As a real estate agent, you have a lot of competition. Depending on what market you work in, there may be 40K+ other agents, each trying to get the same business that you are.
So how do you compete?
The answer is to ensure you’re delivering personalized marketing to a specific target audience that highlights what makes you different.
That’s the key to putting together a strategy that will really resonate with people; it won’t resonate with everyone, but that’s kind of the point: to only talk to the people you want to talk to.
Most consumers are looking for experts that understand both them and the local market, so the more you can successfully highlight how you can help them and relate to them, the better.
Being all things to all people through a generic, catch-all marketing strategy doesn’t work well because it just isn’t what consumers are looking for anymore, and more importantly, it doesn’t get you the types of leads you want: qualified ones that are within your target audience. If you build a marketing strategy that’s personal, highlights you, and builds rapport with your audience, you’ll get those better, more qualified leads (ie: the type of people you want to work with).
Let’s break that down a bit:
Identify Your Target Audience
Identifying your target audience before you plan your marketing strategy( or for that matter, do any actual marketing) is the single most important step you can take.
After all, how can you know what marketing will be most effective if you don’t know who you’re marketing it to?
So who is your target audience?
You target audience is always: Who you work with now, who you want to work with in the future, and who you don’t want to work with.
Most agents will initially say that everyone is their target audience, but that’s never true. If you’re having trouble identifying who your target audience is, and you still think it’s ‘everyone’, then start by identifying the types of people you don’t want to work with, and you can easily narrow it down, even if it’s just a little bit.
★ If you want to learn more about identifying your target audience, check out this post right here.
Once you know who you’re trying to target, you can begin to put together a marketing strategy that appeals to them.
Highlight What Makes You Different
What makes you different from all of the other agents? What do you do better than all of your competitors? What do you bring to the table that others don’t that really appeals to your target audience?
Once you know what separates your from your competition, and you know how and why it will resonate with your target audience, you can craft your overall marketing messaging around that.
★ If you want to learn more about carving out a niche for your real estate business, check out this post right here.
Build Your Marketing Strategy Around You (and Your Audience)
The type of marketing that will be effective for you is the type that will appeal the most to your desired audience, period.
A lot of agents, for example, embrace marketing tools and channels simply because they know other agents that are doing well on it, and they think that means they will too; but if your target audience isn’t there, what’s the point? Just because another agent says they’re getting a lot of business from TikTok, it doesn’t mean you will too. Or worse, you may get the type of business that you don’t want.
When you’re planning out what and where to market, you need to look at what your target audience wants to see and where they’re most likely to see it.
Think about it this way: A lot of people say that print is dead, but is that true? The answer is easily: not if that’s where your target audience is most likely to learn about you, engage with you, and eventually, hire you.
When you’re planning your marketing material, you should always think about what your target audience likes, not even necessarily what you like. For example: If you really dislike the colour pink, but your target audience really responds well to it, then the colour you’re using in your marketing should be pink.
When you’re planning it all out, ask yourself, when it comes to your target audience:
- What type of language will appeal to them?
- What type of visuals will appeal to them?
- What colours do they like?
- Are you most likely to reach them in print, digital, or both?
- What mediums are you most likely to connect with them on?
There really aren’t enough questions to ask yourself. The more you ask, the more successful your marketing strategy will be, and the more it will appeal to the people you want it to.
Keep it Personal, and Think of Your Audience
By continually focusing on a personalized strategy that appeals to specific people, you’ll stay ahead of the competition and build a strong relationship with your ideal audience, often even before they’ve reached out to you; and all of it will result in better, more high-quality leads that are ready to convert with a lot less need to be convinced when you first talk to them.
Want to drive traffic, build your brand, and engage your target audience? Download our eBook: ‘The Ultimate Guide to Real Estate Marketing’. It’s a collection of some of our best marketing articles, tips, and tricks that we’ve collected over the years.
