Successful Marketing
Why Niche Marketing Works for Real Estate
What is the quickest way to waste money in real
estate? Market to an area that is too wide and
diverse. Just imagine all those pamphlets and flyers
going out to thousands of people who are not
interested in them. You may as well throw your money
in the trashcan. That’s where your carefully
thought-up marketing campaigns are going. So what to
do? Choose a niche.
There are so many niche markets to choose from that it would be impossible to have enough agents to cover them. Conversely, there are millions of realtors who are all vying for a big piece of the bigger pie. You can choose your niche in many ways. Geographically may be the easiest, then you would probably choose an area that is close to where you live. Makes sense to cut down on traveling costs.
Or you may choose an ethnic group, especially if you are fluent in another language. You may decide that you love vacation homes, the elderly, or the world of business people. These are all legitimate niche groups. Many are sure to be under-served by a realtor. They may get some of those many generic brochures, but since they are so generic and offer nothing of value, out they go.
Once you get to know the neighborhood that you’ve chosen for your niche, you will be able to target its specific problems and perceived needs. Once the people suddenly realize that here is someone who knows about them, how they feel and what they need, guess whom they will be contacting when they need a realtor? Your brochures will end up stuck on their refrigerators with magnets. Hey, you could always stick the magnet on the back yourself.
So do you have marketing dollars to throw away, or will you choose a niche market and become a big fish in a little pond. You need to serve up quality information with a frequency that will keep your name in the minds of your target niche. It’s impossible to do this with a huge area. There is no way anyone person could get to know the specifics of a whole city - or even half of it. Most agents like to target an area of somewhere between 500 to 1000 homes.
Doing this will eliminate most of your competition. You can be the expert - and will be - on your area. You’ll enjoy it so much because you are working within the area of your interests. And you’ll soon be so familiar with it that other realtors will begin to ask you for advice.
There are so many niche markets to choose from that it would be impossible to have enough agents to cover them. Conversely, there are millions of realtors who are all vying for a big piece of the bigger pie. You can choose your niche in many ways. Geographically may be the easiest, then you would probably choose an area that is close to where you live. Makes sense to cut down on traveling costs.
Or you may choose an ethnic group, especially if you are fluent in another language. You may decide that you love vacation homes, the elderly, or the world of business people. These are all legitimate niche groups. Many are sure to be under-served by a realtor. They may get some of those many generic brochures, but since they are so generic and offer nothing of value, out they go.
Once you get to know the neighborhood that you’ve chosen for your niche, you will be able to target its specific problems and perceived needs. Once the people suddenly realize that here is someone who knows about them, how they feel and what they need, guess whom they will be contacting when they need a realtor? Your brochures will end up stuck on their refrigerators with magnets. Hey, you could always stick the magnet on the back yourself.
So do you have marketing dollars to throw away, or will you choose a niche market and become a big fish in a little pond. You need to serve up quality information with a frequency that will keep your name in the minds of your target niche. It’s impossible to do this with a huge area. There is no way anyone person could get to know the specifics of a whole city - or even half of it. Most agents like to target an area of somewhere between 500 to 1000 homes.
Doing this will eliminate most of your competition. You can be the expert - and will be - on your area. You’ll enjoy it so much because you are working within the area of your interests. And you’ll soon be so familiar with it that other realtors will begin to ask you for advice.
Tips for Creating a Successful Marketing Campaign
Your real estate business will only be as successful
as your marketing campaign; therefore it is essential
to get your marketing campaign right. No matter what
you use for a marketing vehicle you must constantly
test, analyze and tweak to see which part brought in
good or bad results. Once you know this you’ll be
able to decide if it can be improved - or if it
should be dispensed with.
Six important elements of your marketing campaign are: -
• Marketing purpose
• Marketing objectives
• Presentation
• Information
• Venue and
• Expectations
Marketing purpose seems to be obvious. You want to get leads to buy and sell property so you can make a profit. But wait! If your goal is to have happy and satisfied customers, you will still achieve the first goal - and probably do so more quickly. So your marketing purpose is actually to establish an emotional relationship with the customer based on your brand or service; this includes trust and respect.
Marketing objectives. The main objective here is to get your name out there where people can recognize it, draw their attention to your product or service and let them know how it will improve their life. You also have to give them the opportunity to purchase the service.
Presentation: Use everything at your disposal to achieve a meaningful and stimulating presentation. New technology is wonderful for this, but don’t forget the tried and true methods of advertising, brochures, postcards, newsletters and the like.
Information. The customer needs to be instructed, informed, involved and entertained. The last will enhance the first three objectives. High-pressure selling or hype of any kind will turn your prospective customers away in droves. They have seen enough of it and are cynical. Humor will make them laugh - and keep reading.
Venue encompasses presentation but is more, in that it includes where your presentation will take place; websites, shop windows, newspapers, magazines, television and radio. Make use of them all.
Expectations: yours, your manager’s and your customers. To start with, what are your own expectations? You will want a good ROI, but Rome wasn’t built in a day and you can’t expect to be an overnight success. It takes time to build good presence, gain trust and respect and get your campaign going. Your manager will be pleased to see the leads roll in, but he doesn’t expect you to be superman - at least not all the time. It bears repeating; your customer is the most important part of the equation. Once you get happy customers everything else will start to fall into place. If you don’t you’d better get out there and start analyzing and tweaking your campaign to see what’s missing.
Six important elements of your marketing campaign are: -
• Marketing purpose
• Marketing objectives
• Presentation
• Information
• Venue and
• Expectations
Marketing purpose seems to be obvious. You want to get leads to buy and sell property so you can make a profit. But wait! If your goal is to have happy and satisfied customers, you will still achieve the first goal - and probably do so more quickly. So your marketing purpose is actually to establish an emotional relationship with the customer based on your brand or service; this includes trust and respect.
Marketing objectives. The main objective here is to get your name out there where people can recognize it, draw their attention to your product or service and let them know how it will improve their life. You also have to give them the opportunity to purchase the service.
Presentation: Use everything at your disposal to achieve a meaningful and stimulating presentation. New technology is wonderful for this, but don’t forget the tried and true methods of advertising, brochures, postcards, newsletters and the like.
Information. The customer needs to be instructed, informed, involved and entertained. The last will enhance the first three objectives. High-pressure selling or hype of any kind will turn your prospective customers away in droves. They have seen enough of it and are cynical. Humor will make them laugh - and keep reading.
Venue encompasses presentation but is more, in that it includes where your presentation will take place; websites, shop windows, newspapers, magazines, television and radio. Make use of them all.
Expectations: yours, your manager’s and your customers. To start with, what are your own expectations? You will want a good ROI, but Rome wasn’t built in a day and you can’t expect to be an overnight success. It takes time to build good presence, gain trust and respect and get your campaign going. Your manager will be pleased to see the leads roll in, but he doesn’t expect you to be superman - at least not all the time. It bears repeating; your customer is the most important part of the equation. Once you get happy customers everything else will start to fall into place. If you don’t you’d better get out there and start analyzing and tweaking your campaign to see what’s missing.