If you are real estate agent who has been in the business for many years, you may still be using the more traditional of marketing tricks, sorting out a designated campaign, possibly investing in the expertise of professional marketers to ensure that your campaigns are relevant, timely and effective. You might not have thought about taking your marketing strategy online. But many of those who have entered the real estate arena more recently are using online marketing techniques that are highly effective.
The traditional ways called for a more hands on approach and excellent communication skills. A pile of phone numbers and an index card system. In the good old days, agents spent a great deal of time phoning potential clients and took a more intuitive approach as to whether that person was a lead or not. All the information was collated on individual index cards and filed for future use. The plus side of this type of system is that real estate agents were able to start building the foundations of human interaction much earlier than in the more modern and current online processes.
As technology became the norm and the price of PC’s dropped dramatically, agents gradually moved their processes across electronically and ultimately, this became a much more efficient way of working usually. Providing files were backed up, all information could be stored away neatly in sub folders and pulled back at the click of the mouse. But the progression didn’t stop there. Social networking which was originally a way of just keeping in touch with friends and family suddenly became a powerful resource for ‘getting the word’ out there. Networking could easily go viral especially with the likes of Face book, where people can share your messages and ‘like’ your comments so this means that your real estate messages can reach hundreds if not thousands of people and many of whom are outside of your own network of contacts. So you can see how powerful this is.
This is a great benefit when used well and as such, it presents the question, is it time to say a fond farewell to the more traditional ways of marketing? Is phone canvassing a thing of the past? Whilst many real estate agents successfully run their business utilizing more and more processes electronically including sales, I firmly believe there will always be a place for the more traditional human contact methods of marketing. Phone calls and door to door marketing works well as does traditional marketing literature. So doesn’t it make sense to utilize both?
It doesn’t matter really how you collect leads, it simply matters that you do. You need to have a way of getting in touch with clients and staying in touch with them and this might be a mixture of Facebook, phone or email. Whatever works for you and for your client. Of course, it is much more professional if you can phone or email if you need to impart information to your client. You wouldn’t write on their Face book wall if the message was relative to your clients house sale for example but you can use it for general marketing properties, or sending out status messages that are insightful and that may illicit a response. Twitter is useful especially if you are publicising your website or a real estate buyers or sellers report because it will get people to see your website and to purchase from your website if the report or digital product is worth buying.
Ultimately, it makes sense to use the resources at your disposal. Just because we now have electronic means of marketing shouldn’t mean that we completely ignore the traditional and previously successful methods. As a real estate agent you should also consider your personal strengths. Are you good at building rapport with your clients? Do you like the face to face approach? Don’t squander the opportunity to network and market your services simply because other agents spend most of the time in front of their PC. Utilize all at your disposal and you won’t miss a real estate marketing trick.