With the recent NAR settlement being enacted, real estate professionals must be more diligent than ever in ensuring their marketing efforts align with the new rules.
The settlement has introduced changes that require greater transparency, particularly in how commissions and business practices are communicated to clients.
As a result, you may need to adapt your direct mail marketing to clearly and accurately reflect how you conduct your real estate business to stay compliant and maintain trust with your audience.
Customizable Marketing Solutions from ProspectsPLUS!
This is where ProspectsPLUS! Becomes an invaluable resource. We offer a wide range of fully customizable marketing templates for postcards, brochures, newsletters, and more.
This flexibility is crucial in the current climate, as it allows you to adapt your marketing materials to meet the requirements set forth by the NAR settlement.
Adapting Your Marketing to Meet New Requirements
For example, if you are choosing marketing materials, you need to clearly explain how commissions are handled or how your business operates; you can easily modify the verbiage on our marketing materials in our editor.
ProspectsPLUS! templates are designed to be user-friendly, enabling you to quickly and easily make the necessary adjustments without compromising your materials’ professional look and feel.
Stay Compliant While Reaching Your Audience
In a time when clarity and transparency are not only recommended but required, it is essential to be able to tailor your marketing to meet these demands.
Our priority is to continue providing the tools you need to ensure your marketing aligns with the new regulations, helping you stay compliant while effectively reaching your target audience.
As you navigate the new landscape of real estate marketing post-NAR settlement, rest assured that with ProspectsPLUS!, you have the flexibility and support to keep your business thriving while staying within the rules.
Please call our support team at 866.405.3638 with questions or if there is anything we can do to help you succeed.
PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.
1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine
Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct, response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts and engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you. Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here
2.The Free 6-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 6-Month Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do and when. Four key market segments include niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here
3. The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Review
The Free Interactive 6-Month Real Estate Business Review allows you to enter your business goals for the remainder of the year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closings, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here
4. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook
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
Real estate agents are always looking for ways to increase their exposure and generate leads. One effective marketing strategy that has stood the test of time is sending Just Listed and Just Sold postcards.
If you’re wondering why even the highest-producing agents still spend time on this marketing tactic, read on.
Five Reasons Why Smart Real Estate Agents Continually Send Just Listed/Just Sold Postcards:
Builds brand awareness
Just Listed and Just Sold postcards are an excellent way to build brand awareness. By sending regular updates on your recent listings and sales, you remind potential clients of your expertise in the field. This can help you stand out in a crowded market and increase the likelihood that clients will choose you over competitors.
Even if you don’t have any current listings or solds of your own, you can still send a postcard announcing to your farm or targeted neighborhood what property was just sold or just listed in the area.
Or highlight a property listed or sold by someone in your office. This can still trigger inbound leads for you.
Targets potential clients
Sending postcards to a targeted audience can help you reach potential clients looking to buy or sell a property. You can purchase mailing lists segmented by location, income, and occupation, making it easy to target your ideal demographic.
Creates a personal touch
In today’s digital age, getting lost in the noise of email and social media is easy. By sending a physical postcard, you can create a personal touch that sets you apart from competitors. A postcard is tangible, and people are more likely to remember it than an email or a social media post.
And I often hear of agents who show up to a listing appointment and are shown the collection of their postcard mailings that have been kept by the homeowner.
It’s cost-effective marketing
Compared to other forms of marketing, sending postcards is a relatively inexpensive and fast way to get in front of prospects in your market. This makes it an affordable way to reach potential clients and generate leads.
Generates referrals
Just Listed and Just Sold postcards can generate referrals from your existing clients. When people receive your postcard, they may share it with friends or family members who are interested in buying or selling a property. This can help you generate leads without having to do any additional marketing.
By sending regular real estate activity updates to potential clients, you can build brand awareness, target your ideal demographic, create a personal, tangible touch, and generate referrals.
If you’re a real estate agent looking to increase your exposure and generate leads, consider adding Just Listed and Just Sold postcards to your marketing strategy.
PLUS: When you have time…below are some marketing tools to help support your success.
1. Put Your Real Estate Business a Step Above with Your Own Branded Magazine
Homes & Life Magazine is a customizable magazine with rich, full-color content and a sharp, professional aesthetic. It includes compelling, direct response-driven articles written by real estate industry experts combined with engaging lifestyle content. Send out Homes & Life Magazine in Just Minutes – No Minimums Required. Or we’ll ship it to you.
Homes & Life Magazine is the ultimate “Coffee Table Lingerer”! …and it costs less than sending a greeting card! – Click Here
2.The Free 12-Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
The Real Estate Marketing Planner is a powerful 12-Month-Guide that strategically defines what marketing to do and when. Four key market segments include niche Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here
3. The BusinessBase, SOI building system
The most effective thing you can do to build a real estate business is to become more visible, more likable, and remembered more often. The BusinessBASE™ not only checks these boxes but is also a business-building machine. In two easy steps, you can begin to build a robust sphere of influence that will provide you a lifetime of repeat business and referrals. –Click Here
4. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan
The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here
5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook
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
It takes more than a statement on your website or business card to truly be considered a neighborhood expert.
There are many agents using this title as a marketing tool, while not doing the necessary work to make the title a reality.
Let’s consider some ways to prove to potential clients that you are what you say you are.
1. Prove it in your marketing materials
True neighborhood experts, by and large, market to farm areas.
Whether that is a condo community, a specific zip code, or by subdivision, focusing on a smaller pool of homeowners is a brilliant way to become known as the expert in a community.
The best way to reach these homeowners or tenants or whomever you are targeting is via direct mail. It’s quick, it’s inexpensive and it works.
Shown above, FARM, Get More Listings postcard campaign. Learn more, HERE
Be sure to include on the back of the postcards an offer for a free “local market stats” report, that details home listings and sales in that area.
It shows them that you know your stuff and are on top of what’s happening in their area.
And, when homeowners reach out for this report, ensure that your explanation is in plain English. Unless you explain the meaning, avoid insider jargon, such as:
“absorption rate”
“months’ supply of real estate inventory” (what does months’ supply and “inventory” mean?),
“the median price range” (explain median vs. average)
“time on market” or “days on market” (why is this important to the average homeowner thinking of selling?)
We found lots of other examples online of what to AVOID in your Market Stats or CMA reports, such as:
“During this quarter, sales dollar volume increased year over year by 3% to $599,080,374. New listings rose 22% to 2,820, active listings increased 21% to 5,840 and pending sales increased 11% to 2,452. Monthly housing inventory increased by 0.4 months to 2.3 months.”
“Sales dollar volume” is meaningless to a homeowner. We would reword the paragraph to read more like a narrative than a dry list of statistics:
During this quarter, 22 percent more homeowners put their homes on the market here in Any town than in October. As quickly as they’re listed, however, buyers snap them up. One indication of that is the increase in pending sales, which were up 11 percent more than pending sales during the previous quarter of 2021.”
Since potential home sellers are your primary audience when farming, leave out the increase in inventory unless it’s significant (0.4 months isn’t). And, if you must express inventory in “months,” do the readers a solid and explain what that means.
Additional effective farming pieces include:
Just listed and just soldpostcards (even if you haven’t sold or listed the property, if the agent in question has chosen not to announce this news, use their loss as your gain and send these postcards out).
The Market Dominator, an automated mega-newsletter that’s sent to an exclusive carrier route monthly through the use of EDDM.
2. Prove your neighborhood expertise on your website
Your website provides the ideal platform to strut your neighborhood expertise. Start by ensuring it’s localized.
So many agents pay the big bucks for a professional website and fail to remove or change the template text that comes with it.
Add your market area everywhere possible, starting with the above-the-fold area on your home page. Don’t make visitors wonder where on earth you sell real estate.
Create a neighborhoods section on your site and fill it with valuable, hyper-local content. In-depth neighborhood descriptions, quotes from folks who live in the neighborhood about why they love it, links to listings, and lots of photos are the bare necessities for neighborhood pages.
Finally, if you don’t have a blog, start one. It’s the ideal place to post local content and, if promoted across your social media platforms, it will help drive traffic back to your site.
Because You Want The Following Things to Happen in 2022?
Strategic focus – Centralized sales in one area. No more driving across town for a listing. To become a neighborhood expert – You’re committed to a specific neighborhood where you will become known as the expert.
Increased growth – You’re building toward the future instead of “just getting by” working on whatever comes your way.
A branded business – You’re branding yourself and your business within a community and building relationships over time with the people who live there.
Increased demand for your service – Sellers and buyers want to work with real estate agents who are experts in the community where they are buying and selling, and that’s YOU.
Build a geographic farm list (from a desktop or laptop computer) using the MapMyMail tool.
Hit the “CLICK HERE” link, below (from a desktop or laptop computer) and choose the MapMyMail listing building tool.
USE PROMO CODE: FARM15 to get 15% off of your geographic farm list.
For Help Creating Your Geographic Farm List, Watch This Video Below.
This sale expires on 12/25/21. Please reach out to our support team at 866.405.3638 with questions or if there is anything we can do to help you with your success.
PLUS: When you have time…below are some helpful tools to support your success.
1. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
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 Markets, geographic farming, sphere of influence, and past clients. – Click Here
2. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan
The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here
3. The Automated Way to 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.
4. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide
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
5. The Become a Listing Legend Free eBook
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
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”
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
While you’re online scheduling your Holiday postcards to go out, consider launching an annual Holiday scheduled campaign.
Anecdotal evidence claims that when one home in a neighborhood goes on the market, another three or so will be listed within the next few months. Whatever the mysterious reason behind this phenomenon, I’m sure that you’ve seen it in action.
The trick is to reach these thinking-of-selling homeowners before other agents do. They’re already curious and possibly considering selling, so you’ll be reaching them at the most opportune time.
How do you reach out to these possible sellers? Cold call?
Come on, how does that intrusion make you memorable?
Here’s one way to stir up some interest that begins with a Just Soldpostcard, then takes your game to a whole new level with a subsequent Follow-Up Campaign.
Agents are fond of reminding people that they aren’t salespeople because “real estate is a relationship business.” In fact, we typed that phrase into Google, and here is just a very small sample of what we found:
The Secret to Building Relationships for Your Real Estate Business
Real Estate is, Indeed, a Relationship Business
Stats Don’t Lie – Real Estate is a Relationship Business
Real Estate: Relationship Business Built on Trust
Real estate is all about building relationships
Since building relationships with prospects is so critical, the initial approach must be well-thought-out. And a cold call isn’t always the wisest use of this über-important task.
Especially now, when Americans are feeling more than a bit beat up by real estate agents. Ready for another Google search? “Why are real estate agents calling me?”
I Had a Client Ask… Why Are All These Realtors Calling Me?
Why am I getting texts/calls from a million realtors all of a sudden?
Real Estate Agents, Stop Calling Me Darn It
How do I stop Realtor Harassment?
Ok, cold calling doesn’t help build relationships. And, yes, this may sound self-serving because I work for a real estate direct mail company, but the Just Sold postcard andJust Sold Follow-Up Campaign are probably the most effective listing tools for you right now.
According to the U.S. Postal Service, nearly 70% of Americans feel that “… direct mail is more personal than the internet.” Nearly 80% of millennials say that they actually read direct mail ads.
The stats about the effectiveness of direct mail are astounding.
How to Launch a Just Sold Scheduled Campaign video, shown above
Targeted marketing via direct mail works
Narrowing down the audience is a must for all marketing campaigns. Since we are talking about listings here, homeowners are the target.
Let’s narrow down that audience even further: homeowners within a certain radius of a new listing.
You decide on the radius, but agents we’ve spoken with who use this method usually choose the entire subdivision or within a 1-mile radius.
Wait, we aren’t done yet. Let’s make this mailing list ideal: remove homeowners who recently purchased their homes (again, you decide on the time frame). We’ll use 5 years for this scenario.
Now you have a list of homeowners who live in the same subdivision (or within a 1-mile radius) of a just-sold home and who have owned their homes for at least 5 years, some of whom are most likely considering selling.
What better way to catch their interest than to let them know one of their neighbors just sold their home with aJust Sold postcard?
What better way to get them to realize how much equity they’re sitting on than to see find out what other homes sold for (if that’s cool in your market)?
Then, continue the momentum by routinely reaching out to the prospects on this mailing list. Consistency is key.
Ready to Turn Curious Homeowners into New Listings? Launch a Just Sold Follow-Up Campaign!
Just Sold Follow-Up Campaign is shown above. Learn more, HERE
TO LAUNCH A JUST SOLD FOLLOW-UP CAMPAIGN:
Hit the “CLICK HERE”, link below (from a desktop or laptop computer).
And, remember, YOU DON’T PAY for each mailing until it actually goes out (cancel or change each mailing up until the night before it goes out. The price shown at check out is per mailing, not campaign total).
Please reach out to our support team at 866.405.3638 with questions or if there is anything we can do to help you with your success.
PLUS: When you have time…here are some helpful resources we’ve made available to support your success.
1. The Free 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
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
2. The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan
The Free Interactive Real Estate Business Plan allows you to enter your business goals for this year and get a breakdown of how many prospects, listings, closing, and so on are needed to reach your goals. – Click Here
3. 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.
4. The Free Real Estate Mailing List Guide
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
5. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook
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
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”
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
The reality is, there is never enough time in the day to get all of your necessary work done, including marketing.
And certain important aspects of your work can only be done by YOU. This forces you to make hard choices about where to dedicate your time.
But what happens to the rest of the work?
Go from overwhelmed to an opportunity multiplier
Lets look at marketing activities.
The success of direct response marketing for branding and generating new clients is well known. This is especially true for Just Listed and Just Sold postcards.
However, the effort involved in uploading home photos, adding copy, and creating a targeted mailing list can drain you of valuable time.
We know the importance of getting Just Listed and Just Sold postcards out with every listing and sold. It’s the road map top agents follow to maximize each opportunity and ensure no money is left on the table.
And we also understand that you can’t stop in the middle of an already over-booked day to send out a Just Listed or Just Sold postcard.
Which means, very often, these postcards just don’t go out…and money gets left behind.
It’s the answer that frees you from this time-consuming work, yet provides you with the desired results.
You continue doing the work most important to your business – prospecting and going on appointments. MLSMailings.com takes care of sending out your Just Listed and Just Sold postcards – ensuring no money is left behind.
MLSMailings.com is like your own “invisible marketing assistant”.
It really is easy to maximize your opportunities
You may be thinking, “but I’m so busy, I don’t even have time to execute a process like this”.
MLSMailings.com automatically generates postcards for your listings when they are active and sold. The data is received directly from your MLS and a postcard is generated automatically.
You receive an email 24 hours prior to printing, giving you the option to opt out. If you want the postcard to go out, you do nothing and the postcard is mailed to surrounding home owners of the property address.
That’s it!
There is no commitment for you to use this service and you can stop using it when ever you want.
However, it’s doubtful you’ll stop.
Once you’ve been freed of a time consuming activity and able to focus all of your attention on growing your business there will be no turning back.
There’s no longer a reason to leave money on the table. Your opportunity multiplying Just Listed and Just Sold postcards can go out EVERY TIME.
Go Now to MLSMailings.com and start freeing up time for the important tasks ONLY YOU can do for your business!
Order Free printed sample postcards from MLSMailings.com, here.
Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list 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 Free killer tools to help your success this year!
1. Become a Listing Legend Free eBook
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
2. “Get More Listings” Free Online Webinar
“Get MORE Listings & Begin to Dominate Your Market!” Free online webinar. Learn the 3-7-27 strategy for explosive growth, why 95% of agents have less than 20% market share, and how to become the agent everyone competes against. – Click Here
3. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan
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
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. The Free Online ROI Calculator
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
Whether or not to give gifts to real estate clients at or after closing is an often-debated topic.
Those in the “yes” camp struggle with coming up with a gift that is personal, but not too personal, and whether or not the gift should include the agent’s branding.
It’s a tall order, but, thankfully, we’ve checked with our agent network and, as usual, have some brilliant real estate closing gift ideas to share.
Stop hating on gift cards
No, a gift card isn’t highly original and whether or not to choose one as a gift depends on your relationship with each particular client. But, it is sure to be a welcome and much-appreciated closing gift for clients on a strict budget (maybe your FHA buyers?).
You can’t go wrong with a gift card from Lowe’s or Home Depot or any of the large home décor stores. If your client is an avid gardener, check if your local nursery offers gift cards. And, if you’re still stuck for ideas, how about a gift of delivery service with an Instacart or Uber gift card? The latter can also be used for Uber’s ride-sharing service.
Artwork
Snap a photo of your clients and their kids and/or pets standing in front of their new home. Then, send it to an artist who can turn it into something family-room-wall-worthy.
Or, have the portrait made into “Just Moved” cards for the clients to send to friends and family. Pre-stamping the envelopes, by the way, is a thoughtful step that they won’t expect.
The internet is the best place to find talented, reasonably-priced artists who specialize in creating portraits from photographs. And, you can often find one who will do so in your preferred medium, from pencil to watercolor to oil.
Here are several websites I found while doing some online sleuthing:
Paint your Life
Portrait Painting
Instapainting
Portraits on Demand
A number of artists on Etsy offer portraits from photos
The gift that keeps on giving, keeping you top-of-mind
How can a former client forget you when, each month, something amazing is delivered to their door?
No, they aren’t cheap (although some are surprisingly affordable), but subscription boxes are appreciated.
Meal boxes (there are a number of choices, such as Blue Apron, Plated, Hello Fresh)
Fresh flowers
Bagels
Bark Box or Rescue Box (for the dog “Mom” or “Dad”)
FilterEasy (yes! No more schlepping to Home Depot to pick up HVAC filters)
Gardening
Beauty items (for female clients, Birchbox is among the most popular)
Find other popular subscription services at impactbnd.com.
Consider keeping it local by gifting several hours of services that you know your client will use. These include:
Dog walking
House cleaning
Landscaping
Pool cleaning and servicing
Handyman
Organizing
Errand running
Techster clients will love these
I joined my neighborhood’s forum on NextDoor.com and the most popular conversations among neighboring homeowners involve home security. Most of the homeowners either own or are interested in purchasing the Ring video doorbell. They’re offered at a variety of price points, with the least expensive starting at about $100.
Google Home Mini for less than $50 (a smart speaker with Google Assistant built in) is so popular that the folks at Google say they’ve sold “more than one device every second since they started shipping in October” of last year.
Instead of the keys to their new home, imagine handing your homebuying clients a smart lock instead. Yes, they’re pricey, but the popular 3rd generation of the August Smart Lock sells for only $129 and the Kwikset Kevo Blue Tooth Deadbolt is priced at slightly less than $150.
While the topic of whether or not to gift your clients at closing seems to be a matter of personal preference, most agree that if you will be giving a closing gift, keep your branding off of it.
Then, put some thought behind it. If it’s a gift card your clients truly need, then, by all means, gift them with one. If not, we hope our list helps guide you to the perfect real estate closing gift.
With client appreciation on your mind, right now is the perfect time to all of your incredible clients with a Customer Appreciation postcard.
Send the All My Thanks postcard to all of your past clients and let them know just how much they mean to you.
Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list 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 2 free ways we can help you STILL CRUSH IT in 2018!
1. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan.
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, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence –Click Here
2. The Free Online ROI Calculator.
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
Want to Refer a friend or colleague? Refer them, Here. THEY get a Free $25 Gift Card and YOU become their hero. BTW, you also get a $25 Gift Card too (now that’s what I’m talking about)!
The importance of video within the real estate industry applies more to listing agents than buyers’ agents, at least according to a six-year-old study. Results of the study found that 73 percent of homeowners want a listing agent who uses video to market homes.
Avoid the top 3 mistakes
Despite knowing that videos may not be popular with all homebuyers, offering them to your listing clients is mandatory. As mentioned above, most want a video of their home and they expect it. Not giving your listing clients what they want is a big mistake.
As long as you are committed to creating a video, why not create one without the mistakes, so often seen online:
Overly-dark videos
Camera shake
Amateur/homemade look
The following are the three most common listing video mistakes and how to correct them.
Mistake 1- Penny-pinching
The old saying that “you get what you pay for” might not have been coined by a real estate agent who pinched pennies and obtained poor quality work, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was.
Videographers do charge money for their services, but they may not be as expensive as you think. In fact, we did an informal, non-scientific, cursory web search for prices and find professionals offering their services for as little as $200.
There are some photographers who offer packages which include a video walkthrough of the home. For instance, one Phoenix, Arizona photographer charges a reasonable $400 for a package that includes 25 photos, HD walkthrough video, twilight photos and a virtual tour.
Remember, your listing videos will most likely become examples in the marketing plan you show potential listing clients. Will they be examples of how you cut corners or will they show home sellers that you will pull out all the stops to sell their homes?
Mistake 2 — Not ensuring your videos do double duty
Sure, the purpose of the video is to market your listing, but videos do double duty, according to Forrester Research. Videos are 50 times more likely to show up on the first page of Google search results than text pages, if they’re optimized, according to research.
Why not leverage the power of YouTube to benefit your business while also promoting your client’s listing?
The Fix:
Mashable’s Nate Elliot suggests doing the following:
Use your keywords in the video’s title, tags and description when you upload it to YouTube.
After uploading the video to YouTube, embed it on your website. According to Elliot, Google considers “how many times a video is viewed, and any views embedded videos receive on your own site get added to the ‘views’ tally on YouTube.”
Create a video sitemap.
Mistake 3 – Too long, didn’t watch
When something becomes such a common, annoying practice that an acronym is created (tl;dw) stands for “too long, didn’t watch”, you know it’s best to avoid the practice.
Americans are busy. We also tend to have the attention span of a kitten – and are as easily distracted. YouTube says that visitors typically watch for 3.5 minutes.
The National Center for Biotechnology Information, on the other hand, claims that the average amount of time spent on a single video is 2 minutes and 42 seconds.
And, if you don’t get their attention in the first 10 seconds, kiss them goodbye.
In fact, research shows that you’ll lose 30 percent of viewers within the first 30 seconds of your video and, when it reaches the one-minute mark, another 45 percent will leave.
So, plan on putting the most important stuff up front and keep the entire video as short as possible.
Nearly 90 percent of the homebuyers surveyed by NAR found “photos very useful,” while only half of them said the same for real estate videos. Don’t make the common mistakes of other agents that result in unwatchable videos.
Follow the above guidelines to produce listing videos that enhance your marketing and sales efforts and keep your clients smiling.
Need help targeting the perfect niche of buyers or sellers? Use our mailing list toolto create the ideal list or call our support team for assistance at 866.405.3638!
PLUS: When you have time…here are 3 free ways we can help you CRUSH IT in 2018!
1. The Free 2018 Real Estate Business Plan.
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
2. The Free Online ROI Calculator.
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
3. The 12 Month Done-For-You Strategic Marketing Plan.
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, Listing Inventory, Geographic Farming, and Sphere of Influence – Click Here – Click Here
Success begins with the right mindset. Real estate sales is not just a job; it is a business. A business that requires planning, organization and systems to maintain balance, accountability and forward momentum. The following details the 3 steps to epic success.
Step 1: Have a Plan
Planning is critical to realizing your goals, generating consistent income and creating an exit plan. The proper exist plan ensures you have a valuable “book of business” that you can sell when you are ready to retire. Your plan should:
be written out and clearly defined
have a realistic and comprehensive budget
be based not only on your goals, but also on your family’s goals (very important to maintaining the support system necessary during long days or tough weeks!)
outline the number of transactions you need to reach those goals based on commission dollars, list-to-close ratio and fall-through rate
outline the number of contacts, appointments scheduled/.attended you need to realize your transaction goal
break your numbers down into daily, weekly and monthly activities so that you ALWAYS know where you are in relation to your goal
Be sure to share your plan with a manager, coach or partner so that you can set up a system of accountability.
Step 2: Employ Smart Marketing
In today’s competitive arena, effectively marketing yourself and your business requires both consistency and laser focus.
Countless agents send single marketing pieces to thousand of consumers, with no intention of following up. This approach is a waste of time, energy and valuable marketing dollars.
The truth is, you should be in contact with your sphere of influence at least every 30-45 days. One month, send a postcard, letter, newsletter or flyer. Many of our customers find the Listing Inventory Series, Content Cards, and Market Dominator among their favorites.
The following month, call with a friendly event reminder, helpful hint, or just to say hello.
During the third month, arrange to see them via a networking event, social gathering or in-person visit. Drop off a small token, informational item or card. Then start the “rotation” over again.
Such consistency creates vital ‘top-of-mind’ awareness. This awareness becomes “the key to the kingdom” when growing your referral base and creating a reliable income.
Gone are the days when agents could afford to take a “shotgun” approach-casting a wide net in the hopes of “catching a few”.
Response rates increase dramatically when you speak directly to the needs and interests of a particular group.
Wise agents seek out demographics or geographics that they relate to or have a history of success with.
The more comfortable you become speaking to a particular group or segment, the more you become recognized or thought of as a specialist in that field.
First-time homeowners – Try MapMyMail to quickly create a list of local renters. Send a postcard that explains the advantages of home ownership.
Builders – Offer to help builders eliminate their #1 worry: standing inventory. Create a list of every builder in your area and send a flyer explaining how you can find their perfect customer.
Find a new niche – With our Lifestyle Interest data, you can reach consumers who are just the demographic you want to work with. Think Golfers, Boaters, Fitness Lovers and more.
FSBOs – There are many effective search products for this demographic. Fear leads many agents to steer clear of FSBOs, which eliminates at least a portion of your competition.
A New Geographic Farm – Find an area in your market that is beginning to see turnover, but doesn’t currently have another agent with more than a 10% market share. Start connecting month after month using the Neighborhood Update/Free Offer series. This series will present yourself effectively as the turn-to agent in your market.
Step 3: Put Solid Systems in Place
Without systems, you’re like a hamster on the wheel-spinning without really getting anywhere. Systems are the only way to maintain the delegation, automation and streamlining that will continuously work on your business. Systems allow you to:
manage your time effectively
create a consistent standard of service
assure clients that their needs are being met by a “team”
provide checks and balances for fine tuning your business
promote efficiency and accuracy
reduce training time when bringing on new team members
What systems should you have in place?
time management
lead generation/prospecting
pre-listing/listing presentations (download some of the free reports we have for these)
The success mind-set requires dedication and a commitment to the activities that earn you top dollar and allow you to “feed” the career you’re building.
pectsPLUS! Becomes an invaluable resource. We offer a wide range of fully customizable marketing templates for postcards, brochures, newsletters, and more.
