Yes there are far more than 2 keys to real estate self-marketing success, but today we’ll focus on just two of them: focus and self-discipline.
You have dozens (hundreds?) of choices regarding how, where, and when to market your services. And that’s the problem. There aren’t enough hours in the day to pursue all of them and do it well. Even if you didn’t need to spend time with clients, there wouldn’t be time to do justice to every possible self-marketing option.
First, choose your real estate self-marketing mix.
Putting all of your eggs in one basket is risky, so you do need more than one avenue for real estate self-marketing. You can choose:
- Prospecting by direct mail
- Prospecting by email
- Creating a unique website
- Blogging – on your site and/or on another platform
- Social media marketing
- Cold calling
- Advertising in print
- Article writing
In other years, you could include hosting open houses, door knocking, networking at events, public speaking, participating in meetings and non-profit events, hosting client parties, and other in-person marketing. When this pandemic finally becomes a memory, you can add one or more of those activities.
Second, go all-out to “Do What You Do Do Well.”
(#29 on the charts in 1965 – you’re too young to remember.) Whatever methods you choose, put your effort into them. Focus, then use the self-discipline to be consistent. Once-in-a-while marketing has never been a productive use of time.
Prospecting:
- Decide if you’ll prospect by postal mail or email. Then obtain your lists and enter them in your system.
- Get your core prospecting letters set up and ready to go. Here’s how.
- Create your schedule and set it on autopilot.
- Add time-sensitive messages as needed. (Market reports, just listed, your newsletter, etc.)
Prospecting can take the least amount of your time.
Once your prospecting letters and your lists are in place, you won’t have to give it daily attention. You WILL need to add mailing to your task list when taking a listing, closing a sale, creating a new market report, etc.
Remember that staying in touch with past clients and people in your sphere is part of prospecting. You don’t need to ask them for business, and probably shouldn’t. You do need to let them know you are still IN business and are happy to be their source of real estate information.
If you don’t want to write your own prospecting letters, choose from my selection at: https://copybymarte.com/prospecting-letters/
Creating a unique website
This is and must be a work in progress. It will be time intensive at first, but won’t need daily or even weekly attention. I believe it is a necessary component to real estate self-marketing. You may not agree.
Blogging for real estate self-marketing:
This goes hand-in-hand with creating a unique website, and with the next topic: Social media marketing.
Blogging requires a time commitment, and the self-discipline to stick to your schedule. Posting to your blog every month or so won’t get you far.
Those who do it best focus on their goal. They promote their niche and their community while revealing the depth of their service to clients. They tell stories and allow their readers to see their personalities. They also use their posts to connect with other agents who will send them referrals.
Because their posts are focused, and because they blog continuously year after year, they get search engine traffic.
Successful bloggers focus first on writing useful blog posts for their own websites, then on sharing them on other platforms.
Social media marketing:
Here is where too many agents lose focus and get tangled in the weeds. They try to create and maintain a presence on Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Active Rain, and perhaps several more.
Unless that’s ALL they have to do all day, there simply isn’t time to maintain a positive presence in that many places.
Sure, you can use a service to upload your blog posts to a variety of sites, but simply having your posts appear isn’t what brings you new clients.
To gain new clients, you have to be present and mingle with the other users. You have to comment on their posts and reply when they comment on yours.
For best results, focus your attention on one or two social media sites and use them well.
What does it mean to use a social media site well?
I’m not an expert on this topic, but I’d say you need to post your listings, information about your niche or territory, stories about challenging real estate transactions and customers (without revealing names), real estate tips (if they aren’t the same old, same old), and a bit about yourself, your favorite non-profits, your pets, etc. No rants, however.
Cold calling: 
It’s a bit risky, due to the do not call lists, but some still do use it. If it is your choice, put call time on your daily schedule and discipline yourself to make those calls during that time period.
Of course, calling past clients and people in your sphere is always a good idea. You can stay in touch by email, but calling to say hello is friendlier.
Print Advertising:
Depending upon your target audience, this can be a good source of leads. Do your research first, and when you advertise, offer benefits. Every other agent will be saying “I’m your neighborhood expert” and your audience has already seen that hundreds of times.
As with everything else, consistency is important, so an ad “now and then” probably won’t be worth the expense.
Article writing:
Depending again upon your audience, writing articles for local print and on-line publications is a beautiful source of free advertising. Simply by publishing your articles, the newspaper or magazine is endorsing you as the local expert.
If you have the self-discipline to become a regular contributor, go for it! When your articles are interesting and informative, readers will begin to look for them on their regularly scheduled day.
Make choices. You cannot do everything, so choose the marketing avenues you enjoy. Then focus and give them your all.
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Focus is a matter of deciding what things you’re not going to do.
John Carmack
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It’s far too easy to get distracted and put off real estate self-marketing activities. That’s especially true this year, when you may be working from home along with other family members.
You may also feel discouraged because so many agents are seeking so few listings. That’s a good reason to stay focused and use the self-discipline to be consistent in marketing. Let your competitors slack off while you get out and list those houses!
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“We must all suffer one of two things: the pain of discipline or
the pain of regret and disappointment.”
Jim Rohn
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Work and choices graphics courtesy of Start Miles @ freedigitalphotos.net
Agent on the phone courtesy of podpad at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
