Internet Marketing For Real Estate Agents

Special thanks to Tara Jacobsen for today’s post on Internet Marketing For Real Estate Agents!

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I would just like to start this post with a simple truth. There is no magic marketing that just works for real estate agents!

There are a lot of people and companies out there with a vested interest in telling you that there are special “real estate websites” or “real estate databases” instead of just telling good solid internet marketing practices that Realtors can use brand and market yourself, get leads, nurture them and then onto the closing table!

So here is my take on the fallacies about agent marketing and what you should be doing instead.

Real Estate Agent Websites

This is a biggie! Every web developer on the planet has the brilliant idea that they can help real estate agents build websites and make a gagillion dollars. They go out and research what all the other Realtor websites look like and make theirs look the same. This is why all real estate websites look alike!

Second off, most agents I talk to know that the leverage is in the listings. If you have a listing, statistics show that you will get two buyers from that listing through sign calls, internet leads and other sources. That said, almost every real estate website on the planet starts front and center with a HUGE IDX search box, prospecting for buyers…ack.

I have done extensive research into this and overwhelmingly home buyers are searching on Zillow, Trulia and Realtor.com, NOT on individual real estate websites. You are throwing your money away on having a fancy IDX solution and worse yet, driving away the sellers who see you look like all the other Realtors who are catering to buyers.

Social Media Marketing For Real Estate Agents

Social media is perfect for real estate agents, just not the way most Realtors do it. If you check out your “normal” Realtor post, you will probably see something like 1) check out this awesome listing I just got or 2) see another happy buyer talk about how awesome I am.

What about instead if you post things that people want to see like amazing houses, trends in decorating and before and after remodels.

The other BIG thing that you need to watch out for is what social media property is best for your target niche. If you are doing relocations, you will want to get over onto LinkedIn and start talking with big employers in your area. Working with Seniors, Facebook may seem like the place but there is no way you can interrupt pictures of their grandkids with your real estate marketing message. Want to do first time homebuyers, head on over to Pinterest and help them figure out what goes in their “dream home”.

In general you need to remember that social media is just like networking in person. You would never dream of shaking hands for the first time with a new friend and handing them a flyer of your latest listing immediately. Believe me, if you are talking about real estate and house related issues, people will show up to buy and sell houses!

Real Estate Postcards and Calendars

Oh, don’t get me started on this one. I am not sure who had the great idea that Realtors should send out recipe cards (I am hoping this is just a holdover from the 50’s that just will not die!) Realtors are not chefs and sending recipe cards will not help you sell houses.

Also, I cannot tell you how many listings I took with a calendar on the fridgie that had another agent’s face on it. Stop sending calendars and football schedules. Instead send out market stats that show your knowledge of the real estate market in your area. Send tips on which remodeling returns the most money and what buyers are looking for now-a-days. These are great when you are prospecting for sellers!

Email Marketing

Last but not least let’s talk about real estate databases. Top Producer was great in the days before the internet and heavy duty email marketing but is no longer great for online marketing. Wise Agent launched without the ability to even make a web form…sigh.

You should be using an internet marketing database to have free offers, capture leads and set up autoresponder campaigns (not stupid drip campaigns that don’t give any value…but that is a post for another day!)

There is no magical internet that people use to search for homes separate from the “real” internet. If you are not aggressively trying to use internet marketing tactics to get people into your database, you are getting further behind every day!

PS – Don’t forget to check out LeadsAndLeverage.com for help with Facebook and email marketing for real estate agents while you are here!

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About the author . . . Tara is a sought after marketing presenter known for her “tell it like it is style” and giving 100 miles-an-hour presentations that keeps her audience engaged and taking notes the entire time. Tara is not just talking about ideas from years past, she is actively working with small business, Realtor and entrepreneur clients on a day-to-day basis, implementing the latest cutting edge concepts that work today. Find out more about her real estate marketing services today!

by Christina Ethridge 2 Comments

Hey Real Estate Agents!! Email is Dead!! Move on!!

Email is DEAD!! Or is it???

This is a BIGGIE.

I have heard it a LOT in the last 12-18 months, catapulting into nearly daily event in the last couple of months.

Email marketing is dying.

~ Big Team Leader Real Estate Agent

Drip emails are marked as spam

~ Another Real Estate Agent

Email is DEAD! Don’t use email anymore. It never worked anyway.

Hmmm.

Maybe email is dead for real estate agents because real estate agents suck at email.

Yup. I said it. Real Estate Agents SUCK at email. Totally and completely.

They don’t know how to use it. They never have.

Tell me this… if “email is dead” why on earth are businesses finding that email is THE backbone of their business?

Businesses that are starting to ride the wave of the new “social web”. Businesses that rely nearly 100% on email to sell their products and services.

Take a look around you . . . Business in the online space today are focusing HARD on building an email list. That is their #1 goal. And, they are succeeding! They are building phenomenal businesses! They are growing… using EMAIL LISTS!

In real estate we say “lead generate, lead generate, lead generate”. We are supposed to be focusing on adding people to our database. Guess what. An email list and a database are similar. Very similar. In fact, I’d venture to say that as Real Estate Agents, instead of focusing on putting people in our “database”, we need to be focusing on adding people to our email list.

As Real Estate Agents we need to seriously step OUTSIDE of our industry. The Real Estate Industry has notoriously been years and years behind the “real world” and decades behind the “new online world” (is it even possible to be decades behind something that is just coming up on 2 decades old? Why yes! Yes it is!!)

As Real Estate Agents we need to be modeling the new wave of businesses. Studying them. Focusing on their successes. Modeling them. Instead, we are still back at discussing how email is dead and looking around for the next “shiny object”. Finding any “squirrel” opportunity to not learn, deeply learn, about what is actually working in online inbound marketing today.

When you study businesses today, specifically their inbound marketing methods, you quickly realize that email marketing is the key. Without an email list, your business will die. Heck, your business will never make it off the runway. Some won’t even get their engines started.

Are you ready to build a phenomenal real estate business? Are you ready to jump on the new wave of business bandwagon?

Then start focusing on building your email list. It’s that simple.

My question now is…. What are you doing to build your email list? Are you more focused on getting full names, phone numbers and mailing addresses that when you can’t get it all, you get nothing?

Change your focus. Stop focusing on “selling” and start focusing on “giving”. How many books have been written about this very concept? Dozens? Hundreds? Thousands? I know I’ve seen several running around the real estate industry: “The Go Giver” and “The Thank You Economy” are two that immediately come to mind.

Make an offer to give someone something that they are willing to exchange their email address for it. Make it something good. Make it something juicy. Make it something meaty.

Do it in person. Do it via snail mail. Do it on your website. Do it on your Facebook. Do it everywhere. Do it all the time.

Don’t ever stop. Don’t ever think you’ve got enough emails. Don’t change your tactic for a shiny object. Focus on getting email addresses. Focus on making your email list massive. Make it monstrous.

Whether your email list has 10 people on it or 10,000 people on it – treat it like gold. Give it things. Nurture it. Take care of it. Treat it like it’s the foundation to your business that it truly is. Give it things all the time. People are fickle. They have “squirrel” issues too. They’ll make sure they are getting all they can get, until they get the right thing, from the right person, at the right time.

Be that thing. Be that person. Be the right time.

Christina Ethridge is the founder of LeadsAndLeverage.com, helping real estate agents capture, convert and close Facebook leads.

by Christina Ethridge 2 Comments

How To Convert Real Estate Prospects: The Insider’s Secret You Must Know

Formerly Titled: Real Estate Agents! Give the Invisibility Cloak back to Harry Potter. Now!!

The Invisibility Cloak can only be “used well” by an 11 year old Hogwarts student. You, my friend, are not an 11 year old Hogwarts student. You are a Real Estate Agent.

The question is . . . Which type of Real Estate Agent are you?

There are two types of Real Estate Agents.

One type of Real Estate Agent is a fan of cold calling, door knocking, direct mail, email drip campaigns, constantly contacting anyone and everyone. They don’t care about annoying people. They don’t care if they are bothering people. They are sometimes likened with used car salesmen.

The other type of Real Estate Agent, isn’t. They can’t stand the idea of “in your face sales” or the idea of being likened to a “used car salesman”. They prefer that people like them and willingly come to them without being bothered by constant marketing or prospecting.

Which one of these two types are you?

Which one of these two types gets the most business?

Must it be an all or nothing deal???

Here’s the REAL deal….

You absolutely, positively, must get over your fear of people potentially not liking you. You must get over your preconceived idea of what you like or don’t like when it comes to being marketed or sold to. Absolutely. What you personally like or dislike is irrelevant. Totally.

I mailed to my farm every 10 days until they screamed at me to go away. If people are not complaining and not talking about you, if you are not IN THEIR FACE, you are doing it wrong. ~Mark Spain

Repetition is the absolute KEY to ANY type of successful sales.

Truly.

I’m not lying to you.

Couple that with… Most Real Estate Agents think doing something twice is “repetition”.

Nope. It’s not.

Repetition is constant. Repetition is unceasing. Repetition borders on annoying. Repetition is often. Repetition never stops (ok, that’s a repeat – see! I’m using repetition).

Any real record person knows that the number one most powerful marketing tool when it comes to music is repetition. ~Nile Rodgers

You must always be present. If you can’t always be present, you must have something that keeps you present in your prospects and clients minds.

A prospect that “sees” you today (whether that be in person, on Facebook, in an email, on a postcard) won’t remember you two days from now, or even tomorrow.

A prospect that “sees” you 2-3 times in a row will start to remember you for a day or two, or even three. Until you’ve let a few days lapse in between “seeing” them, then their memory fades quickly.

A prospect that “sees” you 6-8 times in a row will start to remember you in their longer term memory. That is, until you’ve let a few weeks laps in between “seeing” them, then their memory fades…

To become solidified in a prospects mind you must must must get in front of them a minimum of 6-8 times within an initial 2-3 week period. Must.

To continue to STAY in a prospects mind, you must STAY in front of them on at least a bi-weekly basis. At minimum.

This changes depending upon the way your prospects “see” you.

How are your prospects “seeing” you now? Are they a “fan” of your Facebook Page that you are sharing valuable content on at least once a day? Are they on an email drip campaign so they “see” you via email at least once or twice a week? Are they receiving a post card, gift card or newsletter via snail mail from you at least once or twice a month? Are they hearing your voice at least once a quarter? Are they seeing you IRL (in real life) at least once or twice a year?

Christina Ethridge is the founder of LeadsAndLeverage.com, helping real estate agents capture, convert and close Facebook leads.