Do you ever feel overwhelmed by the marketing component of your real estate business?
Real estate marketing can be complex, especially with its online component. It can be easy to misstep and make a marketing mistake that could have far-reaching consequences for your real estate business. Anyone can make a mistake, the important part is not to make the same mistake twice.
At SureFactor, we’ve seen many new agents and even experienced realtors make completely understandable (though avoidable) mistakes and we’ve identified the most common pitfalls. Here are some of the most commonly made marketing mistakes that real estate agents make and some ideas on how to make them right:
Building Your Own Website
If you’re a new real estate agent just starting out, it might be tempting to save a few dollars by building your own website using a website template tool. Our advice? Don’t. Just don’t. Unless you have experience in professional web design and SEO copywriting, you should hire a professional to create your website.
Potential clients can spot an amateur website a mile away, which will devalue your personal brand and make it appear that you don’t care about your online customers.
If you have your license parked with a company that offers personal websites, by all means, take them up on it. If you don’t, hire someone to create a webpage that will give your brand a professional flare. It doesn’t need to be elaborate or extensive. Simply a professionally written landing page, your contact information, and perhaps a blog can give you a solid internet presence that you can expand on through the use of social media platforms.
Not Keeping in Contact with Old Clients
Your clients are the lifeblood of your business. They’re the ones who bring you products (homes, businesses, property) and they’re the ones who you’re going to sell to. Although going out and finding new clients is how to expand your business, keeping in contact with your old clients is how you maintain it.
Your existing customer database is a gold mine that you should be going back to again and again. Dropping an occasional email or newsletter to old clients will keep you in their minds, and that’s exactly where you want to be. Holding annual client appreciation events will get you face to face time and the opportunity to strengthen your personal relationship with them.
Closing a deal should only mark the end of that particular chapter of your business relationship with a client. After giving them a few weeks to settle into their home, fire them off a personal message asking how they’re doing, if they’re comfortable, and if there’s anything you can do for them. That kind of connection will be remembered the next time they need someone to list their house. It can also lead to referrals, which is one of the best ways to expand your business.
Neglecting Social Media
Some people hate using social media for their business, and that’s perfectly understandable. However, that doesn’t mean that you can afford just ignore it. It can be tricky to learn the ins and outs of all the social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) and incredibly time-intensive to keep them all updated. Unfortunately (or fortunately if you love it), today using social media as a real estate marketing tool is now an absolutely essential piece of an agent’s marketing strategy.
It isn’t enough that you HAVE social media pages, they also have to be updated on a regular basis with new content and interactions with customers. Nothing can hurt a brand more than a Twitter page that hasn’t been updated since 2012. It sends the message that you don’t care about social media, and therefore don’t care about the person who’s viewing it.
If you find managing social media accounts to be a bit overwhelming, scale it back a bit. Rather than creating and maintaining profiles for every social media platform out there, focus on one or two instead. On Facebook, for example, you only need 10 minutes a day to respond to customer messages, reply to comments, and maybe post a link to a piece of interesting content, like a property listing or blog post. Once you get used to managing one social media account, you can branch outward to add more.
Posting Overly Salesy, Boring, or Weak Content Online
There are some schools of thought that posting something is better than nothing. We think that’s debatable. Your real estate blog should always maintain a certain standard of quality and offer useful information to your readers. The content that you put out there is a direct reflection on you and your abilities as a real estate agent.
Remember, it’s not about you, it’s about helping them. When you’re creating content to share, channel your expertise and make it interesting and useful to your audience. You want to teach them something about real estate, so that when they run into a situation where they need an agent, they’ll instantly think, “What was the name of that agent who wrote that blog… I should get them to sell my home!”
If you’re creating interesting and useful content, and you still aren’t getting any views, then you might need to up your email marketing game. Start with a monthly e-newsletter and send it to your clients, both old and current. This will get eyes looking at your content and will keep you in your clients’ thoughts on a regular basis.
Not Having the Right Real Estate Marketing Materials
Some real estate agents only focus on their online marketing efforts and that’s a huge mistake. Having a great website is essential, but so is having professional quality real estate business cards that you can give out to potential clients.
The tactile experience of handing someone a business card is actually somehow MORE memorable in this age of digital marketing. Even if they simply put your business card in their wallet where it will stay for months and months, there’s a chance that they’ll one day be cleaning out their wallet, see it, and think, “Oh, I remember this agent! They were great. And we’ve been thinking about moving into a bigger place…”
Real estate business cards should be an integral part of your overall marketing plan, but there’s more than just that. What about personalized envelopes for your physical communications with clients? Or real estate collateral such as stickers or magnets that you can hand out at a moment’s notice? Having professional real estate marketing materials can make the difference between an agent appearing to be a newcomer amateur, or a professional with experience working with clients.
Of course, if you’re a newcomer, real estate marketing materials can be an expensive investment. That’s why you want to get all of your marketing materials from SureFactor. We have a low price guarantee, so you can be sure that you aren’t going to break the bank when you need business cards. Most importantly, we specialize in real estate and have the right templates ready for you, no matter what agency you’re with.
All you have to do is visit our website at surefactor.com, select your real estate company, and use our business card tool to include all details. You’ll be done in minutes and we even have a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Make sure that you have the edge in your real estate marketing with SureFactor!