Real Estate Marketing Ideas
I-Square turns prospects into clients. It can also create prospects from scratch. within this ongoing article, we are going to delve into four unique new ways I-Square can help you to find new clients and build your business. These are concepts that would be difficult, cumbersome, or next to impossible prior to I-Square. Every strategy we detail here are of minimal cost. The concepts focus on the long view. This is about laying the foundations of a long term, thriving business.
New clients now!
Most real estate agent's most pressing issue is where and how to find new business. Finding new business today is more difficult than ever. The culprit? The internet.
The Internet: The good, the bad, and the ugly.
What's good about the internet: Access to information. Consumers can find out just about anything and everything concerning real estate. All the information they need is right at their fingertips.
What's not so good about the internet: While consumers have access to a great deal of information, more often than not, they are unaware of the exact information they need in order to successfully buy or sale their home. Access to massive amount of real estate information often leads to consumers developing a false sense of confidence in their ability to manage their own real estate needs. The importance of an experienced agent is undervalued as the consumer boldly forges ahead with their own real estate strategy. This of course, leads to painful and costly real estate transaction mistakes. Tons of information does not equate to tons of knowledge.
What's bad about the internet: Bad information. Often, consumers do not have the experience to tell the difference.
What's ugly: Fat cat mega-real estate sites. They dominate the internet landscape. As an agent, you are forced to play by their rules. They gobble up search engine contacts and dole them out to agents - at a cost.
The mega-sites have become an expected "cost of doing business" as agents are forced to compete in a perpetual bidding war over internet leads of questionable value. Most agents today cannot survive without business contacts derived from the mega-sites.
The near complete dependency agents have on outside lead sources, is alarming.
Well the internet is here to stay. And there isn't a thing you can do about the mega-real estate sites. However, you can chip away at the impact these mega-sites have on your business by nurturing and developing your own long-term, viable lead sources. Work done in this direction now, will be well worth the effort in the long run. Let's look at several old-fashioned, proven real estate marketing strategies, accelerated with I-Square.
Remember when you first were introduced to real estate marketing? You probably recall that one way to introduce your business to a particular neighborhood, was to get marketing material about your business in the hands of the homeowners. You're likely familiar with a marketing piece similar to the one below:
This traditional mailing piece may have fallen out of favor, but it represents a proven, bedrock marketing concept. The concept addresses the fact that consumers have little interest in what you do for a living, until the moment they need the service you provide. So, you market to the community by coupling your business with something they do care about. This approach has been successfully utilized by real estate and insurance professionals to grow their businesses, for over a century!
Let's take this proven concept and accelerate it with I-Square. Utilize a marketing piece that features a link to a customized, interactive I-Square website:
(See Example Mockup)
There is the obvious visual advantage, but there are several additional advantages you may have missed:
Once you understand the concept, you can easily expand on this strategy. Consider the various locations you could market. For example, what if you gave away recipe cards at the state fair, or other popular event?
In addition, your content can be literally be anything:
Again, the "share with a friend" square within each website, gives this type of marketing serious new heft. Also, in each circumstance, you are interacting with locals. You should take full advantage of that, by forging relationships. For example, with a restaurant contact information site, let the restaurant owners know what you're doing. Encourage the owners send you information on specials from time to time, so you can add it to your restaurant I-Square site. They will love you for it. Of course, restaurant owners have real estate needs from time to time. They also have friends and family. They also know lots and lots of people. (I'm sure you get the idea!)
Building your own system of lead resources is important and neccessary work. Take the long view to take control of the future.
Well the internet is here to stay. And there isn't a thing you can do about the mega-real estate sites. However, you can chip away at the impact these mega-sites have on your business by nurturing and developing your own long-term, viable lead sources. Work done in this direction now, will be well worth the effort in the long run. Let's look at several old-fashioned, proven real estate marketing strategies, accelerated with I-Square.
Good to know: Make an effort to understand insurance terms and lingo. Understanding what various health insurance, or alternative health plan terms mean, is truly invaluable when it comes to choosing a quality health care plan. Don't even attempt to shop for coverage until you have a good understanding of terms like copay, coinsurance, deductibles, and lifetime maximums.
Strategy #1: Go local, Go Viral.
Remember when you first were introduced to real estate marketing? You probably recall that one way to introduce your business to a particular neighborhood, was to get marketing material about your business in the hands of the homeowners. You're likely familiar with a marketing piece similar to the one below:
This traditional mailing piece may have fallen out of favor, but it represents a proven, bedrock marketing concept. The concept addresses the fact that consumers have little interest in what you do for a living, until the moment they need the service you provide. So, you market to the community by coupling your business with something they do care about. This approach has been successfully utilized by real estate and insurance professionals to grow their businesses, for over a century!
Let's take this proven concept and accelerate it with I-Square. Utilize a marketing piece that features a link to a customized, interactive I-Square website:
(See Example Mockup)
There is the obvious visual advantage, but there are several additional advantages you may have missed:
- You can display a variety of recipes.
- You can display a lot more pertinent information about you.
- Changeable and updatable. It's an I-Square site, so changes are as easy as pie!
- You can encourage consumers to submit their favorite recipes. (Note they would have to email their recipe to you. That provides the opening to speak with them directly, start a conversation, and to ask for their future business!)
- Your recipe site is online. You don't have to worry about a marketing piece that becomes dog-eared and grainy. Consumers can go back to your site again and again for their favorite recipes, or to find new recipes - perhaps learning a bit more about your business every time.
- Most important: Take note of the "share with a friend" square. Anyone can shoot your recipe site to a friend with an easy click or two. There is no limit to how many people your site will ultimately reach.
Once you understand the concept, you can easily expand on this strategy. Consider the various locations you could market. For example, what if you gave away recipe cards at the state fair, or other popular event?
In addition, your content can be literally be anything:
- Quotes from famous Americans
- Local heroes
- Local highschool sports and events
- Great fishing spots
- Local gardening tips
- Political events
- Charity events and fund raisers
- Contact information to neighbohood restaurants that offer pick up or delivery. *Think apartment complex*. (I especially like this one, because I personally look up these numbers repeatedly. I would literally use a site like this once a week!)
Again, the "share with a friend" square within each website, gives this type of marketing serious new heft. Also, in each circumstance, you are interacting with locals. You should take full advantage of that, by forging relationships. For example, with a restaurant contact information site, let the restaurant owners know what you're doing. Encourage the owners send you information on specials from time to time, so you can add it to your restaurant I-Square site. They will love you for it. Of course, restaurant owners have real estate needs from time to time. They also have friends and family. They also know lots and lots of people. (I'm sure you get the idea!)
Building your own system of lead resources is important and neccessary work. Take the long view to take control of the future.
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