I’ve created this blog to put up information on realtor marketing and discuss pertinent issues revolving around around that topic and other real estate issues.  I hope that my readers will find these discussions interesting and valuable. 

My interest in the subject of realtor marketing comes from my observations of various realtors trying to sell my house and property.  I’ve come to the conclusion that most realtors have not been taught the art of marketing that would benefit them in their quest to gain new clients and sell listings. 

I’ve been an internet marketer since the late 1990’s and have learned how to direct market to customers.  I go for the response and sales.  This has applications in the world of real estate but so many realtors are not aware of these methods.  I’ve also consulted realtors and have helped them increase the size of their agencies and their profits using these techniques.

 I believe that realtors could benefit from learning direct marketing techniques which would increase their business and put more money in their pockets.  I plan on using this realtor marketing blog to go over some techniques that would apply to the real estate field.

I welcome comments and would like to hear from you about topics you think I should discuss and your comments on real estate marketing. 

He really couldn’t see this type of duty helping him.  Well, I told him about another realtor I knew who welcomed his stint on the “floor”.  This realtor told me that he made about 20 percent of his income (more in some good years) from the contacts he made while managing the agency’s phone and walk-ins. 

You can’t pass up the potential for new clients that can be found because you don’t like sitting there waiting for the phone to ring.  The next phone call could be your new client.  Be sure to get all the information you can from the person on the other end. 

Most of the time they are trying to get addresses for housing that they’ve seen in the newspaper or other publication.  But you should press them to give you their personal information.  Name, phone number, address (including email), and the type of property they’re looking for. 

Be sure to tell them that they can call you if they see other properties while they’re looking to get the details.  Point out to them that the listing can be with another agency but they have a direct line, through you, to any listing in the area.  You are a cell phone call away for the specifics on any property. 

Be sure to follow up immediately.  An email or postcard thanking them for calling and explaining how you can be a help with their quest can go a long way.  If they’ve told you what they’re interested in, you can also send them some MLS listings to look at and save them time sorting through the jungle of listings available. 

The point is, there’s opportunity in all your realtor duties.  Take advantage of them and you will be on your way to increased sales. 

A personal realtor website has become important in this competetive business.  This is your personal website to sell yourself as the real estate agent of choice.  It should be separate from the agency’s website. 

This realtor website should contain good content about why perspective clients need you to aid them in accomplishing their dreams.  It should be “magnetic” in this respect.  This means that you should not be dwelling on your qualifications.  But you should point out the benefits of using you to the seller and buyer. 

This personal realtor website should have a means to capture potential clients personal contact information.  This should be an opt-in form which is submitted and immediately responded to through an “autoresponder”.   The opt-in form should also include a “comment box” where the perspective can give details as to what they are looking for or have for sale.  Some realtors have separate forms for potential sellers and buyers. 

This quick response is important in the communication line between the realtor and client.  And it’s the first step in producing a sale.  The autoresponder should also send you an email with the perspective’s information so you can phone or email them to begin your follow-up. 

Your realtor website can also contain pertinent information that sellers and buyers are looking for.  Information about the selling process, buying process, and steps needed to be taken by the seller to prepare their property for sale.  You can provide these directly on the website or prepare special reports that can be downloaded after the potential client provides their contact information.  This is a great way to give customers the information they want and provide you with their personal information at the same time. 

There are many other uses for a personal realtor website.  You can find out more about realtor marketing techniques at: http://www.realtormarketinginfo.com  Marketing yourself as a trusted realtor is the means to increase your business and sales.

 Realtors have yet to pick up on using sales letters in the form of sales pages on their personal realtor website to sell their listings.  Yet, this is one of the best means to introduce the potential buyer to a listing and pre-sell them on wanting to see the property and buy it. 

Realtors can also use sales letters to interest sellers in using them as their real estate agent.  This is also a very efficient method for this purpose and it can incorporate automation in the process to cut down on the time the realtor has to spend on this task.

Unfortunately, most real estate agents don’t know how to write a sales producing letter.  They fall back on traditional advertising instead of using the direct marketer’s way of concentrating on one product (or in this case, one listing) at a time. 

The realtor should consider using this technique to increase business and sales.  But this will mean having to write the letter.  To make writing a sales letter cheap and efficient, the realtor could use a software program like Sales Letter In A Box to accomplish this task.

This program makes it so simple.  Just fill in the blanks and the sales letter and page are generated for you.  So, don’t be scared of writing sales letters again. Give it a try and see your sales soar.

 In reality, I believe that it’s so very important for a real estate agent to have their own website because it is one of the best means to gain new prospects and clients, to keep in touch with them, and to increase the sales of your listings.

Just think about how the internet has grown since the year 2000.  It’s like a wildfire out of control.  All those connected people!  Do you know anyone that isn’t online?  And studies show that people begin their house search with the internet these days.  You have to take advantage of that. 

The internet has changed.  Where once it was full of “here I am”, dotcom websites.  Now businesses have realized it as a marketing and advertising tool.  Realtors have come to this conclusion too. 

Where once they viewed the internet as what happened to the “travel agency” - putting them out of business.  Now more and more realtors are coming to the conclusion that the internet can aid and expand their business. 

The personal realtor website can be used to “mine” prospect’s personal information for follow-ups.  This can be automated with autoresponders and save the you time and money.  You can be interactive with your website visitors this way and by making FAQ pages that deal with specific topics, the visitor can have their questions answered without having to take up your time. 

The realtor can put up her listings in non-traditional ways that pre-sell the visitor on wanting to look at the property (and perhaps, pre-sell the deal).  This can be done with direct marketing sales pages.  This is the cheapest advertising I know of (less than $100/yr) and it makes you a 24/7 business without taking up your time.

I could go on and on about the benefits of having your own realtor website.  But, I think you get my point. 

You can make and change your website all by yourself, or hire someone to do it for you at a reasonable cost (I’d stay away from website designers that were educated in college though.  They’re the most expensive and the least effective.)  Either way, you can be involved in how the site looks and how effective it is.

If you plan on designing and making your own realtor website, you might want to look at: 4MakingYourOwnWebsite . 

Whatever your motives, your personal realtor website will help you expand your realty business if you think of it as a business tool and use it as such.  The dotcoms went broke because they just wanted to tell the world they are here.

The smart real estate marketer focuses on the customer and not on their ego.  This should be the number one rule.  Marketers have long known that if you cater to the customer’s desires, dreams, and emotions, you will make the sale.  And if you cultivate the relationship with your customer, you will make sales again and again, plus get referrals that will lead to more sales.

In the early days of the internet and the dotcom explosion, many realtors that went online learned the hard lesson that the ”web” isn’t a simple platform where you put up a corporate looking website and expect people to flock to you.  They found that it isn’t a world where you mimic the old tv and print media advertising and expect results.  This is why so many of their dotcom sites failed.

These sites weren’t customer oriented and provided only a egotistical view of the realtor or the agency.  Visitors to these realtor websites were turned off, saying to themselves, “who cares”, then quickly clicking away.

Today the realtor realizes that the internet isn’t going to make real estate businesses go by the wayside as it has for so many travel agencies.  The buyer isn’t going online, finding a home they like, and clicking a “buy now” button.  The buyer still needs that local interaction with the real estate agent to view the listings and complete the sales. 

The potential client is searching for information.  They are also searching for someone who is interested in their needs and will aid them in their quest to sell or buy property.  They want this person to be concerned with them and follow through in a professional manner when helping them with their real estate dreams.

This sales process has both online and offline components.  These must be integrated together for the process to work smoothly and be of both benefit to the client and the agent.  Both components should be totally customer oriented. 

I surf the web often to observe the websites of realtors.  And I find that so many realtor websites are total turn-offs.  They seem to be “boasting” platforms instead of trying to aid the customer and make the process go smoothly. 

This is often true in the offline world of real estate.  I remember my first experience with a real estate broker.  I was trying to find a competent realtor to sell my property.  Over and over I came across realtors that would sit down and begin telling me how they had been in business for ‘X’ number of years, had sold hundreds of houses, and had the best training in the field.  I could have cared less about their accomplishments.

What I was focused on was what could they do to help me sell my house.  What were their thoughts on how to advertise, where to advertise, and how to promote my sales to the community. 

Instead, these realtors broke the number one rule.  They didn’t listen to me as a customer.  They knew it all because of their vast training and experience.  They were top dogs in the field.  They proceeded to tell me that they knew how to do everything and I shouldn’t worry about anything.   This just left me in the dark wondering if my needs had any place in their world. 

You have to listen to your customers and supply them what they are asking for and want. Whether online or offline this should be the prime concern.  As a marketer, you will find a loyalty beyond belief is you place your clients and customer first and in the spotlight.

I think anyone viewing the gas situation realizes that it affects every facet of our lives and businesses.  Real estate is no different.  But what kind of impact will the high cost of gas actually have? 

I’m no soothsayer but I can definitely seeing some basic effects.  First, I see buyers looking for housing within short driving distances of their office, schools, and shopping.  It may be harder to sell housing in the country where there is now a costly commute.  I think that’s a given, especially if the situation continues and gas prices rise. 

Housing within inexpensive driving distance will certainly affect the housing market.  This will be on the minds of your buyers for sure.  It will also make those homes more desirable. 

I also see a change in how real estate agents do business.  More time will be spent trying to do the daily routine from the office instead of wasting gas driving to clients, meetings, and viewing potential listings. 

Of course, you will still be showing listings, but you might find yourself grouping the listings you show close together to make the trip cost efficient.  This will happen naturally as the buyers begin to prefer housing within close driving distances.

Realtor websites will become more important.  Supplying virtual tours, links to MLS, finacial calculators, free updates by email of new listings, and other customer oriented functions through the website will take on greater importance.

Gas prices certainly will affect how real estate is marketed and housing sold in the coming months or years.  Your real estate business has most likely begun to take this into account.  If not, think about all the aspects of your business that gas prices figure into and begin to adjust.  It’s a sign of the future. 

 Scott told me that he had recently become a real estate agent and was working for a national firm that had a great mentor program that was really helping him break into the business.  He already had three listings and felt he was well on his way to a real estate career.

Scott had talked to his mentor in the agency about some of the ideas that he had gotten by reading on my website and this blog.  His mentor explained to him that these ideas wouldn’t work with real estate in their community.  The mentor thought that the tried and true methods worked the best.  In fact, he said to Scott that the listing created its own marketing. 

That may be true.  Marketing in real estate is a two way street.  Generating leads and turning follow-ups into listings is one side, while selling the listing and aiding buyers is the other side. 

Marketing and advertising the listing is the least time consuming side of the real estate business.  Getting sellers to list with you is the hardest part of realtor marketing.  But aiding buyers is the most time consuming. 

I explained to Scott that using direct response marketing would save time and effort and allow him to use his time more efficiently.  I also explained that times are changing and the real estate agent should be willing to change with the times and utilize all that is available to him/her.

The truth is that in any business, it’s the “breakthroughs” to new marketing techniques or products that propels a small business into a multimillion dollar corporation.  A marketing method breakthrough exists in most businesses and real estate is no exception. 

You need to be unique.  You need to stand apart from the competition.  You need to look for new ways to package your services that appeals to your potential clientele.  This is the means to expanding your existing business and becoming the “top dog” of real estate in your area. 

Or, you might find an entirely new way to market real estate that works.  Not only works, but propels you to the lifestyle that you dreamed about when you decided upon real estate as a career.  The old ways are good and still work, but you have to look to the future too.

Here’s a little exercise that you can do which will illustrate what I’m talking about.  Pick up your phone book and go to the real estate section of the yellow pages.  Take a look at the first realtor ad in the section.  On a piece of paper, list the promises, features, benefits, and sayings you see in the ad. 

Then go to the next realtor ad.  How many of the same features, benefits, etc are in that ad which were in the first one.  If there’s something new in the second ad, write in on your list.  Continue doing this through all your competitor’s ads.

Notice something?  They’re probably all are the same basic ad.  Nothing to distinguish one realtor or agency from the next.  None have a USP.  I’ve done this with many real estate yellow page ads from different cities and parts of the country and it’s all the same. 

The unique selling proposition (USP) is the benefit that you and your realty business have to offer that sets you apart from your competition and makes people want to choose you as their realtor. 

I was trying to explain this to a realtor client of mine.  I asked him, “What makes you different from other realtors?”  He said he didn’t really know.  So, I asked him to dwell on that for a minute and see if he couldn’t find the words for why someone would pick him over his competitors to be their real estate agent.

Finally, he got a smile on his face and said, “I’m the realtor that gives them the attention and support they deserve.”  We incorporated this into his yellow page ad and he began to see an increase in phone calls from new prospects.  Now he incorporates that USP in all of his advertising.

You have to think deep to find your USP, but once you’ve found it, your unique realtor USP will set you apart from the others and give prospects a reason to choose you over your competition.

P.S.  For more realtor marketing ideas, be sure to check out my website at:  http://www.realtormarketinginfo.com/ .

 Knowing the right audience to target your advertisements to can result in a considerable return on your advertising investment (ROI).  I see too many realtors sending advertisments out to almost everyone.  Like a blind archer trying to hit the target with his arrows.  This is costly and inefficient.

You should do some private research on who you’ve sold property to in the past and where these buyers bought their housing, etc.  This can give you some eye-opening clues as to who and where to target your real estate advertising.

Generally, advertising campaigns are targeted to geographic areas, demographics of the buyers, or by affinity or association.  Geographic areas are easy to target, but most realtors fail to utilize this important advertising technique.

Take a look at where you’ve been selling housing and property.  Does it cluster around certain neighborhoods  If so, you can use this information to not only sell listings but to gain prospective sellers and their listings by targeting those neighborhoods or suburbs with your advertising dollars.  You already have a proven track record there, so use it.

The demographics of your previous clients can tell you much.  Are you mainly selling low cost housing to families with incomes less than $40,000?  Or are the majority of your clients making much more?  This is valuable information.  You can use it to word your ads and target a certain income group.

Are most of your clients doctors?  Teachers?   Whatever profession your clients cluster in, there are local organizations that cater to them.  Some of these have newsletters that can be used to target your real estate advertising in.  Others have local clubs or other fraternal organizations.  You can obtain a list of members, phone numbers, and email addresses.  Target your advertisements to these.

This goes along with affinity or association marketing.  Getting involved with local organizations that not only help you professionally, but become the basis of targeted advertising and word of mouth.

There are so many means that the realtor can use to target their advertising campaigns to.  You just have to think about it and you will find the various means that fit into your real estate business objectives.  Targeting your market will result in a higher return on investment for your advertising dollar.