Editor’s note: This is a sponsored post.
Top performing real estate agents bring persistence, talent and lots of hard work to the job. When it comes to marketing, these sales pros seek an advantage, and thanks to a multitude of new marketing tools, it’s much easier for agents to showcase their listings and find prospective buyers today.
While the possibility of lucrative earnings exists, selling real estate is not a get-quick-rich scheme. Just a fraction of Orange County’s “active” agents – those with at least one sale a year – get the bulk of the business, according to a report by real estate consultant Pat Veling of Real Data Strategies in Brea.
Selling real estate in a competitive market like Irvine, California, for example, requires a business plan that includes advertising. From highly targeted advertising on Facebook to staging homes and offering 3D tours online, real estate marketing has come a long way in a few short years. Top performing agents also benefit by working for a name-brand brokerage with the budget and wherewithal to make and run commercials.
Savvy Realtors Find Customers On Facebook
Real estate is visual. People literally want to see themselves in a new home. Therefore, professional photography is the cost of entry in real estate marketing. It’s also helpful to describe the properties with vivid copy that that doesn’t over-promise. The marketer’s job is to paint a lovely, but real, picture for the prospect.
Real estate is also hyperlocal. There are not thousands of buyers for every property and they are not spread all over the region or the city. Buyers of homes or industrial buildings are specific people with specific needs, and smart Realtors know how to reach these people where they live, which is increasingly on Facebook and Instagram.
Even if you’re not terribly technical, and have little or no experience in media buying, you can open a Business account on Facebook and start placing paid ads that are served to a very specific set of people. You will set a daily budget for your ads, choose to deliver them on mobile and/or desktop, and learn to track your data, so you know what’s working and what is not. There are lots of Facebook advertising resources available, and a tutorial or workshop in this area may be well worth your time.
Home Staging Is Where Priceless First Impressions Are Made
Staging a home is another critical step in today’s fiercely competitive real estate market. One of the primary goals, when you stage a home, is to remove or tone down the owner’s personality in order to make room for the buyer’s vision. There’s a risk that the seller may be put off by the suggestion to stage, but staging is not an insult, it’s a business decision meant to return maximum dollars to the seller.
When you decide to stage a home, you can bring in a professional stager or staging company. Some sellers may also be able to stage the home themselves following a consultation with a professional stager. From using cozy props in the kitchen to beautiful coverlets and quilts on the beds, home staging is extremely popular and effective.
More and Better Word of Mouth Is Always the Goal
In real estate, as in most industries, your reputation and ability to create positive word of mouth is the ultimate difference maker.
Copywriter and advertising educator, Dan Goldgeier, says, “If there’s one thing marketers love, it’s getting other people to do their jobs for them. That’s been the tempting lure of Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) for years, particularly with the rise of social media. But like all other marketing initiatives, it requires strategic thinking, planning, and discipline.”
Successful real estate agents are fortunate. They can ask for customer testimonials for their website or other promotional materials without too much resistance or heavy lifting. But it doesn’t happen