A huge majority of the Inner Circle and Coaching e-mails that come in over the course of a month are ‘marketing’ related. The vast majority of our new members are relatively inexperienced at marketing and creating lead generating campaigns vs. just placating sellers is something that actually is a bit of a challenge. This month, Rick’s post looks at the practical side of creating opportunity using a marketing strategy. Here at RR we’re all about sharing practical advise and sharing examples that come from our most successful members.
This post does that, it also references the Hotline technology that Rick used for years in his successful business. Our affiliate partner for that technology is Automated Marketing Solutions. At their office, speak with Amy if you have questions about how to correctly install that tool into Contact them at 800 858-8889.
We hope you enjoy this installment. -RR
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For our elite coaching members here in Canada, those working one-on-one with Craig and his coaching team, I hope you enjoyed a great Canada Day on July 1! Same goes for our members in the US – Happy fourth of July. The good news is that finally summer is upon us and with it all the great traditions that make us smile. BBQ’s, vacations, summer camp, the lake, the beach, and so much more. At my house, for Canada day, we have a yard full and we BBQ. It was GREAT!!
So over the past few Coaching calls with Craig we’ve earnestly tried to get you to slightly adjust your perspective on many of your day to day activities as a hard working Realtor. A lot of discussion has centered around the marketing and advertising you do and why the format likely needs to change – simply, a strategic marketing campaign should have sole purpose of “GENERATING LEADS”.
We’ve tried to get you to see how this strategy should fit in to your business model to enhance what you are already doing. As an advocate for a marketing based, lead gen strategy, I can’t stress enough how critical it is you implement these ideas sooner rather than later, especially if you are in need of a commission cheque or two and you really need MORE opportunity to sell.
The vast majority of you have been sharing your marketing with us, attending the Ad Clinic WEBINAR SESSION (something we’ve done for almost 20 years) every Friday at 11:00 AM, uploading YOUR marketing pieces along with the results and I commend you for that. Remember, along with teaching you the value of marketing for your leads, we’re also encouraging you to become diligent marketing analysts so you can understand and know your local trends. As you’ve heard Craig and I say – knowing what’s trending locally gives you an edge when preparing a marketing campaign.
So, building on that, for today’s discussion, lets talk marketing…. It’s a great discussion, one I love to lead every chance I get. Now, remember how we’ve discussed how that much desired, multi-layered marketing approach you’re working towards should eventually look? Recall from those discussions that there was more than one idea that we should be pursuing for the sole purpose of generating a lead….well let’s dive in to that just a little more today.
Let’s choose 2 established, well used real estate mediums locally – you decide which two – but for the sake of this exercise, lets choose one that’s off-line and one that’s on-line. But, which two Rick?
Maybe choose the newspaper locally that carries real estate ads but probably NOT your big daily – it’s very likely too big covering an entire state or province or complete population (LA Times, DALLAS Morning News, Toronto Star, etc) and too expensive. Use something smaller, weekly, freely delivered, that gets delivered to the area locally that’s creating the highest turnover in sales.
For the on-line medium, most areas have a locally run classified site that has houses for sale. Often you can use the local newspaper on-line classified site in conjunction with the paper ad. Again, trying to use something used by YOUR local prospects. Craigslist style classifieds are the measuring stick though many LOCAL sites aren’t as badly saturated as Craigslist.
Based on what Craig has been talking to you about, look at them closely and you’ll see what typical Real Estate marketing looks like. Most of it is “listing centric” – in other words, heavy dependence on the features (useless feature dumping) of a house for sale – the NARROW APPEAL approach. As well, you’ll likely bump in to a good share of IMAGE STYLE ads – agents extolling the benefits of calling them – area specialist, awards, top producer, #1, etc. Just so you know, these two styles of marketing will never go away and, interestingly enough, every year we’ll hear the same thing from THOSE agents: “Hey Craig and Rick, I’m really great once I get a client into a negotiation…the problem I have is I don’t have any clients to negotiate for!”
Remember also that you’ve already been engaged in those types of ads, and even though you did some business because of them, it didn’t produce sustainable and repeated opportunity to your business.
Here’s a couple of simple-to-understand but crucial things to include in your ad:
- Remember, to get prospects to respond, GIVE THEM EXACTLY WHAT THEY WANT, NEED, OR ARE LOOKING FOR!! This isn’t rocket science, it’s logic and common sense…A buyer wants a deal – give them a deal then tell them how to access a bunch of similar deals.
- Make sure your marketing message is relevant to what’s going on. By now you’ve done your market study and you have a really good working knowledge of faster selling price range, real active geo areas,
Let your ad start with a screaming deal for a house for sale…remember the best headlines get the clicks IN to the body of the ad. Look how Kijiji, eBay Classifieds, BackPage, WebCosmo, Craigslist, etc. work with headlines. That’s the first thing a prospect sees, they actually search the headlines for the one that catches their
eye.
- LOOK – LISTED WAY BELOW MARKET VALUE, NEED FAST SALE
- HELP…GOING IN TO FORECLOSURE IF NOT SOLD BY JULY 15
- MUST SELL – OWNER MOVED OUT ALREADY – HELP
- MUST SELL – UNCLAIMED EMPTY HOME
- QUICK SALE OPPORTUNITY
Now create a simple, short, emotionally charged caption that offers a prospect enough to whet their appetite for the offer you make. A wider appeal is the answer here. Include pictures. Remember, most prospects like to SEE something to make a decision. Stats tell us about 70% of prospects are visually oriented so the pictures help to draw them in to the ad. Media is usually “visually” oriented, people go to their screens to see pictures and be lured in by how things ‘look’. Off line, with classifieds, display ads, ear-lugs, and editorials, you’ll create more calls in to hotline that you will from the ON-LINE source.
Get ads like this one running in 8 or 10 mediums locally and voila – instant LEADS! If time is on your hands, post like crazy, experiment with a few word changes but TALK TO THE MARKET. It’s listening, and if you offer if, they will ask for it.
How many relevant marketing campaigns can you run? Two? Three? Four? I’m sure we could find a couple of great selling market sectors that would easily deliver up leads if the message simply called out to the movement of sales, listings, and buyer activity, the logical conclusion is participation in the answer gathering activity your provide to prospects through your marketing campaigns.
Coming… Leads from Listings – easy!! -RB
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