Some tips to help you differentiate yourself from competitors, expand your base and land more deals.
1. Leverage the print media in your town to become an expert on trends, deals, and happenings on residential real estate. Send out a press release when Trulia or the Case-Shiller Home Price Index or other service releases new information on housing or housing prices in your area. Call local TV stations, radio stations, the daily newspaper and the business journal. Let them know you have some good information to add to the latest survey and are ready to be interviewed.
2. Use your news coverage on your social sites. Don’t just use your social sites to post your latest listings and cooking tips. If you do get an article in the newspaper or an interview on TV make sure you link to it and let prospective clients know about it. It adds great credibility and heightens your professionalism.
3. Participate in popular podcasts. Podcasts are a growing form of communication and marketing. Many have a national scope, some have a local focus, several are focused on real estate. Search these out and ask to be interviewed. While the audience may be relatively small, listeners have a definite interest in the topic. Again leverage your appearance by linking the broadcast to your social sites, email newsletter and other vehicles you may use.
4. Utilize video to showcase a property, highlight your expertise and even interview a happy client. The use of video continues to grow as a key marketing tool. Yet many in real estate have not added this to their marketing campaign. You don’t need to spend thousands on video production. In many cases an iPhone video will suffice. Some editing may be required. Post the videos not only on your website but on YouTube, Vimeo and others where applicable. Once you can get the hang of it can really be an effective part of your campaign.
5. Maintain consistency. A solid marketing campaign can help you avoid a lot of the roller coaster ride associated with “hot” months and “cold” ones. Many in the industry do a few blog posts, social media entries, and even an interview, then totally forget about them when business is good. Time needs to be budgeted each week to maintain marketing consistency. If you can’t do it yourself, it pays nice dividends to find a marketing professional or freelancer to help you in this process.