consistently.
If you opt to try an internet only approach and focus on social media, Craigslist and your personal website, consistency is everything. Content is always important with any marketing, but repetition is just as important with the Internet. If you want to validate yourself to fellow investors and attract referral business, they need to see you. This won’t happen with your first post or blog, regardless of how well written it is or how sharp your website may look. You need to find the time to go on Craigslist, post video blogs on your websites or research current topics every day. The minute you slow down or stop, you will lose any momentum you have gained and you will have to start all over again.
If you go the direct mail route, you can have the best list of targeted sellers and get nowhere. If you mail it only once, your response rate will be poor. It is better to mail a smaller list more times than a bigger, better list just once. The first few mailings might get the homeowners attention, but it will be the third through fifth that finally get them to call. If you give up after the first two, you will not reap the full benefits of your work. Here is where you need your strategy to come in line with your work. If you want your phone to ring you should be prepared to execute a multiple marketing and promotion ideas at once. Your goal should be to have a constant stream of deals going to closing, with new leads constantly coming in. If you let up with your marketing at times when things are going well, you will have to restart the process again after they close. This could take several months to get going again.
Deciding that you want to market is not enough. If you want to maximize your results, you need to come up with a strategy and follow through with it. If not, your time and money could end up being wasted.
