Social Media Marketing Strategies For 2021 – Where to Spend Your Time

Dec 3, 2020

So, here we are, finally nearing the end of the year, and what a year it’s been!

COVID-19 disrupted many of the normal ways that agents do business. From completely virtual showings to drive-through closings in some areas, it’s hard to imagine the industry ever getting back to “normal.”

What does this mean for your 2021 marketing plan?

When talking to agents about their 2021 plans, the majority said, social media marketing will definitely play a role in their marketing strategy.

If you’re among them, make it easier on yourself by creating a section in next year’s marketing plan devoted to everything digital.

The best digital marketers fish where the fish are

When researching where to spend your digital marketing dollars, it’s important to remember that:

You are a B2C marketer, not B2B. User statistics aimed at B2B marketers are useless for real estate agents.
You have a very specific target audience (Millennials and gen x, age 32 to 56 for buyers’ agents and gen x and baby boomers, age 45 to 75, for listing agents).
Your target audience of buyers earns a median household income between $102,800 and $110,900, depending upon age and location.
Your target audience of sellers has a median age of 58 and earns a median household income of $128,800.

Courtesy: NAR 2020 Generational Trends Report

The fish are hanging out on social media

If we had to choose just one digital marketing medium to spend the bulk of our time and money on next year, social media would be our choice. We will, however, be talking about some of the other strategies in upcoming blog posts.

Which social media platform does a real estate agent’s “fish” hang out in? For the past few years, Facebook was hands down the best place to drop your hook. And, not much has changed in that regard.

The platform is popular with Americans in the homebuyer age bracket (“79% of 30 to 49-year olds use Facebook,” according to SproutSocial.com.)
Listing agents will be glad to know that 68% of those age 50 to 64-years old and 46% of adults age 65 and older use Facebook.
Finally, Facebook users hit the sweet spot in household income as well, with 74% earning more than $75,000.

Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest

We’ve mentioned before that the time it takes to be and remain active on Instagram doesn’t typically translate into the number of leads and deals most agents need and want.

At least not now.

This could be due to the fact that the platform’s demographics just don’t fit your target audience. Instagram is most popular with users between the ages of 13 to 29 years of age.

Twitter is similar in that it is most popular with younger folks, especially those in the 18 to 24 age brackets. As ages rise, the platform’s popularity decreases.

Listing agents especially, should understand that just 17% of Americans in your target audience’s age range use Twitter.

Buyers’ agents may find spending time at LinkedIn lucrative. Join some groups, post some content, because the site is quite popular with 30-to-49-year-olds.

Pinterest is another time and labor-intensive platform, but its demographics fit tidily with your target audience. “The median age of a Pinterest user is 40,” according to Salman Aslam, founder and CEO of Omincore.

Check out these boards to help you decide if Pinterest is worth your time:

Consider hiring a social media manager to do the heavy lifting, freeing you to focus on other parts of your real estate business.

Send the Should I Stay or Go postcard from the Get More Listings Series to your Farm or an area where you’re currently prospecting.

PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. Become a Neighborhood Brand

Become branded in a specific neighborhood with a 12X15 marketing piece sent automatically each month to an exclusive carrier route. Watch this video to learn more or Click Here.

2. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

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The Real Estate Mailing List Guide outlines the top tools for generating targeted prospecting lists including Baby Boomers, Empty Nesters, Investors, Lifestyle Interests, High-Income Renters, Move-Up Markets, and more. The Guide also defines done-for-you marketing campaigns to match these markets. –Click Here

3. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

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The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do when. Four key market segments are included, Niche Marketing, Get More Listings, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence. –Click Here

4. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

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Treat your business like a business it is vital to long-term success in this industry. Some agents may put together elaborate business plans, yet there’s something powerful about keeping it simple. Check out our one page Online Real Estate Business Plan. – Click Here

5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

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Ready to take a vertical leap in your real estate career? If you’re looking for inspiration…and the tools and methods to dominate a market and go to the top in real estate…you’ll find them in this free book. – Click Here

6. The Free Online ROI Calculator

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Consistency and automation are the keys to success. Discover how effective direct mail marketing can dramatically increase your bottom line. Enter your statistics in our Free online ROI Calculator and click the ‘CALCULATE MY ROI’ button to see your results instantly! –Click Here

7. The Free Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

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The “Crush It” Guide includes easy steps to launching an effective direct mail marketing campaign, how to create a targeted prospect list, the perfect way to layout marketing materials for success, seven opportunities available to target in your area right now. –Click Here

Increase the Odds of Selling Your Next Listing to Your OWN BUYER

Dec 1, 2020

Become a market maker

Dean Jackson, Founder of GoGoAgent and Listing Agent Lifestyle, is an expert in educating agents on the importance of becoming a real estate Market-Maker.

Dean states, “Most agents begin focusing on finding a buyer after they get a new listing. Often agents are only focused on getting listings because their belief is they need these listings to be able to find buyers”.

“But what if you reversed this thinking?” Dean continues, “What if instead of matching buyers and sellers, listing by listing, you become a Market-Maker who’s truly controlling your market?”.

How incredible would it be to arrive at your listing appointment with a list of buyers, you’ve already been communicating with, from the surrounding area?

As Dean says, “There’s nothing more powerful than this position because you’ve got the very thing that the seller wants more than anything”.

“Regardless of who else is competing for this listing they can’t win when you already have buyers in hand”.

When you begin to see your listing appointments in this way you are changing the game completely and taking your first steps toward becoming a Market-Maker.

NAR statistics show home buyers, on average, move within 15 miles of their last location. This means there’s a good chance your listings home buyers are renters located in the same area.

Based on this fact, it only makes sense to create a Renter Prospect List in the area that you are currently prospecting/farming and begin marketing to this list.

This will allow you to show up at your listing appointments already armed with a list of prospective buyers.

*Renter Prospect List* pinpointed on map

In fact, you can demonstrate this by printing out your Renter Prospect List in map form on ProspectsPLUS!. Use the List Management Tool under your account options to do this.

Then, take your map with you on your listing appointments.

Show this map to homeowners and tell them you’ve been looking for their home’s buyer for months.

State you have a pool of potential buyers you’ve been communicating with that live in the surrounding area. Then, discuss the high probability that their home buyer is on your list (based on statistics).

Imagine the feeling you’ll have selling this listing to your own buyer – that’s a true Market-Maker!

Watch this video (below) to see how to build a list of High-Income Renters and then map your list and print it out.

How to turbo-charge the buyer pool for your current listings

If you already have a listing and are getting ready to send out your Just Listed postcards, here’s how to increase your buyer pool and the odds of selling this listing to your own buyer.

FIRST: Choose your Just Listed postcard on ProspectsPLUS! and complete any edits that you may need.

NEXT: Once you get to the “proof screen”, you’ll see a blue box in the right vertical column (See photo on right).

Click the yellow “add renters list” button inside the blue box.

BAM! you just added a list of renters, in the same area, to your Just Listed campaign.

It doesn’t get any easier than that to increase your buyer pool, and the odds of selling to your buyer, for that listing.

Bottom line

Whether adding a renter list to your existing just listed campaign or marketing to renters in your farm area, the most essential item you can have in your arsenal is a large pool of buyers within 15 miles of your listings.

While other agents are discussing (with fingers crossed) what they’ll do to find a buyer once the listing agreement is signed you stand alone because you’ve already done the work.

Send a Just Listed postcard from the Multi-Photo Series to a radius surrounding your listing.

Don’t forget to add a list of renters to your just listed campaign to increase the odds of selling to your own buyer.

Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our prospect list tools to create the ideal list (it’s easy) or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!

By The Way, Happy Giving Tuesday Everyone!

PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. Become a Neighborhood Brand

Become branded in a specific neighborhood with a 12X15 marketing piece sent automatically each month to an exclusive carrier route. Watch this video to learn more or Click Here.

2. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

3. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

4. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Free Online ROI Calculator

7. The Free Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

With Gratitude at Thanksgiving!

Nov 26, 2020

A special message to express to you our sincere appreciation for your business, your confidence, and your loyalty.

As we acknowledge our good fortune on this Thanksgiving Day, we also acknowledge how extremely lucky we are to have customers like you.

Thank you for your support this year.

We wish you and your family a Happy Thanksgiving!

Your ProspectsPLUS! Team

Tips to GET MORE LISTINGS This Winter

Nov 5, 2020

If you sell real estate in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or some other snow-prone state, you may feel you can’t be as busy in winter as you are in spring. But, if you play your cards right, you’ll find winter can be just as profitable a time of year in real estate.

The first step to building a winter book of business is to let potential sellers know just how much they stand to benefit from selling when the weather outside is frightful.

The proof is in the numbers

More homes sell in spring than in winter, according to the NAR. No surprise there.

Unfortunately, this is where the media usually stops when they write about selling a home in winter. What they neglect to state is although home sales can be down in the winter,

…the likelihood of selling a home in winter is better than at any other time of the year, they sell faster and for more than asking price according to a Redfin study.

Interestingly, this statistic holds true regardless of market.

If you want to make more money this winter, you’ll need to get the word out to sellers. “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” isn’t just a song title.

Let other sellers buy into the myth of winter-is-bad

Dahna Chandler at themortgagereports.com wrongly assumes that “… most people shiver” when considering a winter home sale. “It’s likely the hardest to sell a house in most areas.”

Then, there’s Natalie Campisi at bankrate.com who, when explaining why “… fall/winter is the worst time to sell a house,” says that “December is when homebuying activity comes to a standstill and there’s little inventory available.”

“Little inventory” sounds like the real estate market in general over the past year. Besides, “little inventory” means less competition for sellers, which might be why homes in popular areas, in good condition, sell for more than asking in winter.

Our point is that this is the type of stuff that other agents are reading that scares them away as we approach winter.

It’s time to dust off your blogging skills and make sure sellers in your area know the truth: if you need to sell, this can be a profitable time of year to do so.

Winter buyers are highly motivated to buy

Think about it: Especially in frigid winter areas, to trudge around town looking at homes for sale takes a certain level of motivation.

It turns out that the rate of job transfers is quite high in the early part of the year. This winter, however, the pandemic-caused migration may still be underway. Those are two groups of highly motivated homebuyers.

Then, there are the nearly 3 million homeowners who are still in forbearance, many of them with mortgages not backed by a GSE. Will they sell rather than bite that bitter pill of the catch-up payment?

Let them know that they’ll do well to sell this winter.

Inventory is even lower

Our squeaky tight inventory of homes for sale doesn’t appear to be loosening up. When winter hits and sellers take their homes off the market, the competition will dwindle even more.

Urgency is the overall feeling you want to convey whether your writing a blog, and email, sending direct mail, or speaking to someone in person.

As all of us have learned in 2020, there is a lot that we have absolutely no control over. Urgency will get those fence-sitters off the fence and into the market.

Take your main “urgency” points and add them to a Fence Sitter Series postcard from ProspectsPLUS!, then send it out to your listing of Fence Sitters. If you don’t have a Fence Sitter list, you can create a list in minutes with the demographic search tool.

Direct mail marketing is such an affordable way to put something tangible into the hands of your potential clients. For instance, on ProspectsPLUS.com you can send 150 Jumbo sized postcards, standard class for only $121.00.

Consider the potential return on investment of these 150 postcards – and it’s truly all upside.

Make sure to include the Timing is Everything brochure in your listing presentation folder. In fact, here’s a promo code (FREEBROCH) for you to download the brochure for FREE, for a limited time.

If you send a newsletter, publish an article on the topic of winter selling creating the same urgency.

Then, start writing about ways to make their homes more attractive in winter via staging, sprucing up the landscaping, etc.

Winter doesn’t have to be the doldrums for your real estate business. All it takes is an effort to counteract the naysayers by getting the word out that selling in winter has definite benefits.

Send the Time is Running out postcard from the Fence Sitter Series to your Fence Sitter prospect list.

Use the Demographic Search tool, from a desktop or laptop, to generate your Fence Sitter prospect list in just minutes.

Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our prospect list tools to create the ideal list (it’s easy) or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!

Follow the 3-7-27 Law of Branding and send a series of Fence Sitter postcards over a period of time. Use the “Schedule Orders” tool to schedule months of mailings all at once.

And, remember with scheduled orders YOU DON’T PAY until the order goes out!

Just click the “Schedule for Later” button and pick your mailing date – it’s that easy!

Because what GETS SCHEDULED, GETS DONE!

Watch the video below to learn how to schedule a mailing in just minutes!

PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. Become a Neighborhood Brand

Become branded in a specific neighborhood with a 12X15 marketing piece sent automatically each month to an exclusive carrier route. Watch this video to learn more or Click Here.

2. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

3. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

4. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Free Online ROI Calculator

7. The Free Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

Low on Listings? How to Blaze a Trail of New Listings

Oct 27, 2020

What if I told you that sending out 200 marketing postcards for less than $150 (postage included) could potentially net you five new listings?

Barbara Todaro, a Franklin, MA agent, sent 200 Just Listed postcards to an area that surrounded her new listing and her mailing resulted in just that number – five new listings.

Todaro’s advice, “Never eliminate a method because it’s basic, those are often the best methods. The reality is, everyone reads their mail”.

Yes, real estate postcard marketing has been around for a while. And, no, it’s not as innovative as digital marketing, but clearly – IT WORKS.

Left in the dust

We’ve definitely come a long way from the days of AOL dial-up connections to jet-propelled search engine rankings and the availability of real-time information.

It was a steep learning curve, but like most things in life, as agents became more tech-proficient, the demand for high-tech grew.

Unfortunately, along with this came new-fangled ideas regarding listing generation and conversion; that it should be quick and effortless. And, this false belief came at a price.

Old, yet highly effective marketing methods, were left in the dust by some agents, specifically the method with the longest history of success – direct mail marketing.

Snail mail? Guess again!

Direct mail outperforms email, social media, and all digital forms of marketing by 700 percent, according to research from the Data and Marketing Association (DMA).

In addition, the Marketing Sherpa survey showed that direct mail was the third most trusted form of marketing overall (behind magazines/newspapers and TV ads).

For comparison, search engine ads came in sixth and, at the bottom of the list? Online pop-up ads.

A customer of ours recently discussed his return to direct mail marketing, specifically Just Listed/Just Sold postcards, after spending some time away.

“My business was starting to be flat. I was still a top producer but where I used to have more listings than I did buyers, I now had twice as many buyers as I did listings”, Joe Cooper stated.

“I took a hard look at my business model and realized that it had been around two years since I’d used Just Listed/Just Sold postcards. I decided to start back up and see if it made a difference. Well, it has. Almost immediately, my listings have picked up!”.

Is farming a thing of the past?

In the past, most agents chose farm areas to target their best potential customers and direct mail marketing was the best way for them to reach these people. Guess what?

Direct mail marketing still is the best way to target your ideal customer.

Neighborhoods that are ripe for the picking include those that haven’t turned over in a while. Or you can choose to circle prospect and campaign in an area surrounding a recent listing or sale.

Your research into the right farm doesn’t stop with choosing your neighborhood; learning the area’s demographics (especially the average age and income of the residents) is vital to a successful campaign.

The easiest way to ensure you are targeting the right list is to source it using our targeted mailing list tools.

The postcard winners

So, which are the most effective postcards for real estate? By far, the top agents we’ve spoken with chose Just Listed/Just Sold postcards.

“We host monthly events at our office and invite local businesses and residents. When we send a Just Sold postcard, it includes an invitation message to the party,” states Laurie Laykish, Engle & Volkers.

Though the invite isn’t the focus of the card (the just-sold home is), “we have had at least 2 people from each drop of 200 cards that attend an event and sign up to buy or sell with us,” Laykish concludes.

A tip to keep in mind, nearly 15 percent of direct mail recipients who responded to a Marketing Sherpa survey say they often discard mailed pieces when they are “too focused on the company’s needs and not enough on their own.”

This is why it’s important to keep your postcard’s focus on what’s important to your target market. Detailing what’s in it for them will engage them far more than self-promotion.

If a year-round direct mail marketing strategy isn’t currently part of your plan – the time to change this is now.

Send a Multi-Photo Just Listed postcard to a radius around your new listing. Use the MapMyMail tool, from a desktop or laptop, to generate this list in minutes.

Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our prospect list tools to create the ideal list (it’s easy) or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!

PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. Become a Neighborhood Brand

Become branded in a specific neighborhood with a 12X15 marketing piece sent automatically each month to an exclusive carrier route. Watch this video to learn more or Click Here.

2. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

3. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

4. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Free Online ROI Calculator

7. The Free Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

Want More Millennial Clients? Here’s Where they’re Buying

Oct 22, 2020

We’ve been hearing for years that Millennials are dominating the real estate market. But which markets are they choosing?

It’s not urban centers. A lot of the time the cities they choose aren’t even among the largest in the state. Over the past few months, with the ability to take their jobs with them and work remotely, we’re seeing increasing numbers of the cohort choosing ever-smaller cities in which to settle down.

The folks at Ellie Mae® periodically release their Millennial Tracker™ “… a web-based application that tracks closed loan application trends for U.S. homebuyers born 1980-99.”

Ok, we could quibble with their dates for the birth of Millennials (born 1977–1995, according to the Center for Generational Kinetics), but we won’t.

Obviously, this study is based on younger Millennials, who are just as active in the real estate market as their elders.

We thought it would be fun to take a look at the 5 hottest markets for Millennials over the past few months, according to Ellie Mae research.

1. Dumas, Texas

Dumas, Texas, with a population of 14,775 has, since 2010, experienced a population growth of 3.9%, according to BestPlaces.net.

So, why are folks flocking to this small Texas town?

The cost of living. It is more than 21% lower than the U.S. average.

Located in the Texas Panhandle, about 45 miles north of Amarillo, Dumas is the seat of Moore County and the energy and agriculture industries fuel Dumas’ economy.

If you sell real estate in the area, you’ve seen the influx of Millennials over the past year and locals expect it to continue. In fact, 70% of closed loan applications in Dumas, from May to July of this year, were from Millennial homebuyers with a median age of 30.

2. Eagle Pass, Texas

Another Texas city takes the number two spot in popularity with Millennial homebuyers. Google searches for the area include:

Is Eagle Pass TX safe? (you aren’t allowed to answer that one)
What is Eagle Pass known for? (the first American settlement on the Rio Grande)
How far is Eagle Pass TX from San Antonio? (143 miles)
How far is Eagle Pass TX from Houston TX? (336 miles)

Seventy percent of closed purchase loans in Eagle Pass, over the past three months, went to Millennial homebuyers.

The average age of these borrowers is 32, most are married (66%) and the largest share used a FHA-backed mortgage with an average loan amount of $162,205.

What makes the Eagle Pass real estate market to attractive? One factor is that folks get a lot more house for the money here.

For instance, there is an adorable home listed as of this writing, that features 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms in nearly 1600 square feet of living space. Price? $185,000.

Jobs in Eagle Pass are primarily in food manufacturing, import, freight forwarding/transportation and retail.

3. Hastings, Nebraska

Hastings’ high placement on Ellie Mae’s list doesn’t surprise local agents. For at least three years now, North Dakota has ranked as the nation’s city with the highest percentage of Millennial residents.

Located 2 hours and 22 minutes southwest of Omaha (or $24 on an Amtrack train), the city boasts a population of 24,822 (as of 2018).

Major industries in the region include:

Education & Health Services
Manufacturing & Construction
Wholesale & Retail Trade

Job growth in the city was a sluggish “… 0.0% over the last year,” according to bestplaces.net. “Future job growth over the next ten years is predicted to be 24.9%.”

So, Millennials aren’t moving here for the jobs. They are most likely bringing their jobs with them as so many are doing since the outbreak of COVID-19.

4. Midland, Texas

Midland, Texas is hot, hot, hot with Millennial homebuyers. The city showed up on Ellie Mae’s tracker as number one with Millennials as far back as November 2018 and it’s back in 2020 – at number 4.

It didn’t happen by accident, however. Midland city leaders understand that building a culture for new talent “… requires intention,” according to Nina Ignaczak with modeldmedia.com.

Some of the credit for Midland’s popularity with the cohort also goes to fact that “Per capita personal income in Midland is the highest in the state,” according to dallasfed.org. There’s a lot of money to be made in the Midland-Odessa region.

Millennials account for 65% of closed mortgage applications in Midland during the period researched. Sixty-two percent of these borrowers used a conventional loan for an average purchase price of $273,555.

5. Williston, ND

Another city that shows up just about every quarter on Ellie Mae’s list, Williston North Dakota is a Millennial magnet. In fact, the entire state is a hotbed for the generation.

Moneyrates.com chose North Dakota as the best state for the Millennial generation. “North Dakota’s rise as a great state for millennials is due to a mix of business and pleasure,” the report claims.

Williston, for many reasons, ranks high on the cohort’s favored North Dakota cities.

Over the past few months, 66% of closed loan applications for homes in Williston came from Millennials. They, by and large, used conventional loans (66%), and boast an average FICO score of 745. The average age of these homebuyers is 32.

Millennials began surging into Williston during the oil boom which, in turn, prompted city leaders to create more sports and recreational amenities.

That response paid off when new, Millennial-attracting businesses rolled into town.

Nearly 60% of these Millennial buyers in Williston secured a conventional loan for an average purchase price of $261,305.

Send the Mortgage Hits Low postcard from the Real Estate Times Series to your list of millennials or any area where you are interested in getting more buyers.

Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our prospect list tools to create the ideal list (it’s easy) or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!

PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. Become a Neighborhood Brand

Become branded in a specific neighborhood with a 12X15 marketing piece sent automatically each month to an exclusive carrier route. Watch this video to learn more or Click Here.

2. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

3. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

4. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Free Online ROI Calculator

7. The Free Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

Steal These 6 “Traffic Attracting” Autumn Real Estate Blog Post Topics

Oct 19, 2020

Blogging consistently can become tedious, especially when you just can’t come up with decent topics that your readers will find compelling. You know – those blog post titles that, when posted to social media, have visitors stopping by your website to read the story.

Fall, which started on September 21 this year, goes on until December 21 (based on the Farmers Almanac). So there’s still plenty of time remaining to write blogs about the season.

We decided to lend a helping hand and give you some tips and ideas for your fall real estate blog posts.

1. Real estate blog posts shouldn’t be exclusively about real estate

Surprised? Yes, valuable information about mortgage rates, market updates, buying, and selling is important. But post after post of open houses, new listings, and what your team is doing gets boring, really fast.

Intersperse your real estate posts with hyper-local information. Not only is this, too, of value to your visitors but it’s good for SEO as well.

A few ideas for posts that incorporate both real estate-related topics and hyper local information include:

Fall curb appeal

Your listing clients who are putting their home on the market soon will appreciate this information.

Don’t just give random tips, however, let them know where they can find the things they’ll need to get the job done, such as local hardware stores, home decorating stores, and the like.

For instance, “You’ll find colorful fall plants at Joe’s Nursery at 122 Main St. in Anytown.”

Fall home maintenance tips

This one is especially good for your first-time buyers. It can be in checklist form, an infographic or text.

Fall home décor trends

Again, this is a common topic on agent websites, but we’ve seen only a handful of agents who wring out every last drop of hyper-local SEO from it.

Visit decorating blogs for the tips and then point your readers to the local stores that carry similar items.

2. Thanksgiving (November 28)

Getting the most obvious topic out of the way up front: Thanksgiving alone can provide you with an endless supply of blog topics.

Are restaurants in your area serving Thanksgiving dinner? Write a listicle, including dining hours, safety precautions the businesses will be taking and how to make reservations.

In many markets, pre-made dinners have long been popular. If a grocer, restaurant, or other service is offering curbside pickup of Thanksgiving dinner with all the trimmings write a blog post (or add the information to the recommendation above)

Here’s one: “4 Restaurants to Pick-up Curbside Thanksgiving Dinner in [name of market]”

An excellent hyper-local topic directs the reader to non-profits that need help at Thanksgiving and all through the holiday season. Entire families often sign up to serve Thanksgiving dinner to the less fortunate. Ensure you get the address and contact information in there.

A list of binge-worthy streaming movies with holiday themes.

Netflix is offering:

Jingle Jangle—Starring Forest Whitaker and Phylicia Rashad, it starts airing on Netflix on November 13. Watch the trailer on YouTube.com.
The Knight Before Christmas—Vanessa Hudgens stars in this charming time travel-ish film. Catch the trailer here.
Bad Moms Christmas—With Katherine Hahn, Mila Kunis, and Kristen Bell. See the trailer on YouTube.com.

3. Best fall hikes in [name of market]

The air is brisk, crisp and cool – perfect for a hike. If you have a favorite local hike, write about it, otherwise, give a quick overview of hiking spots in your area.

This one can lead to similar posts, such as:’

Best fall hikes with your dog in [name of market]
Best fall hikes with your kids in [name of market]

Get inspiration from denverbyfoot.com, sandiego.org, azcentral.com, and democratandchronicle.com.

4. [Name of market’s] best attractions for out-of-town visitors

Thanksgiving is a family holiday and some of us experience an annual flock of family members from out-of-town. “How will I keep these people busy?” is a question right there in the front of your website visitor’s minds.

You may have to do some digging, but every town has interesting attractions to visit, from art galleries to museums and parks.

Maybe some of these pieces will get your creative blog-writing juices flowing:

Dcist.com – “25 Places To Take Out-Of-Town Visitors When They’re Done With The Mall”

Sacramento.cbslocal.com – “Best Places to Take Your Out-of-Town Visitors”

Timeout.com – “The best places to take out-of-towners in NYC”

5. Fall daytrips

Ok, so you came up empty with attractions in your tiny town. Suggest that your readers consider a day trip. To stay super hyper-local (and incorporate those juicy local keywords), feature destinations that are the closest to your market.

Take a tip from some of these:

Bigworldsmallgirl.com – “10 Best Day Trips From Austin”
Thecrazytourist.com – “15 Best Day Trips from Memphis”
Newenglandwithlove.com – “10+ Best Day Trips from Boston”

6. Best places to warm up on a chilly fall day

I don’t know about you, but I go out of my way to avoid Starbucks and I’m not alone. Write a piece about Starbucks alternatives for the rebels of the coffee-drinking world.

These coffee shops are generally locally-owned and loaded with personality. Here’s an example:

Rooster Coffee House – While coffee isn’t particularly known for helping one relax, Rooster Coffee House is. With a variety of different seating options, you can tuck yourself away in a corner to get some work done (free wi-fi) or enjoy the company of friends (socially-distanced, of course). Find Rooster Coffee House in Toronto at 343 King St. E, 479 Broadview Ave., 568 Jarvis St. and online at roostercoffeehouse.com.

Now that we have you in the blogging mood, don’t forget to use the posts to drive traffic back to your site. Post them in your email newsletters and on social media.

Happy fall!

Send the Fall Staging Tips postcard from the Content Card Series to promote your new listing to the surrounding area.

Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our prospect list tools to create the ideal list (it’s easy) or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!

PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. Become a Neighborhood Brand

Become branded in a specific neighborhood with a 12X15 marketing piece sent automatically each month to an exclusive carrier route. Watch this video to learn more or Click Here.

2. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

3. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

4. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Free Online ROI Calculator

7. The Free Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

Want More Buyers? Understand the New Homebuyer “Must-Haves”

Oct 14, 2020

Pandemic-related uncertainty has incentivized many Americans to want to “. . . permanently relocate to more sparsely populated areas,” according to Redfin.com’s Dana Anderson.

“Overall, searches for homes in small towns are surging on the Redfin.com website,” she explains.

“Pageviews of homes in towns with fewer than 50,000 residents were up 87% year-over-year recently, more than triple the 22% year-over-year increase in page views of homes in cities with more than 1 million residents.”

The ability and acceptance of working from home and new technology to make that easier has changed many home shopping wish lists on which “a quicker commute” once ranked high.

As long as there is decent internet service, small towns and suburbia offer far more security to the new migrators.

Residents of San Francisco, Seattle and the District of Columbia lead the way, with many expressing interest in homes in Montana and rural areas of Oregon and Colorado along with Nevada and Arizona.

Aside from a safe haven, away from the craziness of the cities, what else are these homebuyers seeking? Right now, what we’re hearing is anecdotal, but here’s what we’ve learned.

Space – the new frontier

“Stayhome” is more than just a term preceded by a hashtag. Isolation, hunkering down, self-quarantine – they all describe our lives during the first two months or so of the pandemic.

We couldn’t help but get to know our homes, flaws and all. I always knew my pantry was dinky, but two months of stuffing it full of “stocking up” supplies made it so painfully evident that I really resent it now.

Others have mentioned clients seeking more outdoor room for the kids and pets instead of having them constantly indoors where parents are trying to work remotely.

The desire for more elbow room is also topping the lists of luxury homebuyers. “We’re getting calls from people wanting acreage. They want grass, they want greenery, and they don’t want the city,” Colorado agent Jennifer Markus tells Mark Samuelson at DenverPost.com.

A lot of your migrating clients may have an anti-wish list – a list of what they don’t want in their new home.

Smart home security systems are all the rage

Electronics manufacturers are already seeing a growing demand for home security solutions, according to Zack’s Vasundhara Sawalka at Nasdaq.com. Sawalka also promises that new DIY home security is being rushed to the market.

You won’t be surprised then if you have homebuyers who are demanding such technology in the homes they view and your listings that offer it fly off the market.

We’d love a home gym … or at least room to create one

Gym equipment manufacturers and retailers are loving life right now. “I sold over 61,000 pounds of dumbbells, plates and kettle bells in the last eight weeks,” Stan Soboleski, operations manager at Fitness Brokers USA, told Anaridis Rodriguez at CBS Boston.

In fact, don’t bother shopping for kettle bells in New York City because you most likely won’t find any.

Even with many states relaxing restrictions and gyms reopening, social distancing rules create lines at the door and long waits to use equipment. Many Americans don’t plan on returning to their gym until the pandemic is over.

Enter, the home gym. Americans have converted their guest rooms, studies and even garages to accommodate their workout equipment. When they move, they’ll want a dedicated area to put all that stuff, or at least a room that they can convert into a home gym.

Smart agents will appeal to the gym rats in listing descriptions.

Agents we’ve spoken with, depending on region, also mention that swimming pools, pergolas in the backyard and floorplans that allow privacy are on many homebuyers’ lists.

When it comes to home buyers, it appears that we may have a “new normal” in the real estate world.

Send the Multi-Photo Blue postcard from the Multi-Photo Series to promote your new listing to the surrounding area.

Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our prospect list tools to create the ideal list (it’s easy) or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!

Take advantage of this week’s FREE Direct Response Report, “Are People Buying & Selling Post-Pandemic?”

Download the “Post-Pandemic” Direct Response Report now and keep copies available and on hand. Use the PROMO CODE: FREEREPORT at check out to get this report Free (a $19.95 value). – Click Here.

PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. Become a Neighborhood Brand

Become branded in a specific neighborhood with a 12X15 marketing piece sent automatically each month to an exclusive carrier route. Watch this video to learn more or Click Here.

2. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

3. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

4. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Free Online ROI Calculator

7. The Free Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

Struggling in real estate? Try breaking away from the herd

Sep 28, 2020

Never will you find a cardiac surgeon dispensing advice about gynecological problems. Nor will you likely find blog posts on pet websites counseling readers about DIY home projects.

Yet, many real estate agents have the notion that they can be everything to everyone. Those that typically sell single-family homes think nothing of listing a condo. Those that list mobile homes don’t hesitate to take on a luxury home listing.

While this may be ok for your bottom line, it does a real disservice to real estate consumers. In all other professions they have a choice of specialists.

They can consult a divorce attorney instead of a bankruptcy lawyer. When they need a root canal, they see an endodontist not an orthodontist and they can take their Porsche to a mechanic who specializes in them.

Remaining a real estate generalist is easier. It’s safer. After all, you don’t want to miss out on even one deal by narrowing your business focus, right?

What’s unique about that?

It’s unfortunate so many real estate agents harbor a reluctance to break away from the herd. The truth is, however, if you always follow the leader you will always be behind.

Then, there’s that lump in the gut when you think of closing off your business to some parts of the real estate industry and narrowing your focus to only one or two specialties.

This move away from being “a jack-of-all-trades but the master of none” is necessary if you’re to become the best in the market in your niche.

Seth Godin, blogging master and best-selling author, suggests that real estate agents should consider “micro-specialization.”

Choose a niche and work to dominate it.

Step away from the Herd

“… you’re either the best in the world (where ‘world’ can be a tiny slice of the environment) or you’re invisible,” Godin continues.

He says that to become “visible,” requires “… being Draconian in your choices. No, you can’t also do a little of this or a little of that. Best in your world means burning your other bridges and obsessing,” Godin says.

Scary thought, right?

Let’s look at a scenario:

You’re an agent in Las Vegas, chasing after every lead that comes your way – single family homes, duplexes, condos, whatever, you’ll take it. Your website even proclaims as much – “I can help you will all your real estate needs!”

If you consider yourself the average agent, you make about $45,610 a year, give or take a few dollars, according to Daniel Bortz at Realtor.com.

Suppose you decide to step away from being “average” and that you will specialize in listing and selling high-rise condos. Last year, 607 Las Vegas high rise condo units sold, with an average sales price of $598,728. This represents a commission of about $17,962 per side (based on 6 percent total commission).

As a generalist, how many of these condos would you have listed or sold? Be honest. The average Las Vegas agent was lucky to have listed one or two in an entire year.

The specialist that targets the high-rise condo market with a laser-like focus and dominates the brand as the niche expert in the area increases his or her chances of taking more than a handful of those sides from other agents.

Let’s be conservative and say that you only close one of these condo-deals a month. Even on a 50/50 broker split, you’d be making nearly $9,000 a month in GCI, give or take a few dollars and nearly $108,000 a year – almost three times what the average agent in the Las Vegas Valley brings home.

Remember, our scenario is based on conservative estimates. Your mileage may be a lot better.

The bonus is that the more you enforce your condo-specialist brand, the more condo leads you’ll get and folks that want to buy or sell high-rise condos will seek you out.

Imagine selling 5 of these condos a month.

If you’ve been casting as wide a net as possible in the hope of reeling in the maximum number of leads, consider setting yourself apart from other agents by claiming a niche and dominating it.

Send the Tired of Being a Landlord postcard from the Absentee Owner Series to a targeted list of Absentee Owners in your area.

Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our Demographic Search Tool to create the ideal list (it’s easy). Or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!

PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. Become a Neighborhood Brand

Become branded in a specific neighborhood with a 12X15 marketing piece sent automatically each month to an exclusive carrier route. Watch this video to learn more or Click Here.

2. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

3. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

4. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Free Online ROI Calculator

7. The Free Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

Why you need a real estate virtual assistant and where to find one

Sep 23, 2020

There are people who can market circles around you, folks who can teach you a thing or two about SEO, and those whose sole desire is to spend the workday in front of a computer monitor.

If you find yourself bemoaning any task in your business, such as:

I’m too busy to create marketing pieces
I have too many other things to do to engage with people on social media
I would love to send a newsletter but I don’t know where to start
My CRM is such a mess it’s just about useless

It’s time to admit that you need help – that is, if you expect to move to the next level in your real estate business.

It’s time to hire a real estate assistant

“If I had to touch every single piece in the system itself, I would never be able to produce multiple amounts of volume,” Jared Jones, CEO of Jones Group in Orlando (and super high producer) tells Jennifer Robison with the Las Vegas Review Journal.

Schedule your *Comfort Food Recipe* postcard mailings

He calls that touching-every-piece thing the “Lone Ranger” approach to business. He also claims that if he hadn’t dropped the control-freak routine and hired help he wouldn’t be as successful as he is.

Some coaches and other real estate consultants suggest that agents have a specific GCI before considering hiring help. The problem with that approach is that it’s going to take far more time to reach that income without an assistant than it will with one.

If you want to kick your business up a notch, delegate. And, no, you don’t necessarily have to spend a fortune on an assistant. Some agents hire one to work part-time while others find great value in hiring a virtual assistant.

What kind of stuff can a virtual assistant take off my hands?

Just about any task you routinely perform in your business can be passed off to an assistant. Sure, some may require that he or she be licensed, so save those for yourself.

Here are just a few of the jobs that agents we’ve spoken with have their assistant perform:

Organize and add data to your CRM

If you’re like many agents, your CRM is a mess. Imagine not having to tackle the organization of the information it contains. Then, as you generate leads, your assistant can be tasked with entering that and other updates to the database.

Various marketing duties

Depending on your virtual assistant’s talents, he or she can create marketing pieces, coordinate the delivery of your direct mail pieces to your farm, create or populate a newsletter, take on your email marketing, track marketing methods and a slew of other marketing chores.

Social media management

One of my neighbors recently listed her home for sale and one of the first questions she asked the agents she interviewed was about their social media presence, especially Facebook.

The agent who got the job is quite active on Facebook, belonged to several Facebook groups and boasted a large group of followers. The agent posted frequently, engages with others and uses Facebook ads for her listings.

If you aren’t on social media, the time to get on it is now – especially Facebook. The beauty of hiring an assistant is that he or she can take on your social media presence, performing the posting, joining local groups and engaging with others.

Amping up organic search results

If this is your goal, hire an assistant who can write, or hire a freelance writer. Local blogging, consistently, is the best way to increase your ranking in organic search results.

No, it doesn’t happen overnight, but it doesn’t take as long as some want you to think. We have a friend who owns a gardening blog that he sorely ignored for years.

He decided to try to make some money off of it so started blogging consistently. Within 3 weeks, his Amazon affiliate earnings almost doubled.

Blogging works, if done often and consistently. Look for a virtual assistant with writing talent.

Transaction coordination

Again, this job will depend on the skills and background of the assistant you hire. Or, you can train him or her to do most of the coordinating of your transactions. This includes:

Ordering the sign and lockbox
Coordinating inspections, appraisal, etc.
Following up with vendors, the title company and lender
Keeping the homeowner or buyer appraised of the transaction’s progress

As you know, this list just scratches the surface of jobs you can hand off, but this gives you an idea of just how much of the day-to-day admin stuff can be passed on to a virtual assistant.

How to find a virtual assistant

If you’re short on cash, you can find very inexpensive freelance workers—from writers to database managers, virtual assistants and more—at online sites such as Upwork.com and Fiverr.com.

If you have more to spend and need a real estate-specific virtual assistant you’ll find companies that cater to industry professionals.

Kim Hughes (specializes in real estate)
Real Support (specializes in real estate)
Virtual Business Solutions
Summit VA Solutions
Zirtual
Shore Agents (VA located outside the US)

If you’re seeking transaction coordination only, check out Transactly.

Keep in mind that when you pay for assistance in your business, the cost is tax deductible. That may take some of the fear out of hiring help.

Think of what you can do when you dump those menial tasks on someone else. It’s one of the best ways to take your business to the next level.

Schedule three months of fun Comfort Food Recipe postcard mailings and keep top of mind with your Sphere and Farm throughout the holiday season.

Need help targeting a specific niche of buyers or sellers? Use our Demographic Search Tool to create the ideal list (it’s easy). Or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!

There’s no better way to demonstrate your ability to succeed in future home sellers.

PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.

1. Become a Neighborhood Brand

Become branded in a specific neighborhood with a 12X15 marketing piece sent automatically each month to an exclusive carrier route. Watch this video to learn more or Click Here.

2. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide

3. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan

4. The Free One-Page Real Estate Business Plan

5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook

6. The Free Online ROI Calculator

7. The Free Real Estate Marketing Guide “CRUSH IT”

Need More Time in Your Day?

Sep 21, 2020

We just freed up a whole bunch of your time!

HOW?

By adding the ability to SCHEDULE MAILINGS on ProspectsPLUS!

Now, you’ll experience…

Less time spent marketing
Less last-minute marketing stress
Less missed important marketing deadlines
Less marketing systems to babysit
Less questions each month about who you need to market to and when.
Less tasks on your “To Do” list
Less money spent on postage (you can send standard class)
Less past clients FORGETTING ABOUT YOU because they’re getting scheduled mailings from you throughout the year.

IMAGINE YOUR LIFE WITH SCHEDULED MAILINGS! NOW, YOU CAN….

Schedule out a year of postcards in one visit and you don’t have to pay until each postcard goes out.
Assign additional tasks to your assistant because her time has been freed up.
Spend more time on priority activities like prospecting, presenting, and closing.
KNOW what future marketing is going out WHEN – no more worries.
Save money, since you’re scheduling in advance you can now send standard class.
Better yet – with the money you’re saving on postage you can upgrade to a jumbo or panoramic sized postcard – and REALLY STAND OUT.

AND SCHEDULED MAILINGS ARE…

100% risk-free. You aren’t charged until the date the postcard goes out.
Able to be canceled or changed (including the mailing list) right up to the night before your order goes out.
Confirmed by email the day before your order goes out.

HERE ARE 5 WAYS THE POWER OF SCHEDULING WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Just Closed on a Property? Schedule the Next 5 Years of Client Anniversary Cards RIGHT NOW

2. Say GOODBYE to Holiday STRESS. Schedule All Your Holiday Postcards Before the Season Begins

3. Schedule Your Open House Postcards to Arrive JUST IN TIME – Prior to Your Big Weekend

*Open House Gear, Color & Scenic Series*

4. Don’t Ever MISS a Client Birthday Again. Schedule the ENTIRE YEAR at Once

5. Niche Marketing? Schedule Out Those REPEATED Postcard Mailings to go out RIGHT ON TIME

The best digital marketers fish where the fish are

The fish are hanging out on social media

Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest

NAR statistics show home buyers, on average, move within 15 miles of their last location. This means there’s a good chance your listings home buyers are renters located in the same area.

How to turbo-charge the buyer pool for your current listings

Bottom line

Send a Just Listed postcard from the Multi-Photo Series to a radius surrounding your listing.

By The Way, Happy Giving Tuesday Everyone!

The proof is in the numbers

…the likelihood of selling a home in winter is better than at any other time of the year, they sell faster and for more than asking price according to a Redfin study.

Let other sellers buy into the myth of winter-is-bad

Winter buyers are highly motivated to buy

Inventory is even lower

Send the Time is Running out postcard from the Fence Sitter Series to your Fence Sitter prospect list.

Use the Demographic Search tool, from a desktop or laptop, to generate your Fence Sitter prospect list in just minutes.

Left in the dust

Direct mail outperforms email, social media, and all digital forms of marketing by 700 percent, according to research from the Data and Marketing Association (DMA).

Direct mail marketing still is the best way to target your ideal customer.

The postcard winners

Send a Multi-Photo Just Listed postcard to a radius around your new listing. Use the MapMyMail tool, from a desktop or laptop, to generate this list in minutes.

Send the Mortgage Hits Low postcard from the Real Estate Times Series to your list of millennials or any area where you are interested in getting more buyers.

1. Real estate blog posts shouldn’t be exclusively about real estate

2. Thanksgiving (November 28)

3. Best fall hikes in [name of market]

4. [Name of market’s] best attractions for out-of-town visitors

5. Fall daytrips

6. Best places to warm up on a chilly fall day

Send the Fall Staging Tips postcard from the Content Card Series to promote your new listing to the surrounding area.

Space – the new frontier

Smart home security systems are all the rage

We’d love a home gym … or at least room to create one

Send the Multi-Photo Blue postcard from the Multi-Photo Series to promote your new listing to the surrounding area.

What’s unique about that?

Step away from the Herd

Let’s look at a scenario:

Imagine selling 5 of these condos a month.

Send the Tired of Being a Landlord postcard from the Absentee Owner Series to a targeted list of Absentee Owners in your area.

Schedule three months of fun Comfort Food Recipe postcard mailings and keep top of mind with your Sphere and Farm throughout the holiday season.

HERE ARE 5 WAYS THE POWER OF SCHEDULING WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Ready to HAVE MORE TIME IN YOUR DAY? Start Scheduling Your Mailings Now.

Because what GETS SCHEDULED – GETS DONE!

Promote your success to your Sphere and the area you just sold a home by sending a Just Sold postcard.

There’s no better way to demonstrate your ability to succeed to future home sellers.