Any type of real estate marketing is expensive, when it doesn’t produce results. Many of the frustrations for real estate professionals revolve around how leads from their marketing efforts are poor and that they aren’t closing any sales from any of their lead generation activities. Unfortunately this usually results in ditching marketing all together and hoping a new customer will “appear”.
Instead of just hope, you might consider starting with an online marketing strategy that will generate low cost leads. When you start your online real estate marketing efforts there are a myriad of choices available to you. Just a fraction of choices would include paid advertising on Google, Yahoo, MSN, Facebook, etc. In the field of paid online advertising each system works differently and allows quite a bit of flexibility for the advertiser. With this flexibility though comes the opportunity to waste your money quite easily and be stuck in that same viscous cycle.
Consider the following methods when starting your online advertising:
Set a Budget – Too often real estate professionals jump into their online marketing efforts with no idea of how much they want to spend. Getting started online means understanding there will be a time needed to uncover how it all works and setting a budget that will allow you to succeed. A good rule of thumb to start with is don’t spend any more than 7% of what your average commission would be on your advertising. When you consider that if you spent just 7% to get a 1 transaction you would be in good shape, especially when you could repeat that month after month!
Set a Goal – Sounds crazy, but I invite you to consider that your online real estate marketing efforts can have results from your very first month. Holding your money accountable and setting a goal for a specific number of transactions that you would like to achieve will help you to keep your money accountable and provide you with some focus at the same time.
Focus on Leads – Creating ads online (and even your SEO efforts) should all be focused on generating leads. When you have people requesting information from you, either via phone or e-mail, each day it gives you the opportunity to convert those leads into fresh appointments. Don’t think that you need to “brand” yourself or “get the word out”, rather consider focusing on providing value to your online visitors and compel them to contact you for help.
Be Specific – Too often real estate professionals (and many business owners for that matter) take very little time in their ad creation and where they will direct their ads. Take time to consider what people are searching on and direct them to pages within your website that will quickly give them the information they are looking for. This will keep your costs low and keep the leads flowing.
Real estate is an extremely competitive field and is getting even more competitive online. Keeping your costs low for your online marketing efforts will keep leads coming in, new appointments each week, and a steady flow of closings going each and every month.
